Polished Wood

Punchperfect from Leigh

- Andy Whittle

MATCHROOM BOXING returned to Nottingham Arena for the first time since 2012, on which occasion Gedling’s Leigh Wood featured way down the undercard in only his fifth pro bout.

Fast forward to the present day and the hugely popular featherweight – nicknamed “Leigh-thal” – found himself the main attraction and looking to defend his recently won Commonwealth title for the first time by seeing off Manchester’s Ryan Doyle who, it transpired, never looked like living up to his “Ruthless” nickname.

Taking the initiative from the outset, Leigh, relaxed and enjoying himself, eased into an early lead, wasting little while not having to take anything of consequence from Doyle.

By the halfway stage that early lead had grown and Doyle’s fortunes didn’t improve in the sixth when he sustained a slight cut above the eye. While the next two stanzas proved a little closer, Leigh was back on top by the ninth, before a meaty left hook sent Ryan down to one knee for the duration of referee Bob Williams’ count 94 seconds into the next.

Only two months after joining Wood in celebration having triumphed in Peterborough, Chatteris featherweight Jordan Gill experienced contrasting fortunes, being floored on no fewer than three occasions by tough, come-forward Mexican Enrique Tinoco before, in a compassionate gesture, being pulled out at the end of the eighth by trainer Dave Coldwell.

Jordan, who it emerged later had sustained a fractured right hand, was already behind on my card when body shots dropped him with just over a minute of the third remaining, and from that point onwards Tinoco seldom looked back.