Graham Earl took to the ring last night to announce his retirement from fighting before the first ever professional night of boxing in Milton Keynes.
The former WBU world, British and Commonwealth lightweight champion was due to top the bill at Stadiummk against Jon Baguley but had to pull out after rupturing an old knuckle injury last week.
Earl didn’t rule out a return if he was offered a big fight but he will now turn his attentions to training, promoting and match-making.
The 31-year-old, whose last fight was a win over Karl Taylor in Liquid Nightclub in Luton, also runs his own boxing gym off New Bedford Road called House of Champions, and two of his fighters appeared on the card in Milton Keynes with varying degrees of success.
Jamie Boness maintained his undefeated early-career record with a 39-37 points decision over bruiser Duncan Cottier.
It was always going to be a tough test for the light middleweight from Biggleswade as his London opponent has not been stopped since October 2006 by promising Sheffield fighter Kell Brook.
Boness, though hampered by Cottier’s spoiling style in the four-round contest, showed better technical ability with trainer Earl calling for him to use his jab at every opportunity.
Jamie Boness
Though it wasn’t until the second session that he was able to let any shots go after a first three minutes where Cottier, in his 65
th fight (3 wins), employing tactics hardly in tune with Queensbury rules prompted referee Kieran McCann to call a time out and tell him, “Stop throwing him about.”
A left-right combination in the second round caught Boness and momentarily moved him back onto the ropes but came back with some effective counter-punching, when he managed to evade Cottier’s penchant for a clinch.
A small cut to the Bedfordshire boy’s left eye in the third didn’t deter him and managed to find a solid left – the stand out punch in the final round – which saw McCann raise his glove at the bell.
With Luton’s Blaine Courtney’s fight not going ahead, Gavin Putney was the only boxer from the town on show but he fell to his second defeat in three fights when it was stopped 23 seconds into the fourth and final round of a welterweight bout when the referee stepped in against superior St Albans puncher Danny Mills.
Putney couldn’t hide his disappointment at the decision but, in reality he was always second best in a messy contest and was twice reprimanded for turning his back.
Gavin Putney
A cheap upper cut from Mills caught Putney when the referee had called break and it looked to have wobbled the Luton man and by the third a cut appeared on his left eye.
Early in the fourth a big left from Mills spelt the beginning of the end, and with Putney on the ropes the contest was brought to a halt.
In the other contest of the inaugural event by Leighton Buzzard outfit Goodwin Promotions English Super Featherweight Champion Ryan Barrett was easily outclassed on points by the explosive Dean Mills in a non title fight.
Harry Matthews, dubbed the Pride of York and Leighton Buzzard, preserved his unbeaten record by beating Terry Carruthers when the middleweight bout was stopped on the bell in the fifth round of an eight-round bout.