Brad Pauls becomes first Cornishman to win a pro title in over 100 years
'The Newquay Bomb' Brad Pauls (13-0) stopped Darren Codona (7-5-1) in the third round to win the Southern Area middleweight title on June 8 at the York Hall on a Goodwin Boxing event.
Pauls became the first Cornishman to win a pro title in over 100 years. Who was the last? The legendary Bob Fitzsimmons!
Fitzsimmons was a British professional boxer who made boxing history as the sport's first three-division world champion. He also achieved fame for beating Gentleman Jim Corbett, and he is in The Guinness Book of World Records as the lightest heavyweight champion.
Now Pauls' name has been added to the same list as the man who lived just 26 miles away from him in Helston.
He posted this message on Twitter the following day from the fight: "Turned my dreams to reality last night, it meant the world to me. Made history as the first Cornishman in over a 100 years to win a pro title. You work hard and you get what you want Thanks every single person who supports me. Really lucky from the support I get."
After a tame opening round, which saw Pauls' tentatively scoping out his opponent, he stepped up the pressure in the second round once he was more comfortable and into his stride. The end came in the third stanza after two knockdowns forced referee Lee Cook to stop the contest.
It was the first time in his career that Guildford's Codona had suffered an early exit and he paid his dues after the fight to his conqueror, “Brad is the hardest puncher I have been in with.” he praised.
The history-making victor beamed, “I am still buzzing,” he said on Monday morning. “I am going on a holiday and then will sit down with my manager Steve Goodwin early July and decide our next plan. My Stable mate Linus Udofia is mandatory for the English title and obviously we wont be boxing so its up to my manager to navigate us separately. I am excited for the future and hopefully we will have an announcement Mid -July.”
Elsewhere on the card Jake Ball returned to winning ways lining up for a big title fight on a Matchroom show whilst “Flashy” Muheeb Fazeldin returned after a year off moving himself into title contention. There were wins for Jack Hughes (now moving to a title shot), the impressive Ish O’Connor, Brandon Ball, Adrian Redman, Neil Parry, Billy Jackson, Yaser Al Ghena and Alan Ratibb whilst Denis Denikajev drew with Ben Fields in what was a fantastic all action fight and Jack Newham who suffered an accidental head clash ended up with a technical draw against Naheem Chaudhry.