Jason Booth vs. Jamie Arthur & David Price vs. Osborne Machimana RBR

Here is Booth, the British champ...out to some weird music.

 

Booth has a chance to have become "unified" British & Commonwealth champion in three different weight divisions tonight (having already done it at flyweight and bantamweight).

 

Round 1

Arthur jabs his way in, mixing up low and high. Booth circles with his legs wide and tries to catch Arthur with an overhand right. Arthur fights tall, jabbing to start every exchange and doing a lot of pulling back. Booth blocks a few jabs but doesn't throw much and misses his few overhand rights.

Arthur outworked and outboxed him, 10-9

 

Round 2

Booth gets a high jab working. They tie up, then break and touch gloves. Booth is coming forward very doggedly and causing some more tie-ups. Booth disengages and gets back to the outside, trying to dodge jabs. Booth ducks down and comes in with a body shot. Arthur foot-feints and then traps Booth against the ropes where he whips him with some hard softball-pitch body shots. They tie up a bit more as Booth tries to step inside on Arthur. Big left hook lands for Booth. They again get knotted. Arthur chops with both arms and doesn't land but backs Booth into the ropes where he tangles up with him.

 

Round 3

Booth fires out a confident jab and a hard hook, getting the better of the initial exchange. Arthur doesn't give any ground, though. Both miss with single shots as each slips. Booth lands another hook upstairs. Pair of body shots from Arthur. Booth reaches with high lead rights. Arthur clips him with the end of a 1-2 as Booth is on his lateral move. Booth comes atop him and they infight a little. An Arthur 1-2 sails over Booth's head. Booth works his way inside and tries to slap over with some short punches. Arthur wrestles him and tries to lean back and land uppercuts. Arthur hits during the break and gets warned by the ref.

 

Round 4

Booth is right in Arthur's chest, hooking with both hands. Booth hurls his right hand up and over as they grind brows. Arthur keeps working short little tapping uppercuts on the inside, as Booth focuses more on blind overhands. They separate and Booth slips some jabs. Arthur presses in and they are again infighting against the ropes, with Booth landing a very nice hook to the chin. Arthur moves outside and tries to jab with Booth but is getting timed and outlanded now. Booth leads with a right hand that glances and they tie up. Arthur lands a hook to the body. Both pose on the outside. Arthur barely circles away from a big Booth hook.

10-9 Booth

38-38

 

Round 5

Booth starts out aggressively, throwing hard on the inside despite being smothered and doing a lot of arm pushing as a result. Arthur tries to hand back and box until Booth catches him and then leans against him and throws short uppercuts. Booth is throwing his left arm up every time they come together and getting it tangled with Arthur's right, so Booth just launches his overhand right. They are ordered to break and Arthur gets a late punch in and gets a 2nd warning, this one stern. Both miss giant hooks, with Booth ducking Arthur's and then throwing his own blind as he comes back up.

 

Round 6

Booth moves around quickly on the outside, navigating his way through jabs. Booth is getting inside and hurling high hooks. Arthur is slapping him on the top of the head on the way in with his right, and then working those short door-knocked uppercuts on the inside. Booth keeps pressuring behind a jab and lands a nice right hand (taking a lesser one in return). They clinch and Booth hooks out of it, turning Arthur's chin. More clinching. Booth double jabs to the body and lands a high right. Another clinch and Arthur gets his short uppercuts working. Body shot by Arthur just at the bell.

57-57

 

Round 7

They are coming together with Arthur bearing down on the back of Booth's head; partially Booth being pushed down and partially him bowing down. Neither is landing very cleanly. There's a lot of jostling as they each try to push away their foe's arms to clear their own workspace on the inside. Lots of wrestling this round. Booth momentarily turns his back as they come halfway out of a clinch, and Arthur tries to hit him on the side of the head but finds him a narrow target turned sideways. They draw back in and continue throwing, missing, and wrestling.

 

Round 8

Booth comes in hooking high to either side. Arthur clinches him up and tries to keep him hugged in close but Booth keeps violently scrapping out and landing short punches before Arthur can swallow him back up. Booth is just mugging him on the inside now. Arthur is no longer working his uppercuts, just trying to pull Booth in tight. HUGE RIGHT HAND snaps Arthur's head back. Arthur finally throws an uppercut but misses. Arthur's left eye is bleeding badly. Booth lands an overhand right. They clinch again with Arthur landing a right of his own on the way in.

10-9 Booth

 

It all depends on how Mick Williamson does here.

He's a fantastic cutman, but...

 

Round 9

Booth is drilling his way in with set-up jabs and savage overhand rights. Arthur straightens out and tiptoes along the perimeter with his chin held back and his hands low. Booth is ducking down and rushing inside, landing short whacks on the midsection as Arthur misses or glances with flurries over his head. Arthur is able to neither evade nor counter so he looks to grab. Booth gets his head trapped and just keeps punching as he pushes Arthur into the ropes. They wrestle down the stretch, Arthur working in short soft uppercuts and Booth hooking hard to the body.

87-84

Jim Watt has it level 86-86 (having given one round even)

 

FYI, Williamson has done a brilliant job. You can't even tell Arthur is cut when the rounds start (until Booth lands his overhand rights)