Unbeaten super-bantamweight Scott Quigg put himself in line for
a tilt at world honours when he blasted Venezuela's Franklin Varela
at the Castle Leisure in Bury on Saturday night (July 23).
A vicious left hook to the body in round seven of their
eliminator contest ripped the fight out of the South American and
earned Quigg first place in the queue to face newly crowned WBA
champion Rico Ramos.
Before that final punch connected, Varela had actually battled
quite well. He'd taken some heavy punches but never looked like
wilting and always attempted to respond with shots of his
own.
But Quigg, fighting under new trainer Pat Barrett, would not be
denied and a solid overhand right set up a left hand to the ribcage
that left Varela to agony on the canvas.
An immediate shot at the aforementioned Ramos appears unlikely for
the likable Englishman. He is already pencilled in to challenge for
the British title against Nottingham veteran Jason Booth in
October.
"To hopefully one day fight for the world title would mean
everything," Quigg, 22 - 0 (15 KOs), told HattonTV. "But I've still
got a couple more fights to go and whoever they put in front of me
I've got to keep beating."
Beaming promoter Ricky Hatton said: "I'm very very proud of him.
That was a world title eliminator and the calibre of opponent isn't
your every day run of the mill guy so the manner in which he won
shows how he's improving.
"I was very impressed. Scott's right hand was working a treat
and he absolutely drilled him early on."
Another fighter with world title aspirations is Belarusian
light-middleweight Sergey Rabchenko.
The hard punching 25-year-old is already the WBA's
Inter-continental titlist and showed his skills by quickly wiping
out the challenge of the normally durable Kevin McCauley.
A left hook square on the chin sent McCauley down early in the
fight. And when another left hand, this time high on the head, had
the Halesowen man down again, referee Steve Gray waved it off. The
time was 1.10.
Italy's former world title challenger Luca Messi was left
scratching his head after losing a six round points decision to
Tony Randall.
The 36-year-old from Bergamo cut off the ring well and his use
of solid body shots looked to have earned him the spoils in every
session. Referee Michael Alexander didn't see it that way though
and handed Randall 59-57 verdict.
Heywood prospect Kieran "Vicious" Farrell got his Hatton
Promotions debut off to the perfect start by pitching a shut out
four rounds win over tough veteran Sid Razak.
The Bobby Rimmer student chased Razak around the ring, attacking
both the head and the body before he was awarded a 40-36
margin.
Tom Shaw extended his unbeaten record to three fights by seeing
off dangerous Sheffield man Jason Carr in another four-rounder.
Shaw, from Burton-on-Trent, had chipped away at Carr with a
crisp jab and fast right cross and his stellar work really began to
pay dividends in the fourth and final round.
Two right hooks to the torso sent Carr to the canvas. He was up
before the end of the referee's count but time run out before Shaw
could get in the shots needed to close the show in style.
Rhys Roberts bounced back from suffering his first defeat
earlier in the year by outworking Kristian Laight.
The Whitefield man, a barber by day, never let Laight's attempts
to frustrate him affect his boxing and punched his way to a clear
cut 40-36 mark.
26/07/2011 15:40:21