Photo by Marco Perez/Boxeo de Colombia
Anthony Crolla (29-4-3, 11 KOs) suffered a robbery after a majority draw with Darleys Perez (32-1-1, 20 KOs) in his bid for the WBA world lightweight belt, despite outworking his counterpart for the majority of the bout.
A cauldron of disbelief descended on the Manchester crowd when Michael Buffer announced the result, believing their hometown fighter deserved a fairy tale ending to what had been a nightmare seven months.
The nightmare continues for Crolla after sustaining a fractured skull last December, when chasing down a pair of robbers who targeted his neighbors, which almost ended his boxing career and life.
After a cagey opening round, the bout exploded into life when Crolla’s ambitious right hook stumbled Perez back onto the ropes, but the Colombian soaked up the pressure and quickly recovered.
From then on a plethora of close, but engrossing exchanges dominated the rounds, though it was Crolla who used his best weapon, the jab, to set up quick combinations to the head and body before darting back on the inside to avoid any response.
It was clear that he and his trainer Joe Gallagher had worked on a systematic game plan and it was producing fruitful results as Perez started to load up, missing badly.
Photo by Action Images
Perez did inflict some instances of success, but Crolla’s performance had the aurora of a champion, setting the pace of the contest.
And after referee Howard Foster deducted a point from the Colombian in both the 11th and 12th round for low blows, it looked certain that the Brit had secured a tearjerking victory similar to that of fellow Mancunian Ricky Hatton’s 10 years ago in the same arena, who captured the IBF light welterweight title against Kostya Tszyu.
The fight was initially announced as a split decision draw with one judge favoring Crolla by 116-111, a 114-113 for Darleys Perez and the other scoring it 114-114.
But it was later revealed that the score favoring Perez was read wrongly, and was actually scored as 113-113, making it a majority draw.
However, this will be of little comfort to Crolla and his team, and a furious Eddie Hearn has already lodged a complaint to the WBA backing his fighter to get an immediate rematch.
It did show although, that the 28 year old belongs on the world stage, and after a remarkable recovery to return to the ring after life-threatening injuries, a sour night will only turn into a future of success for one of boxing’s most popular characters.
Another fighter in Gallagher’s stable, Scott Quigg (31-0-2, 23 KOs), produced a startling performance against Kiko Martinez (32-6, 24 KOs), dispatching him within two rounds.
The Spaniard opened the bout pushing the Bury fighter onto the back foot, giving the impression Quigg was in for a tough night.
But a magnificent uppercut early in the second rocked Martinez, followed by a barrage of hellacious shots that sent the challenger to the canvas.
Martinez rose, but it was all in vain when Quigg immediately launched another vicious attack, and the usually tenacious fighter simply couldn’t answer the swarm of accurate combinations and was knocked down again by a right hook.
He narrowly beat the count, but referee Terry O’Connor had seen enough meaning Quigg successfully defended his WBA Super Bantamweight title for the sixth time.
It was a huge statement from the Bury fighter, bettering the performances of rival Carl Frampton who had twice triumphed over Martinez–via a ninth-round stoppage in 2013 and by a convincing decision in 2014.
Birmingham’s Sam Eggington (16-2, 9 KOs) produced a career highlight win over Glenn Foot, claiming the vacant British welterweight title and retaining his Commonwealth welterweight with a technical decision after eight rounds.
It wasn’t a close fight as many predicted, as Eggington’s significant reach advantage and superior skills defused Foot both in close and from range.
In the seventh, a cut to the left eye of Foot worsened and at the start of the ninth round the ring doctor ruled the Sunderland fighter unable to continue.
Despite the early use of the judges, there was little doubt of the result and scores of 80-71, 80-72 and 79-72 ensures the 21 year old’s bright future continues.
In the light welterweight division, Chris Jenkins (16-0-1, 8 KOs) and Tyrone Nurse (31-2, 6 KOs) also battled to a less controversial majority draw.
It was a battle of styles with Jenkins ploughing forward, were as Nurse showed good head movement and was happy to stay on the ropes and use his effective counter punching.
After a close, opening six round Jenkins work rate star ted to wane and Nurse took advantage and started to mark up his opponent.
But scores of 117-112 to Nurse, and 115-115, 114-114 leaves the British light welterweight title still vacant and a rematch to settle this tight affair is the most intriguing option.
Martin Murray (31-2-1, 14 KOs) continued his rise in the super middleweight division easily beating Mirzet Bajrektarvic (14-4, 8 KOs) by a fifth round TKO.
It was a dominant victory from the former two-time middleweight world title challenger, securing a second win in his new division within a month.
It alleviates the disappointment of Carl Froch’s recent retirement, with the St Helens fighter establishing himself alongside George Groves and world champion James DeGale in Britain’s most lucrative domestic scene.
