Bloodied Lomax battles to victory despite injury

15 July 2010

TOP-OF-THE-BILL fighter Lenny Daws headed the home win parade at York Hall on Friday where he was joined by Bradley Evans, Michael Lomax and George Hillyard on the Matchroom bill.

East London-trained Daws kept his British light-welterweight championship when Wallasey challenger Steve Williams was forced to retire through cuts before the start of the 11th round.

Williams, roared on by his Merseyside fans, had made a fine start and looked set to maintain his unbeaten march as he found the openings to take an early lead.

But the challenger was shaken as York Hall favourite Daws showed his usual fighting spirit and stamped his authority on the clash.

Relishing in the toe-to-toe battle, he slammed home damaging punches to head and body. Williams, with cuts around his eyes, was retired by his cornermen, although two of the three ringside judges had him trailing by just one round at the finish.

"I'm happy with the result, but the performance wasn't brilliant," the champion said afterwards.

"It was a little bit hot in here tonight, though I'm not using that as an excuse."

Lomax will need time for a serious head wound to heal before he returns in the autumn looking for title success to highlight a seven-year career that has brought just two defeats in 20 contests.

The man who won Prizefighter success in the welterweight tournament in 2008 at York Hall returned to the arena to dominate the first five rounds against former Ghanaian champion Stephen Okine.

Six-feet-tall Lomax built up a clear lead, firing his effective southpaw shots as his rival pressed forward.

To his credit, the stocky Ghanaian absorbed the punches and kept swinging back, but the real drama came in the final round when a sickening clash of heads left Lomax cut in the centre of his forehead with blood pouring down his face and body on to the canvas.

Lomax, fearing a stoppage because of the injury which left his face a bloody mask, launched a furious attack, but he was allowed to go the distance and claimed a deserved victory by 59-55.

George Hillyard, a recent arrival at the Cook camp, praised his new trainer after he battled to a points victory over tough Telford rival Keiron Gray, who suffered the second defeat of his career.

Hillyard, who has lost his previous two contests, returned to his winning ways in a hard-fought contest, outgunning the Shropshire fighter for most of the way.

Hillyard's solid hooks rocked his rival regularly and although Gray slammed back with his own shots, referee Ken Curtis raised Hillyard's arm at the final bell, scoring him a 59-57 winner.

"I have been with Paul Cook for just five weeks, but he has made a big difference and played a vital part in my win," said Hillyard.

BRADLEY EVANS brought his six-fight record to five wins with just one draw with his show-closing points win over Sheffield's Jason Carr.

Evans, trained by east Londoner Tony Sims, poured on the punches against his inches taller rival who was staggered more than once, but survived to the final bell when Evans was named a 40-36 points victor.