Tyrone Nurse, Ryan Burnett Come Up Big In Manchester

By Shaun Brown

Manchester, England

– Ryan Burnett is the new British bantamweight champion after a points win over veteran Jason Booth.

Burnett, who was making his debut for his new promoter Eddie Hearn tonight, showed flashes of brilliance but was taken the distance by the 38-year-old Booth who captured the British flyweight title back in 1999.

As many predicted beforehand it looked like being an early night’s work for the 23-year-old Burnett after a clever one-two put Booth down in the first round. Burnett, trained by Adam Booth, was landing stamina sapping shots to the ribs early on but didn’t sustain his attacks enough to ever have his man in any real danger after the knockdown.

Booth was showing Burnett some of the tricks from a near 20 year career which brought him various domestic titles when cleverly tying the youngster up on the inside and moving off the ropes, a trick he tried to use more often as Burnett would look to trap him in the corners at every opportunity.

With each passing round it became clear that Burnett was using his 12th outing as a useful exercise to pick up rounds (he has only ever been six rounds) and to work on some experimental shots.

Booth showed fleeting moments of ambition and was aiming for success on the inside all the while wary of what Burnett could do from range.

A great right hand counter in the centre of the ring during round five and a right hook behind the guard in the eighth were the glimpses of what Burnett has in his locker and why so many are high on the future of the Northern Irishman. 

A victory for Burnett and a victory for Booth of sorts as the three judges at ringside gave the new British champion a unanimous 120-107 verdict.

NURSE UD12 JENKINS (REMATCH)

At the second time of asking Tyrone Nurse overcame Chris Jenkins in a tight 12-round battle to win the vacant British light welterweight title tonight in Manchester.

A rematch of their July clash which ended in a majority draw. both men picked up from where they left off in the summer with the silky skills of Nurse trying to combat the work-rate and aggression of Jenkins.

In the third round Jenkins suffered a nasty cut to the left side of the head (accidental). Which, despite the efforts of cutman Mick Williamson, continued to bleed profusely throughout the contest as both men came together via fists and other body parts on the inside.

A big right hand dropped Nurse in the fifth round with his left hand too low for comfort and the penalty was paid as he fell to the floor. To the Huddersfield man’s credit he recovered quickly and got back down to business.

Late on Jenkins appeared to find a second wind with Nurse seemingly over reliant on single eye-catching shots.

At the end of round 24 referee Steve Gray raised the hand of Nurse with a 115-112 (twice) and 116-111 majority verdict. Nurse improves to (32-2-1, 6 KOs) while former Prizefighter winner Jenkins, from Wales, loses his unbeaten record as he moves to (16-1-1, 8 KOs).

Earlier in the evening there were wins for light welterweight Liam Taylor who gained a second round stoppage over Imre Simon to move to (13-1, 5 KOs). Former world title challenger Brian Rose made it 28 wins from 32 with an 80-70 eight round points’ decision over Ruslans Pojonisevs. Marcus Morrison remains unbeaten after the middleweight made it eight from eight with a tight 58-57 verdict over six rounds against Simone Lucas. Charlie Edwards made a successful first defence of his English flyweight title when the 22-year-old stopped Phil Smith in the sixth round of their 10 round contest.