Jamie Arlain sizzles in second round stoppage win
Bethnal Green’s Jamie Arlain moved up to 5-0 with a sensational stoppage victory over rival Andrew Joicey (3-3) on December 3rd at London’s York Hall in a 10-round eliminator contest for the Southern Area lightweight title.
The East-ender put in a career-best performance to stop Joicey two and a half minutes into the second round after stunning ‘The Goose’ with a thumping right hook.
The telling punch was his most effective in the fight that he could not fail to land on numerous occasions.
With former British champion Matt Marsh in the corner, Arlain boxed maturely and moved intelligently, spinning off whenever his aggressive counterpart sauntered forward to try and close the gap.
The 28-year-old local lad who grew up just five minutes’ walk from the York Hall boxed shrewdly on the back foot, keeping Joicey at range and turning his opponent rather than engaging him.
There were times where Joicey pinned him to the ropes but Arlain came out on top of the exchanges before moving away from danger.
It was a game-plan that worked wonders and the counter-puncher landed some hard, flush shots with his effective and destructive right hook.
There was a moment in the first round where the 33-year-old from Middlesex was staggered but Arlain failed to capitalise, exacting patience and seemingly thinking about the further nine rounds ahead of him – their last encounter lasting the distance.
The pair clashed recently back in September for the British Challenge lightweight belt with Arlain emerging the deserved winner, scored at 79-74 by referee Lee Cook.
This time, it only seemed to be going one way and at the two minutes mark in the second round, ‘No Pain No Gain’ landed yet another flush right hook to the head of Joicey which stunned the former Queensbury Boxing League fighter visibly enough for Arlain to rightfully sense blood and go in for the kill.
A flurry of unanswered punches to a tottering Joicey was enough for referee Lee Cook to step in and waive off the scheduled 10-round contest early.
The win will now see Arlain matched with Luton’s Michael Devine for the Southern Area lightweight strap that he won on the same show with the same result – a second round stoppage win over Ben Day.
Christmas Carnage
‘Handsome’ Josh Kennedy stopped Southern Area featherweight titlist Jamie ‘The Genius’ Speight in the third round to relieve him of his belt.
Light-heavyweight prospect ‘Dazzling’ Darrel Church won 40-37 on points against Croatian Toni Bilic.
Joe Vaughan lost to Nikolay Kolyandov in what should have been a routine win, dropped heavily in the dying seconds of the opening round. Referee Cook signalled the end four seconds after the bell had sounded.
In the final of The Fight Cup, Ryan Crawford defeated Karl Wheeler moments before the end of round six.
Follow Jamie Arlain on Twitter @arlain_jamie88
Jamie Arlain would like to thank his sponsors Pro-Dec and Nu-Maintenance and Agent Tim Rickson