Mikey Sakyi defeated Siar Ozgul Saturday evening by stopping the Southern Area champion in a dramatic final round, claiming the belt in the process.

It was a contest which wouldn’t of looked out of place in a Rocky film; the underdog down on the scorecards and needing the knockout for victory. So many boxers in the same scenario fall short, but on this occasion, Romford’s Sakyi delivered in front of a packed York Hall.

The champion in Sakyi’s way to title glory, Siar Ozgul went into the fight undefeated and a clear favourite due to Sakyi only having a weeks notice for the fight. It wasn’t perhaps a fantastic performance by the Turkish-born champion, but what Ozgul was doing seemed to be enough going into the final round. His work rate made Sakyi retreat to the ropes on many occasions throughout the fight as his punching numbers per round looked to overshadow Sakyi’s smart boxing work which the York Hall crowd witnessed only in glimpses.

But it was Sakyi who looked the fresher going into the final round and with just over a minute left of the fight, Sakyi lands a sweetly timed left hook which rocks Ozgul to the ropes. Sakyi smells blood as he pounces onto the attack, another glove lands as it rocks back the head of Ozgul. With the champion trapped on the ropes, Sakyi gave it everything he had left and to his delight, referee Jeff Hinds steps in to stop the contest.


“We knew it was going to be a hard fight, I had to dig deep and in the end I puled it off.” Said a smiling Mikey Sakyi after the fight.

“We train all year round, we’re fit for 12 rounds so any fights coming up we’re ready to go, we’ll fight anybody.”

There was highs and lows within the Longshots Sports stable this weekend as Simon Barclay battled in Belgium but narrowly got edged out by IBF inter-Continental Cruiserweight champion Bilal Laggoune, losing 116-112 on all three of the ringside judges’ scorecards on Friday evening. Ellesmere Port fighter Mason Cartwright maintained his unbeaten record in Liverpool on Saturday evening with a demolition job on Latvian, Zaurs Sadihovs with a second round stoppage.

‘Sparkly’ Barclay had many positives to take from his experience abroad in the Belgian city of Gent; the fight stayed competitive for the majority of the contest but a stronger finish by Laggoune was the difference at the final bell.

It was nip and tuck in the early stages of the fight. Barclay took control of the centre of the ring as he began to pop out a crisp jab, doubling up from face to body. Despite tucking up nicely, Laggoune was able to find the majority of his success to the body of the Corby native.

Laggoune started to find a rhythm in the third and fourth round as he used the outside of the ring to his advantage. His slick movement made Simon miss more than he could land and the champion’s sharp countering won him the rounds; but one sweetly-timed right hand to the chin of Laggoune in the fifth swung the momentum into Barclay’s direction. The punch momentarily startled the Belgian as he stumbled back a step or two, but the challenger failed to capitalise as Laggoune managed to hold on and recover.

Laggoune fought back well in the next round, but the better work came from Barclay during the middle rounds. Barclay grew in confidence and could be told from his slick boxing skills on display. Working off his jab and following up with a sweet right hand, mixing it up with shots to the head and body finding the target. Laggoune started to tire and can find his self considerably lucky not to have a point deducted with his excessive holding.

With the fight in the balance going into the championship rounds, Laggoune began to show why he was the champion. His second wind kicked in and all of a sudden it was Barclay who begun looking sluggish. Laggoune turned the boxing contest into a scrap which Barclay happily accepted as both fighters slugged it out to the final bell. Despite never putting Simon in any major trouble, it was Laggoune who landed the cleaner shots in the final rounds and stole the victory away from Barclay.

The following evening, Mason Cartwright was in no mood to work overtime as he blasted out his Latvian opponent Zaurs Sadihovs, knocking him down three times in total in Mason’s first contest at 147lbs.

The Latvian quite simply couldn’t handle Cartwright’s power or aggression as he breathed a sigh of relief when referee Mark Lyson waved the contest off just one minute twenty six seconds into the second round.

