Tommy Langford puts in career-best performance to halt Wayne Reed in five
Tommy Langford put in a masterful display against the tough Wayne Reed at the Wolves Civic on Valentine's Night dropping his opponent twice in the fourth round with malicious body shots before the referee called a halt to the contest in the fifth round.
Langford dealt with the southpaw superbly from the opening bell of the scheduled ten round contest landing often and putting together neat combinations to hurt the 27-year-old man from Sheffield and never allowed him to relax by setting a high pace from the start.
A couple of perfectly timed uppercuts found their target in the fourth round before a vicious body shot dumped him onto the canvas.
Reed struggled to his feet and bravely continued before finding himself back on the canvas from another terrific shot to the body in the same round. During the fifth and final round, Langford continued to work on the body as Reed visibly winced with every blow.
After a left-right combination to the head that forced Reed to pull away from the ruthless onslaught, the referee had seen enough and put an end to the punishment at 2 minutes and 31 seconds of the fifth round.
The 25-year-old unbeaten middleweight from Birmingham moves up to 12(3)-0-0 whilst Wayne Reed drops to 11(5)-10(6)-0.
Langford commented after the fight, "I loved it. Although I'm a little disappointed at taking more shots than I needed to and that doesn’t usually happen to me, I landed a lot of combinations. It was an exciting fight and a great finish. I showed some good skills and plenty of heart and firepower. I was especially pleased with my body punching and mixing up with head shots. He was a very tough and game kid and I’m very happy with the performance, but there is still plenty to work on."
Tommy now looks certain to be heading into a title fight in his next outing, "I'd like to go for a title next. At the end of the year I'd like to mix with the best of the domestic scene."
Headlining fight saw Terry Flanagan crowned as the new WBO European lightweight champion following a tenth round disqualification against Stephen Ormond for use of the head. It was an absorbing encounter from the opening bell set at a high pace with plenty of to and fro between the rival 135-pounders. Flanagan, coming into the fight as the undefeated British Champion, showed the sharper skills, while Ormond, the defending WBO European Champion, tried to wear his opponent down with consistent pressure and attempts to land the harder shots. In the ninth round, Ormond was deducted a point by the referee for using his head and then warned on a further two occasions. The referee, Steve Gray had enough by the tenth round and disqualified the champion Ormond for excessive use of the head.
With the current WBO World lightweight king Terence Crawford expected to vacate the belt shortly and move up to campaign in the light-welterweight division, Flanagan will now have to wait to find who he will fight for the title out of the number one ranked American Juan Diaz and Japan’s number two ranked Takahiro Ao who meet in a WBO ordered eliminator. Lightweight Joe Costello scored a sensational first round win over Hungary’s Sandor Horvath. The Chelmsley Wood ace destroyed Horvath, dropping him with a hard left hook for an eight count and followed that up with another big left for a second count before the referee stepped in to wave off the fight. Costello will move up to eight rounds in his next fight for a potential first title shot.
He said, “I felt sharp in there and I took my time, believe it or not. That’s three stoppages in four fights now, two in the first round, I know that I’ve got the power to take them out. People say I should be getting the rounds in, but I say why should I? I know I can whack and it’s more exciting! I’m looking at moving up to eight rounds next and then it could be a title fight. I love this sport and I’m in it for the glory.”
Unbeaten Welsh super-featherweight Craig Evans cruised to his 14th straight win with a points victory of 80-73 and looks set to challenge for belts in his next fight. Evans had to use his jab and ringcraft to outwork his game opponent after injuring his left hand early on in the fight.
He said, “I felt my left hand go around the second or third round and knew I had to use my skills for the rest of the fight to make sure I came away with the win.” In-form middleweight Jamie Cox said he was going to show that he meant business and he certainly did by blowing away Alistair Warren inside a round (2:30).
Hard-hitting Chris Eubank Jnr. took three rounds to take out Warren, but Swindon ace Cox, who said before the fight that he wanted to break into the top 160lb domestic mix this year with Billy Joe Saunders, Chris Eubank Jnr. and Martin Murray, ripped into Warren to show that he’s fast approaching that class. Cox dropped him first with an overhand right, that Warren got up from at the count of eight, Cox then tore into his opponent, mixing hard shots to the head and body that Warren impressively took. Cox then landed a brutal left hook-come-uppercut that flattened Warren on the canvas. After the fight Cox said, “It’s great to be back in action. I said what I was going to do and I delivered. I’ve got a lot of respect for Warren, he’s a tough kid who took Eubank Jnr. three rounds, but I’m 28 now and I’m not holding back on my career. You’re going to see the same from me from now on. I’m not calling out the top boys at the weight yet, but I’m coming up behind them, fast.”
Exciting Swansea bantamweight Jay Harris takes his record to 5-0 with a third round stoppage of Bulgaria’s Stefan Slavchev, the second stoppage in a row for the Gary Lockett trained fighter. Corby cruiserweight Simon Barclay continues to improve with each fight and took every round against Preston’s Paul Morris to take his record to five unbeaten. Light-heavyweight Ricky Summers grounded out a hard-fought points win over Lincoln’s tough Mitch Mitchell, taking every round in the process and moving up to 8-0. Debutant Raza Hamza kicked off his career perfectly with a first round stoppage over Berkshire's Jack Heath.