by Dave Crellin
11/17 - David Barnes, the prospect from Manchester many thought was lucky to scrape the title from rugged journeyman Jimmy Vincent, produced a performance to put himself on the map with a sixth round stoppage win over James Hare. Barnes was making his third defence of the British welterweight title and gets to keep the Lonsdale belt with this win in Halifax.

Hare was believed to be the man to provide the litmus test for the 23-year-old Mancunian in what was on paper a match between two genuine top domestic welters. The first couple of rounds saw the bout warm up with Hare’s greater experience showing alongside Barnes’ youth, speed and (arguably) greater talent. Barnes found openings for a couple of hard left hooks in the third, though, and as Barnes pressed in the following round he dropped the Yorkshireman with a lovely left-right combo. Hare fought back and caught Barnes but the champion was already looking for an early finish.

He found it in the sixth. As Hare advanced, Barnes switched to boxing on the back foot and found the challenger with an excellent left which saw him sway in the breeze before falling. The bout was stopped immediately. In the end it was definitely Barnes’ speed which did for Hare, who is no bad boxer by a long stretch. He can be back but will find it hard to get out of the domestic leagues. Barnes will garner some world ranking points with this and will move onwards and upwards. He has the talent to do well but the disputed win over Vincent still plays on the mind – he needs to lay that ghost to rest with a win over, if not Vincent, then at least another decent strong come-forward type.

All in, this was a really entertaining contest and well-supported on the undercard. Two light-middleweight bouts were merged and Thomas McDonagh saw off Darren Rhodes in an important stepping-stone bout for the Warren fighter. McDonagh boxed well against a game if slightly predictable opponent for a decent points win. There was trouble in the crowd at the end of this one, seemingly Yorkshiremen who couldn’t handle their beer.

Martin Concepcion also featured, showing notable power to dispatch of debutant Andrew Butlin in a round. Butlin was down three times but never stopped trying and quite what he was doing in the ring with a puncher like Concepcion in his first pro fight has to be questioned. Concepcion moves on, but he carries his chin way too high for my liking and this needs fixing before he can be a real player.

Matthew Hatton looked tidy with a ten round points win over Rob Burton.

The competing card was in Wembley and headed by a breezy victory for Junior Witter against vastly overmatched Pole Krzysztof Bienias. Witter had a look early on then spanked Bienias with a combination which left a significant cut next to his right eye. By the time the bout was halted in the second, Witter was having target practice and the intimidated Bienias had yet to land a punch with anything behind it.

Witter can only beat the men in front of him but, with the big domestic showdown with Ricky Hatton looking increasingly unlikely, something needs to be done to showcase his talents outside Britain and get him in line for a world shot. You never know, he might even be as good as he says he is, but we won’t find out if he’s matched against opponents such as this. Brendan Ingle, his trainer, reckons Witter to be on a par with Naseem Hamed when then ex-featherweight boss was at the top of his game.

Witter retained the EBU 140-pound title.

To make up for the damp squib of the headline bout the chief support was a cracking ruck between Steve Spartacus and Peter Haymer. Haymer nicked the contest and took Spartacus’ English light-heavyweight title, but this was a belter, with both boxers going for broke from the first bell to the last. I wouldn’t mind seeing a rematch.

Francis Barrett won a ten round points verdict over Alan Bosworth.

The big one of the coming weekend has Matt Skelton defending his British heavyweight crown against perennial tryer Keith Long. Long will provide his traditional resistance but if Skelton is serious when he declares his world title ambitions he should be looking beyond this level of fighter. Skelton will win – his workrate will garner him points and this and his power will keep Long under wraps, but the stocky challenger is nothing if not game. I’d look for Long to make sporadic bursts but with these fading out around halfway through the contest at which point Skelton takes over for a wide points win or even a later round stoppage.

Portly heavyweight John McDermott features on the undercard.

Perhaps the most interesting bout this weekend, though, is that between Commonwealth lightweight champion Kevin Bennett and Welshman Dean Phillips, who is having something of a career revival since returning from retirement. The match heads the bill in Hartlepool, Bennett’s home town. Bennett hasn’t looked amazing during recent outings (albeit against some decent opposition) and there are strong suspicions that making lightweight is too big an ask. Certainly he faded badly against Michael Muya in winning the title. Phillips will lok to exploit this by setting a high pace and keeping the Hartlepool man moving.

Both are solid boxers with comparable skill levels which makes for an entertaining contest. But given Bennett’s difficulties at the weight and his propensity to box at a slower tempo than ‘Dynamite’ Phillips, the chances of the title changing hands are reasonable with Phillips wearing down his man as the fight progresses. Bennett is stoppable but Phillips’ acknowledged lack of one-punch power means that we’re looking at a lengthy and entertaining scrap.

Johnny Nelson looks to be heading towards a December showdown in Rome with Vincenzo Cantatore in a decent defence of his WBO cruiserweight belt.

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