Headline act Gully Powar wants to make a name for himself, and he continued his exemplary unbeaten run with a landslide six-round’s points win against Jose Manuel Perez at the Bescot Stadium in Walsall on BCB Promotions ‘Powar Moves’ show Friday night.
The 21-year-old from Wolverhampton who trains in the city at Richie Carter’s Wolverhampton Boxing Club had boxed his previous two contests on major televised undercard’s and looked to have gained a lot from those experiences as he put on a mature performance against the dangerous Costa Rican, who has eight knockout wins on his ledger.
Entering the ring to the now familiar drumbeat, Powar looked confident as he settled into the fight, quickly establishing his jab against his fleet-footed opponent. The styles of both men gelled well, and they used every inch of the ring, looking for openings.
It looked on paper like a step up for Powar, but he got into a nice rhythm, breaching Perez guard with some crisp combinations. It wasn’t all plain sailing; he did walk on to a few shots, but none of which did enough to trouble the scorecard as he took a complete shutout, 60-54. This was Powar’s ninth fight since turning professional in October 2022, and after successive six-round victories, the talk of stepping up to ten and potential title fights will intensify.
Tipton’s Danny Skidmore put on a clinical four-round display in the show’s chief support, completely outboxing the hundred-plus-fight veteran Simas Volosinas. The 28-year-old is the latest fighter to come out of Jimmy Gould’s gym, and he is wasting little time with this being his second contest in less than ten weeks.
The taller of the two Skidmore used his longer reach to pop out the jab and landed accurate right hands against his Lithuanian opponent, who makes a living out of surviving against quality prospects. ‘Skiddy’ kept looking for the openings and showed a tight defence going the distance for the second time, taking a 40-36 win on referee Ryan Churchill’s score card.
Omarah Taylor has set her goals in the sport very high, and she showed why she has such self-belief with a bruising, bludegeoning fifth-round TKO win against Maria Zivkovic. It was the 30-year-old from Birmingham’s second fight since leaving a successful amateur career and turning professional in December last year.
Her debut went the distance, but this time around she wasn’t going to let her opponent off the hook and see the final bell. Taylor Train’s under-experienced coach, Jobi Clayton, and the two look like a formidable pairing with some noticeable improvements this fight.
Zivkovic, who boxes out of her home country of Serbia, struggled to cope with the size and power of Taylor, and she looked out of ideas by the third of their scheduled six-rounder.
The contest arguably could have been stopped sooner than it was, but after trapping Zivkovic on the ropes in round five, Taylor unleashed a dazzling, unanswered combination that forced referee Ryan Churchill to stop the fight and hand Taylor her first early finish.
Heavyweight hopeful Sonny Clarke made the perfect start to his second professional contest, dropping the durable Jake Darnell with a right hand in the opening round of their scheduled four. The ‘Wolverhampton Bomber’ certainly lived up to the nickname as Darnell took a knee to recover before managing to beat the count.
It wasn’t to be an early night, though, as Clarke had to settle for his second straight points win, but he won’t be disappointed as he dominated the action from start to finish and showed he is more than just a puncher.
Darnell looked susceptible to body shots, and it was an area the 22-year-old targeted throughout, landing numerous solid blows. The man from Blackpool did manage to see the final bell, but it was a shutout on the scorecard, with Clarke taking the contest 40-35.
James Griffiths made it a fantastic five wins from five with another solid performance, out-pointing Shane Smith. The ‘Baggie Boy’ has been looking to go through the gears, and he landed plenty of solid shots and showed good movement against a motivated Shane Smith boxing for the first time since a stoppage loss to Liam Gould in February.
The 28-year-old from Wombourne did drop one round on referee Ryan Churchill’s score card but looked a comfortable winner, getting the decision 39-37.
