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Amateurs outshine the Pro's on Torrevieja Undercard

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Kevin Reardon / 2007-06-18 13:29:46

With an additional seven contests scheduled for the Sports Palace on Friday night, five of them involving exciting young amateurs, there was plenty to look forward to as we waited in anticipation of the evenings main bout, the WBC Title showdown between Jorgensen and the experienced Colombel.

But perhaps the most eagerly awaited was the Bantamweight contest between Tottenham's Ashley Sexton and the experienced Spanish Olympian Jose Ortiz.

After the fierce battle that took place when the pair first met back in March there was the makings of a real war with Ortiz determined to reverse his previous points loss. As the fight got underway Sexton was in a confident mood as he came out of the blocks expecting to tee off, but the Londoner had failed to anticipate the passion of the experienced Spaniard as he was immediately steamrollered back across the ring.

From the opening bell Ortiz set out to spoil Sextons superior boxing technique and during a messy round the 20 year old from Tottenham had no answer to the bulldozing style of Elche's favourite son. Indeed the remainder of the fight followed a similar pattern and there were times when the contest even seemed in danger of spilling over into an all out brawl. But fortunately, as the fight progressed, the discipline of the young Londoner came to the fore and he was able to pile on the points with his reliable left jab while Ortiz seemed to have no alternative but to continue with his blustering approach.

Not his best performance, as Sexton himself admitted afterwards, but a win is a win and the youngster showed good discipline to stick to his boxing as he was pushed, pulled and then held by the enthusiastic Ortiz.

One fight that did have the crowd on its feet however was the welterweight contest between the 2005 British Novice Title winner Erik Ochieng (Harringey) and Irish International Terry O'Neill from Mount Tallant Boxing Club in Dublin. Always felt to have the potential to be the most exciting fight of the night it certainly lived up to its billing despite only completing two rounds. Some might have thought it rather strange to pair up two of Europe's very best amateur boxers on a fairly ordinary card, particularly as both fighters had to put their colossal reputations on the line. But in an all action contest and despite a massive heart O'Neill found that he didn't have enough in his armoury to overcome the powerful Londoner. Suffering from a badly cut nose the ringside doctor called a halt to the Irishman's exploits at the end of the second round. The win was Ochieng's 28th in a 32 fight career.

Billed as the main undercard support local fighter Emiliano Casa made a return to the ring following February's loss to Sergei Mba. His opponent, Slovakian Miro Dicky, who was last in action in March when he suffered a 7th round KO in the same area to Jorgensen.

This contest started as a jabbing affair with both men looking to find their range but whereas these opening exchanges usually last a round or two it was well into the 4th before there was any sort of a meaningful exchange. By this time the crowd were venting their frustration so it came as somewhat of a relief when Emiliano finally caught the Slovakian with three short jabs. It looked as though neither fighter really fancied the job and in the case of the 25 year old Dicky there was hardly a meaningful punch thrown during the entire fight.

Casal's most telling effort came at the start of the 6th when the Argentinean split his opponents nose with a solid right. As the Slovakian rocked back Casal then saw his opportunity and followed in for the kill. Dicky went down twice in quick succession before the referee stepped when he refused to continue complaining of a twisted ankle.

For the most part Casal was always in control with Dicky always unlikely to inflict any real damage but even following his 6th round KO we are still left wondering if Casal really is able to move up to the next level.