‘Nutty’ was in bullish mood as he impressively cut off the ring all throughout the short-lived contest as Sadihovs couldn’t find a way out of trouble. The first knockdown sent the Latvian stumbling back and through the ropes from a left hand, thankfully a group of hands from outside the ring aided Sadihovs from falling out completely.

Moments later, Sadihovs was down again. This time from a punishing left hand which landed sweetly to the Latvians body. He managed to beat the referee’s eight count but Mason didn’t let him breath as he continued to plow forward, Sadihovs survives the round.
But it was same again from Mason in the second round. There was nothing Sadihovs could do but to just tuck up and survive. Cartwright did a fantastic job cutting off the ring and halfway through the second round, Mason found a gap in his opponent’s tight guard and nicely thrashed in a right hand which found the target and sent Sadihovs crashing down to the canvas for a third time. The Latvian bravely stood up to fight on, but referee Mark Lyson saved him from further damage and waved off the contest.

Mason Cartwright moves onto 13-0 as a professional as he edges ever closer to a title fight.

There was highs and lows within the Longshots Sports stable this weekend as Simon Barclay battled in Belgium but narrowly got edged out by IBF inter-Continental Cruiserweight champion Bilal Laggoune, losing 116-112 on all three of the ringside judges’ scorecards on Friday evening. Ellesmere Port fighter Mason Cartwright maintained his unbeaten record in Liverpool on Saturday evening with a demolition job on Latvian, Zaurs Sadihovs with a second round stoppage.

‘Sparkly’ Barclay had many positives to take from his experience abroad in the Belgian city of Gent; the fight stayed competitive for the majority of the contest but a stronger finish by Laggoune was the difference at the final bell.

It was nip and tuck in the early stages of the fight. Barclay took control of the centre of the ring as he began to pop out a crisp jab, doubling up from face to body. Despite tucking up nicely, Laggoune was able to find the majority of his success to the body of the Corby native.

Laggoune started to find a rhythm in the third and fourth round as he used the outside of the ring to his advantage. His slick movement made Simon miss more than he could land and the champion’s sharp countering won him the rounds; but one sweetly-timed right hand to the chin of Laggoune in the fifth swung the momentum into Barclay’s direction. The punch momentarily startled the Belgian as he stumbled back a step or two, but the challenger failed to capitalise as Laggoune managed to hold on and recover.

Laggoune fought back well in the next round, but the better work came from Barclay during the middle rounds. Barclay grew in confidence and could be told from his slick boxing skills on display. Working off his jab and following up with a sweet right hand, mixing it up with shots to the head and body finding the target. Laggoune started to tire and can find his self considerably lucky not to have a point deducted with his excessive holding.

With the fight in the balance going into the championship rounds, Laggoune began to show why he was the champion. His second wind kicked in and all of a sudden it was Barclay who begun looking sluggish. Laggoune turned the boxing contest into a scrap which Barclay happily accepted as both fighters slugged it out to the final bell. Despite never putting Simon in any major trouble, it was Laggoune who landed the cleaner shots in the final rounds and stole the victory away from Barclay.

The following evening, Mason Cartwright was in no mood to work overtime as he blasted out his Latvian opponent Zaurs Sadihovs, knocking him down three times in total in Mason’s first contest at 147lbs.

The Latvian quite simply couldn’t handle Cartwright’s power or aggression as he breathed a sigh of relief when referee Mark Lyson waved the contest off just one minute twenty six seconds into the second round.

‘Nutty’ was in bullish mood as he impressively cut off the ring all throughout the short-lived contest as Sadihovs couldn’t find a way out of trouble. The first knockdown sent the Latvian stumbling back and through the ropes from a left hand, thankfully a group of hands from outside the ring aided Sadihovs from falling out completely.

