Parpa Ends Mendes’ Championship Reign in ‘Nightmare’ Fashion With one-sided Points Victory
In an end of season show, Goodwin Boxing treated York Hall to championship action on as Daniel Mendes defended his Southern Area Cruiserweight title against Nick Parpa whilst Curtis Felix Jnr & Connor Vian fought for the chance to become English Welterweight champion.
Daniel Mendes © vs Nick Parpa – Southern Area Cruiserweight Championship
In what developed into an exciting championship level match-up, Nick Parpa convincingly beat Daniel Mendes who was making the first defence of his title.
Mendes who through a very limited amount of punches for the first half of the fight, allowed Parpa to be the aggressor and gain a clear head-start on the scorecard.
As Parpa grew in confidence, Mendes struggled to gain any sort of momentum within rounds, only starting to throw punches when Boxing on the inside became more popular towards the later rounds.
Apart from a brief scare in the final round, Parpa cruised to victory with a 99-91 decision to become a champion in a division that is absolutely thriving with domestic talent.
Curtis Felix Jnr vs Connor Vian – English Welterweight Title Eliminator
The best was indeed saved until last on Saturday night as Curtis Felix Jnr & Connor Vian went to battle over the chance to challenge for the English Welterweight Title.
The fight was all action from start to finish with both fighters durability being tested on a regular basis.
With the fight perhaps being fairly level at the halfway point, Felix Jnr who turned 30 last month began to convincingly win the later rounds due to the old art of hitting his opponent and not being hit back.
A bloodied Vian looked as if he had conceded defeat as the final bell went and rightly so as Felix Jnr was awarded a score of 97-93 – a score hard to argue with.
Felix Jnr is now in line to face English Welterweight champion and undefeated fighter Ekow Essuman who beat Tyrone Nurse on points earlier this year to secure the belt.
Neon Samuels vs Zygimantas Butkevicius – Middleweight
Debutant Neon Samuels came out to the reception of the night and put on a memorable debut win, just about getting through the resilient Zygimantas Butkevicius over 4 rounds.
With debut nerves not being apparent from the 1st bell, Samuels and his Lithuanian opponent traded on a regular basis as Samuel’s strong fanbase cheered every punch, block or even clinch.
Having to work for his debut win, Samuels put as much pressure on as possible in the 4th and final round, securing the round as well as the victory that provided the middleweight with a debut victory.
Tony Bange vs Edvinas Puplauskus – Super-Welterweight
Tony ‘TNT’ Bange suffered his first professional career defeat in underwhelming fashion, losing every round on the Referee’s scorecard to Lithuanian Edvinas Puplauskas.
Bange who was hoping to go 8-0 entering the fight didn’t look himself throughout the 4 round contest, insisting on fighting rather than reverting back to Boxing.
In what was a shock to the York Hall faithful, many will be looking forward to Bange getting back into a Boxing ring again soon and rediscovering the potential that he has shown in his previous contests.
Umar Sadiq vs Darryl Sharp – Super-Middleweight
Umar Sadiq continued his winning streak against a very tough Darryl Sharp, beating the journeyman in every department.
Despite not getting the stoppage, Sadiq who hasn’t been past two rounds since October 2018, looked very sharp and fit over 6 rounds.
Terry Conroy vs Ladislav Nemeth – Middleweight
Crowd favourite Conroy dispatched of Nemeth with relative ease, forcing the Slovakian’s corner to throw in the towel during the 4th round.
Conroy who was stepping up to his first 6th rounder in only his 3rd pro fight, looks like a real talent and still only 21.
Ricky Heavens vs Teodor Nikolov – Super-Welterweight
Making his 10th professional appearance, Ricky Heavens displayed a mature performance, winning every round against Bulgarian Nikolov.
Also only 21, Heaven’s will make a decision on the amount of momentum that he wants to build with more 4 rounders before moving onto longer contests and challenging for titles.
William Webber vs Michal Gazdik – Super – Middleweight
Enjoying his 5th win on the bounce, Essex boy William Webber defeated winning fighter Michal Gazdik – 39-37.
Gazdik who has previously been the distance with Linus Udofia had an aggressive stance from the off which Webber was able to use to his advantage over the contest.