By John Evans
August 03, 2024
Source: Boxing Scene
Photo Source: Boxing Scene
Caroline Dubois comfortably earned a unanimous decision over Maira Moneo at Barnsley’s Oakwell Stadium to win the Uruguayan’s WBC interim lightweight title.
Dubois, 10-0 (5 KOs), found her groove from the opening bell and kept the aggressive Moneo, 14-1 (3 KOs), at bay throughout their 10-round fight.
She got off the mark with a lead right hook in the first round and a smart southpaw left in the second. Moneo tried to move forwards but had neither the speed of foot nor hand, or the reach, to get off first effectively.
The cleaner shots were all coming from Dubois, who also began to hold her feet inside and traded with her smaller opponent. He best punch was a looping left hand, which she landed time and time again over the switch-hitting Moneo’s right glove.
Moneo, 31, was game, but she found herself being punished by Dubois’ accurate left hand whenever she stepped in. In an attempt to make an impression on her opponent she produced a real burst to open the sixth round, but her ambition saw her walk directly into another chopping left hook and she was dropped to the canvas.
The knockdown, and the realisation that the fight was slipping away, seemed to draw some of Moneo’s sting, and Dubois began to spend more time on the front foot.
Moneo’s edge may have been blunted. but she continued to fight with determination.
Dubois, 23, began to sit down on her right hook but although her shots found Moneo’s chin, they had little effect, and Dubois boxed her way to the final bell.
The scores were wide – 100-90, 100-89, 99-90, and all in Dubois’ favour.
It was a dominant display, and with victory Dubois made herself mandatory challenger for Katie Taylor’s lightweight title.
Taylor is tied up for the remainder of 2024 while she prepares for her delayed undisputed super lightweight title defence against Amanda Serrano. If the Irishicon does decide to return to 135lbs in 2025, she has a dangerous challenger waiting for her.
Stephen McKenna and Joe Laws both promised fireworks ahead of their super-welterweight fight and they more than delivered.
Skill and technique went out of the window and the two tried to knock each other out with every single shot.
Laws sprinted off his stool and declared all out war on the dangerous Irishman, but he quickly found himself on the floor after a hard right hand. Laws look stiff-legged and was under constant pressure but he kept on swinging from his heels with his left hook. With a minute left in the opening round, one of those hooks deposited McKenna on to the canvas. Where Laws managed to respond after being hurt, McKenna stayed hurt, and made it to the end of crazy first round in autopilot.
McKenna’s head slowly cleared and he began pressing forwards from the start of the second but Laws couldn’t miss with his left hook, and he almost put McKenna over with another huge shot. It was wild, chaotic action.
Laws – who looked to have damaged his right foot – was put over by a right hand early in the third round and he never recovered. He went down again under a barrage of shots when McKenna planted this feet, left his chin in the air and waled away. Although McKenna was also absorbing plenty, Laws was done, and the towel came in when he dropped to the canvas for a third and final time at 2.36 of the third round.
McKenna, 15-0 (14 KOs), stays unbeaten but will need to tighten up his defence. Laws, 14-3 (5 KOs) lived up to his “wild” tag.
Connor Coyle 21-0 (9 KOs) remained unbeaten with a comfortable, routine decision victory over Kyle Lomotey, 12-2 (2 KOs).
Coyle has spent the overwhelming majority of his career boxing across the Atlantic in America, earning himself the number-two spot in the WBA middleweight rankings. The skilled Lomotey has been consistently avoided at domestic level.
Coyle hurt Lomotey with a pair of well-picked right hands in the second round. Lomotey was bundled over a few seconds later, but though his trip to the canvas was ruled a slip, his eyes were wide when he dragged himself to his feet.
Lomotey moved away and poked with his southpaw jab and hooks to the body but the compact, tidy Coyle kept his hands tight and applied constant pressure. Coyle wasn’t spectacular, but he was solid, and although Lomotey was slick and capable his threat diminished the longer the fight went on.
The right hand remained Coyle’s best weapon, but rather than making a determined effort to make a real dent in Lomotey, he was content to attack in short bursts and to secure the rounds. He stiffened Lomotey’s legs with a left that landed high on the temple in the seventh, but he then boxed his way to the final bell. The 77-75 scorecard in his favour felt too close.
Billy Deniz, 12-0 (5 KOs) won a fast-paced light-heavyweight six-round fight with the battle-hardened Khalid Graidia, 11-15-5 (2 KOs). The always aggressive Deniz started quickly and dropped the Frenchman with a body shot in the second round. Graidia was a step up in opposition for Deniz and made him pay occasionally for some defensive lapses but the energetic Deniz was unfazed and boxed in his usual style – dropping his hands, relying on his reflexes and countering with quick, heavy two-handed combinations. The score was 59-54 in his favour.
The Manchester middleweight Mauro Silva, 6-0 (3 KOs), made an impressive television debut by stopping the normally immovable Dale Arrowsmith, 6-111-5 (1 KO), in the second round.
Silva was a picture of controlled aggression, using his jab well and attacking the body. Early in the second round Silva found a clean left hook downstairs and Arrowsmith dropped to the canvas. He got to his feet at the count of eight but his corner threw in the towel.
Joel Kodua, 7-0, was on the front foot throughout his six-round decision victory over Colombia’s John Henry Mosquera 5-16 (1 KO) at super welterweight. Kodua may have been guilty of following Mosquera rather than cutting off the ring but he kept his jab working and never forgot to target the body.
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