Ringside Report: Nathan Heaney & Brad Pauls Can’t Be Split After Twelve Entertaining Rounds

Ringside Report: Nathan Heaney & Brad Pauls Can’t Be Split After Twelve Entertaining Rounds

By Matthew Elliott

The Magnificent Seven rode into Birmingham last night, as Nathan Heaney and Brad Pauls put on a scintillating display in the main event.

Heaney, defending his WBA Continental middleweight title and the British belt he won last time out, was again roared on by a large contingent of fans, who commenced the singing of Tom Jones’ Delilah from the moment they took their seats.  As their man entered the ring, at just before half past eleven, the enthusiasm hadn’t diluted, and Heaney enjoyed every minute of his ring walk. Pauls was also well supported, as chants of ‘Newquay Bomb’ rang around the arena, as the English champion took centre ring.

The first few rounds were relatively cagey as both men felt their way into the fight, Heaney probably having the best of the exchanges, although most of his work came on the back foot, a feature of the fight. Pauls grew into the contest as the rounds wore on, and by the halfway stage, it was hard to choose between them. Both men were bloodied by this stage and had taken the best their opponent could offer, proving both their fitness and the ability of their respective chins. The clearest round of the fight came in the eighth, as Pauls rocked Heaney back with several stinging shots, resulting in the Stoke man projecting his gumshield out of the ring. Whether that came from the sheer force of a shot or was a tactical move to delay proceedings and regain some composure only, he knows, but he was hurt. Pauls failed to capitalise in round nine but finished the stronger of the two men, as they both emptied the tank and embraced as the final bell tolled.

Opinion was split at ringside, although many thought Pauls had done enough, as a hush fell across the arena. The judges’ scorecards read 116-113 Heaney, 115-114 Pauls, before Kevin Parker’s scorecard read 114-114, signalling a split decision draw. On balance, it’s probably a fair outcome, and if Heaney decides to give Pauls a rematch, there is no doubt he will have deserved it. This was a fight I’d have no issues watching again.

The IBO super bantamweight world title is heading back to Telford after a stunning performance from Liam Davies who stopped Eric Robles in round two. After an energetic first round, in which Davies dictated the pace, he landed a right uppercut to spend Robles sprawling to the canvas a minute into round two. Robles made it to his feet and was allowed to continue, but Davies jumped straight on him, and another shot sent him back onto the ropes, with referee John Latham jumping in to end the contest. The stock of Davies has been on a steady rise in recent months, and with the IBO belt now in his possession, you have to think big things are on the horizon.

Following back-to-back defeats against Zhilei Zhang, perhaps victory was the only thing on Joe Joyce’s mind last night. If that was the case he can be pleased with his work, but in reality, it was a poor performance from the juggernaut who pondered to victory over Kash Ali, showing a lot of the weaknesses that have been evident throughout his career, but which to date have only been truly exposed by Zhang. Coming in at 286lbs looked to be a mistake from the early rounds, as Joyce appeared to run out of gas, and with Ali looking to evade any real conflict, it made for a disappointing fight. Eventually, with less than thirty seconds remaining, Joyce found the knockout punch, landing a short right to rock Ali, who then fell as Joyce looked to follow up. Ali made it to his feet, but the referee waved it off. What comes next for Joyce will be interesting to see.

Zach Parker recovered from a second-round knockdown to beat Tyron Zeuge by unanimous decision, winning 96-94, 97-92, 98-91. Parker touched down after initially being rocked by a right hand. He then avoided further shots before another landed on what appeared to be the back of the head. Parker complained, but he was giving a standing eight count. That was the highlight of the fight, and from there Parker’s superior fitness shone through, as he evaded any further damage and sat behind his jab, picking off the rounds for a fairly dominant but unimpressive win.

After his gruelling encounter with Ionut Baluta last time out, it was an easier night’s work for Dennis McCann as he won the vacant British and WBO inter-continental super bantamweight titles and retained his Commonwealth strap with victory over Brad Strand. After an even first round, McCann landed a perfectly timed right hook to send Strand down and buzzed him again shortly after. McCann seemed well on top at that point, although credit to Strand, he recovered to make it more of a contest in the later rounds. In the end, though, the judges scored it unanimously to McCann with scores of 118-111, 116-111, and 116-112.

In the battle of the undefeated welterweights, it was Owen Cooper who came out on top, defeating Eithan James with a flawless performance to become the new WBO European and English welterweight champion. The tone was set in the first round as Cooper landed with a huge left hand to send James to the canvas and it was that shot that would be the key to the fight, with Cooper landing it at will as the champion struggled to get any kind of foothold. It was all over at the end of round nine, James’ corner having seen enough and pulling their man out, marking a career-best win for Cooper. 

Hovhannes Martirosyan recovered from a first-round knockdown to give Pierce O’Leary one of the toughest fights of his professional career to date, but the Irishman dug deep and got the victory, retaining his WBC International super lightweight title with a ninth-round stoppage. O’Leary won the early rounds, but the gap was closing as the fight entered the middle stages, however, he regained the momentum from round seven onwards and landed a strong left hook to close out the contest.

In the opening bout of the evening, Ezra Taylor defeated Prince Oko Nartey to take the Commonwealth Silver light heavyweight title. Taylor was on the offensive from the start, catching Nartey inside the first thirty seconds, and from that moment, the Ghanian fighter was on the back foot. He was put down in the second and again in the fourth before the referee, Kevin Parker eventually stepped in to wave it off.  Taylor moves to 8-0.

Photo Credit: Queensberry Promotions