By Andrew Harrison live from the Seaburn Centre – British super bantamweight boss Jason “2 Smooth” Booth turned heads in Sunderland on Friday evening with an accomplished beat down of former domestic stand out Michael Hunter.
Hartlepool’s Hunter, a frenetic pressure fighter, was fighting for only the fourth time since his unsuccessful IBF title tilt against Steve Molitor in 2006, however the former British, European and Commonwealth 122 lb champ was fired up and looking to take back the belt he once held from his one time amateur rival..
Both men looked confident from the off and Hunter, the visibly larger man began well, taking the first round by bulling Booth to the ropes and letting fly with hard shots.
Booth however, was not easily discouraged and by the second session the seemingly undersized Nottingham native, began ramming home sweet combinations to body and head.
Through rounds three and four, Hunter pressed forward yet it was Booth who always seemed to be one step ahead in this high tempo battle, peppering him with a stream of beautiful counter shots, particularly to the body.
After a torrid fourth round, Hunter’s last hurrah came in the fifth and despite giving it a go, he was simply outclassed by the stylish Booth who was always moving, always thinking and unfortunately for Hunter, always landing.
Hunter was unable to answer the call for the sixth, retiring on his stool between rounds. He falls to 29-2-1 (13) and at the age of 31 it’s difficult to see what’s left for the North East crowd pleaser after this performance. Booth meanwhile moves to 34-5 (14) and with his recent career renaissance, this classy little operator can look forward to bigger nights ahead.
Former Olympians, light heavyweight Tony Jeffries and heavyweight David Price, struggled to impress on the undercard. Local lad Jeffries made heavy weather of his opponent Artem Solomko, despite dominating over six rounds to move to 4-0 (3) whilst Price looked hesitant in just his second pro outing, stopping Liridon Memishi after two.
Two prospects who did catch the eye however were George Groves and Travis Dickinson, former amateur rivals whose paths look destined to cross in the pros.
Super middleweight Groves, fighting out of Hammersmith, looks like a fighter going places. Groves showed his full repertoire against a very brave and willing Tadas Jonkus, stopping his Lithuanian opponent at 1:49 of round four to move to 6-0 (5).
Groves hung around long enough to see Durham man Dickinson blitz his opponent Steffan Hughes after just 40 seconds of the first to move to 4-0 (3).