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By Ben Carey
In preparation for his rematch with Commonwealth featherweight champion John Simpson, Paul Truscott shut out Andrey Kostin over six rounds on the Olusegun-Wright undercard in Liverpool on Friday night (60-54).
Truscott hadn’t fought since losing his unbeaten record and Commonwealth crown to Simpson in January after he was halted with a closed right eye in the eighth round of their finely balanced contest.
Truscott and Simpson will again do battle in Truscott’s Middlesbrough back yard at the Eston Sports Academy on July 17 and the popular 23-year-old is confident of avenging his painful defeat.
“It ruined my life,” said an emotional Truscott of his loss to Simpson before turning his attention to the rematch which will take place in five weeks time. “I don’t think much more is needed (to win) because I thought I was winning handily the last time. We had a few things in the contest which we thought could go wrong and did go wrong but, no disrespect to John Simpson, I thought I was handling the contest pretty well,” surmised Truscott.
Truscott’s chances of setting the record straight could rest in his ability to punch with greater authority to dissuade the strong and determined Simpson from marching forward and gradually wearing the younger man down. With just one stoppage victory in his now 13 wins, you don’t have to be Einstein to conclude that Truscott’s lack of pop could restrict him from progressing beyond domestic title level.
Truscott’s excellent punch variety, speed and accuracy were once again in evidence against Kostin. However, perhaps more encouragingly for the Middlesbrough man, he appeared to be sitting down on his punches more and hitting harder than usual. The 33-year-old Kostin, 20-12 (6), had only been stopped once in 32-fights but the Russian trialhorse was noticeably troubled by Truscott’s body shots in round two and nodded in appreciation when again nailed to the midsection in round four seemingly to acknowledge the weight of Truscott’s attack.
It should be noted though that Kostin has spent the vast majority of his career at bantamweight and his solitary inside-the-distance reversal saw him taken out inside a round by Belfast’s now retired and relatively light-hitting Damaen Kelly. Still, Truscott-Simpson 2 should make for an enthralling rematch.
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Standout performance of the night saw local light-welter Steve Williams pass his first professional gut check in flying colours as he outpointed plucky Pole Slawomir Ziemlewicz over eight fiercely contested rounds (80-74). Ziemlewicz entered the ring with a respectable 18-4-2 record (and, it has to be said, a dodgy mullet hairstyle) and had never been stopped so clearly fancied his chances against the inexperienced Williams.
But as the Polish slugger came out swinging in a bid to stamp his authority on the contest from the outset, the unflappable Williams matched Ziemlewicz punch-for-punch and enjoyed much the better of the exchanges as the contest wore on. The rangy Williams worked particularly well off the jab and slammed over overhand rights and followed up with left hooks which seldom missed the face-first Ziemlewicz.
The visitor attempted to stay with Williams but was forced back by left hooks to the body which gradually drained his resolve and had him in trouble in the sixth. Williams impressively maintained his composure throughout despite sustaining a cut above his right eye in the final round. Spurred on by the injury, Ziemlewicz discovered his second wind and mounted a last ditch effort but Williams stood strong and was a deserving winner.
The 25-year-old Williams advances to 8-0 (3) after registering his career best win and the Liverpool fighter, co-trained by George Schofield and former local crowd-pleaser Shea Neary, is one to follow next season.
