On a balmy night in Grays, promoter Carl Greaves staged a six-fight card featuring the best of his emerging talents from the county of Essex.
Opening the show was Harwich’s 28-year-old welterweight prospect John Wheatley (3-0), who was made to work hard to earn his 39-37 points win against Sheffield’s Liam Wright (0-9), who was bleeding from a cut on the head. Wheatley is a disciplined, busy fighter, mixing his shots well with spiteful intention and definitely looks set to enjoy a promising career.
Next up was 25-year-old debutant Jack Healy (1-0), who looked huge for a welterweight. Thurrock’s Healy successfully entered the paid ranks with a shut-out points victory over four three-minute rounds against the awkward Ali Wyatt (5-43-2) from Torquay.
In ‘The Battle of Kent’ between Ramsgate’s Sammy Holloway (2-0-1) and Rochester’s Sonny Whiting (2-8-1), the result ended in a stalemate in what was an exciting and competitive bout that saw the action swing back and forth for the duration of the four three-minute rounds.
Regularly switching from southpaw to orthodox, the home fighter from the South Coast was guilty of waiting too long and being beaten to the punch by the Medway man. Whiting, trained by Johnny and Frank Greaves at the Peacock Gym, is a lot better than his record suggests and he definitely scored the more eye-catching shots, ultimately unlucky not to get the win with the middleweight contest scored at 39-39.
Exciting 21-year-old welterweight talent George Hennon (4-1) notched up his fourth win in his fifth professional fight defeating Plymouth’s Ross Roberts (1-6) over four three-minute rounds scored by referee Robert Williams at 40-37. The Kent puncher, a stablemate of Sonny Whiting's, was tangled up many times by the 33-year-old Devonian in what was an aggressive and competitive bout.
Hennon was slipping shots, countering well and barely put a foot wrong during the 12 minutes of action. A short break is on the cards for Hennon over the summer, expected to fight next in November.
Popular middleweight Tey Lynn-Jones moved up to 3-0 as he was roared on by his fanatic following. The 22-year-old from Grays defeated Spaniard Christian Hoskin Gomez (4-14-3) 60-55 on points.
Teysty brings a huge crowd with him to all his fights and never fails to pay them back for their loyal support with his entertaining, heart-on-his-sleeve style of fighting. He was guilty at times of taking too many flush shots from the bloodied Andalusian away fighter but was in full control of the contest and demonstrated a good engine in his first six-rounder.
Topping the bill was Southend’s Idris Hill (5-0) against Plymouth’s Chris Adaway (4-16-2), originally set for the British Challenge junior-lightweight belt but the home fighter failed to meet the weight limit set by the BBBofC. The 31-year-old Nigerian-born I.D. Hill, trained by Kevin Lilley, won the eight-round contest 79-75 to move up to 5-0 on his impressive record. From Westcliff-on-Sea, I.D. is clearly being fast-tracked to titles, only debuting in October last year, if he continues on his winning run, he could potentially reach 6-0 by September 24th, the date scheduled for his next fight back at the Grays Civic Hall.
Manager Carl Greaves has already stated his intention of landing Hill a shot at the Southern Area title next.
The event was entertaining and intriguing throughout the evening. The travelling Plymouth punchers all fought well to earn their money against top prospects, making each bout competitive and captivating, much to the enjoyment of the paying spectators.
The next Grays Civic Hall event is firmly set in the diary for Saturday 24th September with John Wheatley, Idris Hill, Jack Healy, Tey Lynn-Jones and Paul Hilz all confirmed already.