Moments later, Sadihovs was down again. This time from a punishing left hand which landed sweetly to the Latvians body. He managed to beat the referee’s eight count but Mason didn’t let him breath as he continued to plow forward, Sadihovs survives the round.
But it was same again from Mason in the second round. There was nothing Sadihovs could do but to just tuck up and survive. Cartwright did a fantastic job cutting off the ring and halfway through the second round, Mason found a gap in his opponent’s tight guard and nicely thrashed in a right hand which found the target and sent Sadihovs crashing down to the canvas for a third time. The Latvian bravely stood up to fight on, but referee Mark Lyson saved him from further damage and waved off the contest.

Mason Cartwright moves onto 13-0 as a professional as he edges ever closer to a title fight.

Saif Cheema impressed on his professional debut by stopping Paul Lovell in the second round of their four round contest at Longshots Sport’s last show of the year, Season’s Beatings. The Dewsbury man, fighting 30 minutes away from his hometown in Halifax, put his opponent on the canvas four times before the contest was finally halted by referee Howard Foster.

It was a very tidy and composed performance by the super welterweight and he used his greater height and reach to his advantage extremely well. Cheema took control of the centre of the ring from the off and found it too easy to cut off the ring, keeping his opponent on the outside then smartly increasing the aggression as soon as Lovell touched the ropes. The tactic put Lovell on the canvas three times in the first round, one of those being called a slip.

The shots started to find their target much cleaner in the second round. As early as the first 30 seconds of the round saw a left hook land square in the face of Lovell as he stumbled back and eventually fell down to the canvas just before crashing into the ropes. Lovell beat the count but Cheema pounced back on him and moments later another left hand found it’s target and Lovell hit the canvas once again. Despite beating the count, Howard Foster immediately waved the fight off having seen Lovell on the floor far too many times during the duration of the fight.

On the undercard, Jack Rafferty continued his impressive beginning as a professional by defeating respected journeyman James Gorman on points, quite literally giving the Belfast native a ‘season’s beatings’ all throughout the contest.

The journeyman’s battered and bruised face told the whole story of the contest, being punched pillar to post for 12 minutes and without a doubt earned his money by miraculously surviving until the final bell. Gorman’s animating showing of respect towards Rafferty after the contest showed his approval of the Mancunian’s boxing display as Jack all but cements his reputation as a fighter to keep an eye on for the future.

CJ Challenger described his victory in Halifax as a ‘boxing clinic’ and you wouldn’t find anybody in the Northbridge Leisure Centre who would disagree with the young Leicester boxer. CJ boxed beautifully for six rounds against the rough-and-tough Nicaraguan, Geiboord Omier, defeating him comfortably 60-54 on Howard Foster’s scorecard.

Omier tried his best to turn the fight into a scrap, but Challenger showed he had the tools to keep the fight controlled at his own pace which suited his style. CJ’s footwork and movement was too slick for Omier as a crisp jab was the only tool needed to claim victory. Challenger controlled the distance with his jab and then punished Omier with a sweet right uppercut every time he stepped in. By the fourth round Omier was clearly out of ideas as Challenger hardly ever looked out of first gear. The Leicester man finishes the year with a professional record reading 6-0.

English Super Bantamweight Champion Josh Kennedy defeated the mean-looking Ghanaian, Michael Barnor comfortably 60-54 on the scorecard as he ticked over and looks to have a big 2018 as he moves to double digits and 10 fights undefeated.

Super Featherweight Reece Mould brought down his barmy army to his 6 round contest against Simas Vilosinas as they cheered him on to a 5th round stoppage against the Lithuanian journeyman. Mould kept the pressure on Vilosinas all throughout the contest as Howard Foster had seen enough in the 5th after a solid 6 punch combination landed onto Vilosinas’s head.

Despite the 40-36 scorecard in favour for local man Vinny Atkins, the contest was competitive all throughout in his fight against rookie Myles Vale, who arguably won at least one of the four rounds and could of possibly nicked a draw.

Cruiserweight Dan Garber kicked off his professional with a tidy 4 round decision against Remigijus Ziausys.

The show opened with the other Halifax native, Jimmy First, stopping Jack Green in the second round of their Welterweight contest.