Commonwealth king Gavin Gwynne crowned British lightweight champion
Gavin Gwynne (15-2, 3KOs) lived up to his promise of leaving the York Hall with two belts around his waist as he became British lightweight champion on his third attempt by securing a unanimous points decision over unbeaten Luke Willis (11-1, 1KO) at the York Hall in Bethnal Green.
Victory for Gwynne has seen him make history as the first British champion from Merthyr Tydfil in over 40 years, following on from the legendary Johnny Owen, known as the Merthyr Matchstick, who won British, Commonwealth and European bantamweight titles in the late 70s/early 80s. He died from his injuries sustained in a world title fight on November 4, 1980.
As the lightweights lined up in the ring, the Welshman towered over the Liverpudlian, but took his time to make the physical advantages count as Willis beat him to the punch in the opening rounds.
From the third round, Gwynne managed to turn it into his fight by forcing 30-year-old southpaw Willis to stand and trade with him, which worked well for him as he outgunned and slowly wore him down.
The undefeated Willis had his moments, moving well and displaying fast hands, but he had trouble trying to keep the bigger man off, as he was increasingly backed up onto the ropes.
The more experienced Gwynne was relentless, setting a fast pace and throwing non-stop. By the mid-rounds, Willis was feeling the high pace and backing up. He bravely fired back in the seventh stanza, as he tried to find a way back into the fight.
But nothing could prevent Gwynne from advancing forward as the Commonwealth champ steadily racked up the points on the judges scorecards. The difference in experience was telling and Gwynne came close to stopping Willis in the eighth round, but the Merseysider managed to get through to the next round.
The official scorecards were read aloud as 117-113, 118-110 and 115-112.
Gwynne's only two reverses on his record came in British title fights against 'Welsh Wizard' Joe Cordina and 'The Assassin' James Tennyson, but captured the Commonwealth crown by beating Sean McComb in February 2021 and has now banked a second successful defence of that belt.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling, it has been a dream of mine,” an emotional Gwynne said afterwards. “I failed twice and I wasn't going to let it happen [again]. I thought I was doing to get a stoppage in round [eight], but it didn’t come. Luke Willis is a tough cookie who hit me with some good shots. Fair play to him for sticking with it, he took some heavy punishment."
Next up for Gwynne is set to be Celtic champion Craig Woodruff (12-6, 4KOs) in an all-Welsh clash. The British Boxing Board of Control ordered the new champion to defend the British belt against Woodruff within 90 days.
Gilley vs Brown
Chief supporting act to the main event featured the only other title fight of the night between English super-welterweight Sam Gilley (14-1, 7KOs) and undfeated challenger Drew Brown (12-1, 1KO).
The 'Magic Man' from London managed to stop Brown in the ninth round of a thrilling battle.
25 from Northampton, Drew Brown rose to prominence as the inaugural winner of Ultimate Boxxer in 2018, but only ever fought another two times since his crowning glory against journeymen, so his career never really took off like many expected it to.
During the exciting contest, both boxers looked on the brink of being beaten several times, with defending champ Gilley looking out on his feet at during the eighth round before miraculously firing back in what was an incredible round of action. With expectations high, Gilley managed to come out in the ninth round landing a left-right combination to send Brown staggering back to the ropes and then another right to end matters clinically as referee Kieran McCann jumped in quickly to stop the action.
Undercard
Heavy-handed Kazakh Sultan Zaurbek (13-0, 9KOs) halted Argentinian 'Pitbull' Nicolas Nahuel Botelli (11-7, 6KOs) with a left hook to the body in the fifth round. The 25-year-old southpaw from Shymkent is the reigning WBO European super-featherweight champion.
Highly-touted Irish super-lightweight prospect Pierce O'Leary (9-0, 5KOs), 22 from Dublin, delivered excitement by knocking out France's Nathan Augustine (4-4-1, 2KOs) with a left hook 19 seconds before the end of the first round. He is the first of nine fighters to stop the Frenchman. 'Big Bang' boxes out of the iBox Gym in Bromley with top trainers Alan Smith and Eddie Lamm.
Nina Hughes (2-0, 1KO) also scored a stoppage in her scheduled eight-rounder with Bec Connolly (3-13). Connolly was down in the first round from a right hook but was saved by the bell, but then just 40 seconds into the second stanza saw referee McCann stop the one-sided contest. It took newly-crowned IBF World bantamweight champion Ebanie Bridges one round extra to stop 'Lady Luck' Connolly in their eight-round contest last year, so that could be a potential future fight.
There were wins for Carl Fail (6-0, 2KOs); Elliot Whale (6-0, 2KOs); Paul Ryan (4-0, 2KOs); and debutant Jimmy Croxson (1-0); but unbeaten home fighter Dean Richardson (12-0-1, 9KOs) was forced to settle for a draw with Bulgarian journeyman Angel Emilov (10-40-1, 6KOs).
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