Obin outsmokes Smokin’ Joe; AJ Carter impresses at the York Hall

By Bernard Miller: In some respects, it’s possibly better that Brentwood’s Smokin’ Joe Mullender (5-1) didn’t claim the International Masters Silver middleweight title belt in the night’s main event at the York Hall on Saturday. It’s almost certain he couldn’t have comfortably worn it, considering how sore his flanks had to be afterward. Ugandan Michael Obin (5-2), who now fights out of Stockholm, spent the better part of 30 minutes of fight time hammering away at Mullender’s midsection like a man determined by force of will to chop down a very large tree.

Obin got the best of things in the opener and during much of the second round, troubling Mullender with uppercuts through the centre of his defences, and a right hook that had turned Mullender’s left side a pinkish hue by the end of Round 2. Mullender appeared to turn the fight his way in the third, pinning Obin against the ropes for nearly a minute and using his superior size and weight — he came in five pounds heavier than Obin — to wear away at the smaller fighter.

By the fifth, the pace seemed to take its toll on both combatants. Together they landed barely a handful of blows above shoulder height in the round, both seemingly content to lean on each other and pound away at their opponent’s body. Obin was coming out slightly best in the exchanges though, because while Mullender kept initiating the action and coming forward into the more passive Obin, it simply put him in range of Obin’s grinding body attack.

It turned out, however, that what looked like fatigue was actually the bellwether for the last half of the fight. Through most of the first half of Round 6, the sound echoing through York Hall was the hollow boom of Obin’s relentless shots to Mullender’s sides. The seventh started the same way, but for the last two minutes of the round, Mullender pressed the action, keeping Obin against the ropes and fending off the body shots well enough to get in his own work.

Obin’s strategy in the final three rounds was to spend most of the time allowing Mullender to pin him in the corner or along the ropes. Though this left him with few options tactically, the one he had at his disposal was worked to perfection. Unable to pry Obin from his limpet-like attachment to one of the ring boundaries and execute his own plans, Mullender was forced to try to attack Obin head on. And while, even with this limitation, Mullender was frequently successful, it permitted Obin to continue to smash away at his favourite — and by now nearly only — target, Mullender’s rib cage.

The closeness of these rounds, and the fight as a whole, was reflected by Williams’ scoring. He had it 96-95 for the visitor. The crowd reaction acknowledged the fairness of the result — there was little booing at all despite the close decision going against the local lad. The loss was Mullender’s first in six fights, while Obin improved to five wins against two defeats.

Vauxhall heavyweight AJ Carter (4-0) is developing into an interesting prospect—one with his own unique flavour. Carter doesn’t carry himself with the swagger and aura of invincible, glowering confidence that mark someone who firmly regards themselves as a future champion. On occasion, he has the air of a man slightly afraid of his own power, and some of his best shots are thrown with his eyes closed tight. And yet the results to this point are unimpeachable. Czech Radek Linka (5-2) was the victim of the Big Dog’s latest mauling.

Linka appeared to have Carter tied up in Round one, but AJ extricated his right fist and smashed an overhand shot into the back of LInka’s head, sending him sprawling face-first to the floor.

Referee Clarke Joslyn seemed to be mesmerised by Carter’s power in the second round. Well inside the first minute, Carter had clubbed Linka to his knees along the ropes in the middle of the ring, but it took Johnson nearly three seconds to step in —during which time, as Linka was upright at least and had his hands up, Carter did the logical thing and kept battering away at him. Mercifully, Joslyn waved it off when he did finally arrive at 0:50 of the round, sparing Linka any lasting damage

Upper Norwood welterweight Rakeem Ashaye Noble (2-0) stayed unbeaten, taking a 40-37 decision from Bexleyheath’s Josh Thorne (1-3). Thorne held his own in the first round, scoring with hooks to the head. But while Noble has shown little evidence of power in his two professional contests, he is a busy fighter and that paid off as he began effectively following body work with shots to the head in the second.

Noble’s work rate lead to things getting a bit tetchy in the third, as Thorne was warned for hitting on the break and then punching after the bell. Noble stayed focused and active to earn the win on referee Reece Carter’s scorecard. Thorne dropped to 1-2.

Promising youngster Brett Beadon (2-0) of Coulsdon avoided a shocking upset against aggressive Cardiff light-welter Rhys Saunders (0-3-1). Beadon was down for the count in the first 10 seconds of the fight, as Saunders peremptorily deposited him on his derrière with a hard shot to the head shortly after the opening bell. Beadon quickly regained his feet, but took a bit of a pummelling from Saunders in Round 1 as he tried to shake off the fuzzies, his jab keeping Saunders just enough at bay to survive the round.

Beadon recovered steadily and strongly, and over the remainder of the fight exploited his nearly half-a-foot height advantage to take control, a powerful right hook to the ribs scoring repeatedly and sapping Saunders’ energy levels. Beadon scored a knockdown just before the two-minute mark of Round 3, and then finished things at 2:26, driving Saunders into a neutral corner and pounding away. Referee Robert Williams swooped in to wave off Beadon before Saunders could finish slumping to the canvas.

