By John Hannen

“He’s got more experience, but I’m fresher” said Stuart Hall of opponent Ian ‘Dappa’ Napa before their fight for the vacant British bantamweight title - and so it proved.

Napa, the former British and European champion, ran out of gas at the Peterlee Leisure Centre on Friday night, retiring on his stool after the eighth round, and in doing so allowing Hall, now 8-0-1 (4), to walk away with the prized crown in only his ninth fight.

Hall (8st 5lbs 8oz), from nearby Darlington and with a boisterous crowd supporting him, started the fight cautiously.  The opening rounds were a chess match with neat boxer Hall throwing out a tentative left jab that was often negated and evaded by the excellent blocking, swaying, defensive skills of Napa (8st 6lbs).

By the fourth round, though, a pattern was beginning to emerge.  Napa was forcing the action and targeting his opponent’s torso with hooks, all to good effect.  In response, Hall, although forced onto the back foot, picked off the advancing native-Zimbabwean with straight shots.

Napa continued to march forward in the fifth round, still throwing hooks to the body but also bringing them over the top and, at times, forcing Hall to fight on the inside.  Stuart, meanwhile, continued to chip away with straight punches, making this a difficult fight to score.

After getting tagged with a right hook over the guard at the start of the sixth session, the North East fighter tightened his defence and continued to box tidily, but wasn’t able to thwart Napa’s attacks.  Hall continued to score with arrowed punches but, perplexingly, rarely used the uppercut which seemed the obvious shot against his shorter foe of seven inches.

Hall managed to back ‘Dappa’ against the ropes on a couple of occasions in round seven, letting his hands go and landing three or four shots in a row.  Napa, though, still continued with the forward momentum and always looked dangerous with his swinging punches.

The next round was the most exciting of the fight.  The fighter from London appeared to be setting his stall out for the remainder of the contest by upping the ante.  Napa, still using swarming tactics, set a fast tempo from the bell and although Hall, 30, had his successes, the round went to the ex-champion.

However, instead of signalling a big finale, round eight actually proved to be the last hurrah for Ian.  During the minute’s break, referee Marcus McDonnell was called to Napa’s corner before, to the surprise of everyone, returning to the centre of the ring and waving the fight off - cue frenzied celebrations from Hall and his supporters.

During the post fight interview the magnanimous Napa, 32, who wasn’t showing great muscle definition and had to strip naked at the weigh in, explained that a combination of the heat in the arena and making the weight had left him unable to continue.

 

After two consecutive defeats it’s not clear where 28 fight veteran Napa, now 19-9 (1), goes from here.  Conversely, the future’s brighter for Hall, the first British title holder ever to hail from Darlington.  The boxer, who also works as a roofer, has indicated he’d be interested in facing scouser, and former Napa victim, Gary Davies in his first defence of the title.

On the undercard, Tony Jeffries proved too big and too powerful for Derbyshire’s Matt Hainy, now 6-2, in a light-heavyweight six-threes contest.  It was thought that Hainy (12st 4oz) may provide a test for ‘Jaffa’ after defeating ‘prospect’ Tony Hill in his previous bout, but he never really got started.

Former Olympian Jeffries (12st 5lbs 8oz) was on the front foot from the off, and throwing very solid shots.  It wasn’t long before Hainy was in trouble, going down for the first time in round one after heavy, clubbing shots from Jeffries caught him behind the ear.  Up at eight, Matt, 28, tried to fight back but to no avail, eventually succumbing to similar shots from his opponent later in the round.  Looking uncomfortable, Hainy managed to get through to the bell with the help of a time-out after his gum shield was dislodged.

Spirited Hainy came out fighting in round two, and had some success with the uppercut inside, but the inevitable soon happened and a perfect body shot from Jeffries had him wincing in pain on the canvas.  By this point, referee Mark Curry had seen enough and waved the contest off at 2:04.  Tony, 25, now moves onto to bigger tests with a 7-0 (5) ledger.

Other fights on the undercard:

In the most entertaining fight on the card, South Shields based debutant Gary Fox (10st 5lbs) beat fellow first-timer Lee Jevons (10st 6lbs) in a toe to toe, welterweight four-threes contest.  Referee Marcus McDonnell scored the bout 39-38.

North Shields’ heavyweight Dave Ferguson (16st 9lbs) outworked Doncaster’s John Anthony (14st 5lbs 8oz) over six-threes, with referee Mark Curry scoring 59-56.  Ferguson is now 12-2 (4), while Anthony is 7-13 (5).

George ’Razor’ Watson, now 8-1-1 (1), from Newcastle defeated Lancashire’s Temao Dwyer (9st 13lbs 8oz), now 2-1-1 (2), in a six-threes contest.  Watson (9st 13lbs 8oz) was knocked down in the last round, and referee Marcus McDonnell’s score of 57-56 divided opinion at ringside.

Liverpool’s John Watson, now 13-0 (5), had too much for Skegness fighter Ben Lawler, now 6-5 (1) in a scheduled eight-threes contest.  Former ABA champion Watson (10st 3lbs) stopped Lawler (10st 7lbs) at 0:44 of round five.  Referee was Marcus McDonnell.

Sunderland’s Kirk Goodings (9st 5lbs) outscored Leon Dean (9st 9lbs) by a score of 40-36 in a lightweight four-threes.  Goodings is now 3-0, Ilkeston’s Dean moves on to 2-1 (1).  Referee was Mark Curry.

Classy southpaw Martin Ward (9st 3lbs 12oz), from Durham is still yet to lose a round in his career to date after beating Welshman Dai Davies (9st 8lbs 6oz) by a score of 40-36 over four-threes.  Referee was Mark Curry.  Ward progresses to 7-0 (1), Davies leaves with a 6-12-1 (1) tally.