Lee Selby, of Barry, successfully defended his Commonwealth Featherweight title at the Newport Centre, Newport, South Wales with an impressive fifth round stoppage of teak tough Ghanaian challenger Patrick Okine. The Challenger was a relatively unknown quantity as he, flamboyantly, entered the ring in confident fashion. The fight got off to a slightly cautious start, as both men sized each other up. Over the next few rounds the game challenger employed the same tactics of high, tight guard while looking for wild, big shots on the counter, cutting Selby under the left in the second. The Tony Borg trained, Selby boxed well and picked his shots, using the jab and dropping in the right and from the third round had his timing and distance working to great effect. The challenger was slowed up a few times by impressive body shots. At times the fight was scrappy and wild and Okine always looked dangerous though Selby was the one displaying the greater skills and technique. Both men landed hard shots, in the bout and it looked like we were headed for a long distance affair until the champion initiated a toe-to-toe brawl in the away fighters corner. Vicious blows were exchanged and the champion came out on top as his right hands dropped Okine. The challenger bravely beat the count and tried to continue but was on the end of a lot of punishment, while trapped in the corner, and the contest was waved off. This was a tricky assignment for the Barry man and he passed with flying colours. Lee Selby improves to 13-1 with 5 KOs while Patrick Okine drops to 11-2-1 with 9 KOs. Birminghams undefeated Frankie Gavin beat the experienced Hungarian journeyman, Laszlo Komjathi via fifth round retirement. Gavin had too much of everything, for his game but outclassed opponent. Gavin scored a knockdown in the second from a straight left and worked his opponent over, round after round. Komjathi put up brave resistance but was simply out-gunned and retired at the end of the fifth. Gavins unbeaten run stretches to 13-0, 10 KOs while Komjathi falls to 43-41-2, 16 KOs. Tony Pace, of Talbot Green ended the unbeaten run of Francis Luke Robinson, of Cardiff, with a well-deserved four round decision victory. Pace used effective, aggressive pressure to stop Robinson using his lateral movement effectively. Pace punished the body and also showed a good jab to get on top of his opponent. Robinson, tried to use his boxing skills and jab but was unable to deal with the pressure brought by Pace. It was a competitive fight but the rounds were being won by Pace, who showed educated aggression and deservedly won. The Official scorecard was 39-38 for Pace though I scored it 40-36 to Pace. Pace improves to 2-4 while Robinson drops to 4-1. Tonypandys, unbeaten Lewis Rees impressively got his fourth win over the much taller, debutant, Jerome Samuels, of Newport via second round TKO. Rees dropped Samuels in the first from a left uppercut and then again with a left hook. Samuels was then floored three times in the second round. Rees, trained by Gary Lockett, showed good composure when going for the finish and completely out-gunned his fallen foe. Tougher tests lie ahead but Rees is certainly one to watch. In a Middleweight contest, Welsh prospect, Liam Williams of Clydach Vale, scored a well-earned fourth round points win over Nottinghams, Gilson De Jesus. The Vincent Cleverly, trained Williams showed his full arsenal of punches through-out the fight and had too much of everything for the game, De Jesus. Williams used a good set-up jab and fast powerful combinations and I gave him every round. Williams controlled the fight and was comfortable boxing or brawling. Williams improves to 3-0 while De Jesus drops to 1-3. Williams looks an excellent prospect. This content is protected