First fight on the card was BoxRec News’ tipster Frankie Monkhouse (4-1) against York’s Graham Fearn (5-18-2). With Alan Wilkey in his corner, Monkhouse (10st 1lb 8oz) came forward but couldn’t get any distance shots off - Fearn (9st 12lbs) closed the space and tied up. Monkhouse was aggressive though, and forced the issue with quick shots to the body.

The Canning Town based Scot widened the gap in the second and had success with swinging left hooks as Fearn disappeared into his shell. By now, Monkhouse had worked out the distance he needed to be at to find Fearn’s chin, and he managed this on several occasions in the third, but Fearn’s a tricky man to stop and had his best round in the fourth when the pair boxed mainly in the middle of the ring. Robert Williams scores 40-36 for Monkhouse.

Debutant Michael Shannon from Sydenham, Kent got huge cheers as he was introduced to the York Hall crowd, making his pro bow against Swindon’s Joe Beeden (0-6). Shannon (9st 10lbs 7oz) landed the cleaner work in the first but the pair looked evenly matched. Beeden’s (9st 7lbs 8oz) activity in the second made for a good watch as the pair swung at each other. Shannon boxed well from the back foot at the start of the third, and picked his shots nicely, but Beeden made of fight of it in the final round, perhaps edging it. Referee Clarke Joslyn scores 39-38 for Shannon. Good fight.

Latvian Pavel Senkovs (4-65-5) handed Orpington’s Martin Hillman (0-1) a decision loss over four threes at lightweight. Hillman, making his debut, had his moments in the opening round, landing a few combos. But Senkovs delivered the harder shots, a couple of left hooks and an overhand right finding Hillman’s head. In the end, Senkovs’ strength, experience and savvy were too much for Hillman. Referee Reese Carter scored it 40-37 for the Latvian import now fighting out of Mansfield, who earned only his fifth win in 75 fights (5 draws).

Barking’s Justin (The Genie) Menzie (1-0) won his own debut with a 39-35 result over four rounds against Lincoln’s Rick Boulter (1-40-3) in a light middleweight contest. Menzie turned Boulter’s legs to rubber at 30 seconds of the first round with a looping overhand left. And though Boulter bounced up from the first knockdown, Menzie dropped him again just over two minutes later with a popping three-punch combination to the face.

Boulter hung on to go the distance, even taking a round on referee Clark Joslyn’s scorecard. That was partly owing to Menzie’s defensive tactics: while he showed a pleasing bit of power in his first outing, he also displayed a disconcerting habit of leaving his own head wide open for counter shots—instead of ducking or slipping punches, Menzies simply leaned back with his hands down most of the time. Boulter caught him more than a few times, and a fighter of higher quality will not fail to avail himself of such an inviting target.

Bushey’s Miles Shinkwin (6-0) got the best of a methodical light heavy fight for the first two and a half rounds against the Czech Republic’s Vaclav Polak (2-4), initiating what action there was with an effective left hook to the body and head. Things grew just a bit too deliberate for referee Williams, however, who called the pair together at the midway point of Round 3 to insist that they engage in a little more action.

Shinkwin took Williams’ exhortation to heart, boring in immediately with his left yet again. But it was a smashing hook from his right hand that crumpled Polak in his own corner 40 seconds later, and after Shinkwin hammered him to the canvas again at 2:28 of the round, Williams called a halt to proceedings.

Still the only blot on Aji Sharif’s boxing record is an amateur loss to Anthony Joshua. The Reading heavyweight, billing himself as The General, won his professional debut against Preston’s Paul ‘Maniac’ Morris (5-22-2).

Morris, a veteran of 28 pro fights coming in, was not the typical opponent one would expect to throw a well-regarded young debutant in against for his initial professional outing—despite winning only five of those contests, Morris is cagey and hits respectably hard. Indeed, Morris gave Sharif a valuable education, forcing him to work for a narrow 39-38 decision by referee Reese Carter’s reckoning.

Sharif demonstrated his power in the first round, cornering Morris just before 2:00 and pouring in a barrage of punches, then slamming a couple of hard body shots Morris’ way just after. Morris gave as good as he got in the second, and then weathered another good sequence by Sharif in the third by spinning out of the corner and making Sharif eat a few jabs.

Morris sent Sharif down in the final round with a low blow 20 seconds in. After the timeout, Morris essayed a bit of veteran gamesmanship. When action resumed, he offered his hand in an apparent sporting gesture—only to attempt to club Sharif with it a fraction of a second after. Sharif expressed his gratitude for the lesson to always be on his guard by nailing Morris with a stinging left hook to the head, and then did enough the rest of the round to clinch the victory.

Another value for money Goodwin Promotions card at the York Hall

Pictures by Bernard Miller for BoxRec News

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