TAYLOR UD10
20:13:17
Ezra Taylor wins a unanimous decision against Carlos Alberto Lamela with scores of 97-93 and 99-91 twice. A good learning fight for the Cannon who moves to 9-0. “It wasn’t a great fight to watch, let’s be honest,” Carl Frampton says. “It was getting a bit boring there.”
WE GO TO THE SCORECARDS
20:11:42
Taylor goes the 10-round distance for the first time and will surely get a lopsided decision in the eye of the judges here.
INTO THE 10TH…
20:06:31
Very little to report across the last few rounds with the fight following a similar pattern, with Taylor marching after Lamela but unable to really make a dent in him. This is now unchartered territory for Taylor, however, as he had never gone more than eight rounds before tonight, so a good box ticked here.
SIX DOWN
19:52:28
After this extraordinary fight before, this one is all a bit lowkey. Taylor is doing nothing wrong but the pace is slow and Lamela is offering little going forward. With four left, can Taylor add an explosive full stop to this performance?
MORE OF THE SAME
19:39:37
Mainly one-way traffic in the second but Lamela does land with a counter right hand in the final minute of the round. Taylor is having success with overhand rights but the visitor’s chin is holding up well so far.
EASY FOR EZRA
19:35:58
Taylor has it all his own way in the first round against Lamela, who looks overmatched and eats a few right hands in the first round. With nothing coming back, the Nottingham man can do basically what he wants and seems to be enjoying it.
EZRA UP NEXT
19:26:44
Two fights, two big knockouts – five to go in Birmingham. Up next is light-heavyweight prospect Ezra Taylor as he takes on Cuba-born Spaniard Carlos Alberto Lamela. Can he keep tonight’s knockout streak going? The odds would suggest he very much can. He’s got 10 rounds to do it against the 8-3 visitor.
SMASH AND GRAB
19:20:11
According to the TNT commentary team, all three judges had Cooper well ahead at the time of the stoppage. The 35-year-old Essuman pulls it out of the bag when it mattered most. What a fight, what a performance.
COOPER IS DOWN AND OUT!
19:16:58
After what we saw in the ninth, I cannot quite believe that within seconds of the start of the fifth it’s all over – and it’s Cooper who is knocked out! Essuman was on the brink of defeat at the end of the ninth but he would just not be denied. A big left hook sent Cooper into a corner once again and Essuman jumped on him, two more big shots landed on the chin and Cooper was down and referee Bob Williams waved it off straight away.
DOWN GOES ESSUMAN!
19:14:26
With less than a minute left in the ninth round, Cooper drops Essuman with a huge right hook. Essuman climbs to his feet and Cooper is unable to find a finish before the end of the round. Yet another pendulum swing in this mini-classic. “Listen, he’s fucking gone!” is the war cry in the corner. Into the 10th and final round we go.
MORE OF THE SAME
19:07:13
Again, Essuman manages to spend much of the round with Cooper against the ropes, allowing him to unload to head and body. Cooper does not have much success of his own but he is showing incredible toughness to still hang in there at all. With three rounds left, can Cooper get back into this one?
DOWN GOES COOPER!
19:02:40
After a proper old-fashioned onslaught from Essuman, where he landed with a series of huge hooks, Cooper finally goes down with only a few seconds remaining in the round. Cooper gets back to his feet and holds on until the end of the round – but can he make it through the seventh?
FIREWORKS IN THE FIFTH
18:57:57
Essuman manages to outmuscle Cooper early in the round and manoeuvres him back to the ropes and gets to work, mauling with hooks to head and body. But Cooper keeps his cool and manages to work his way back to centre ring where he gets through with two sharp right hands which Essuman seems to feel. At the halfway point this is anyone’s fight.
THREE DOWN
18:51:51
Some great work from Cooper in round three but he ships a big left hook from Essuman after a minute of the fourth. Essuman, perhaps sensing his opponent growing into the fight, has decided now is the time to turn up the heat.
ENGINE BREAKING?
18:40:02
Amazingly, Essuman is a full 12 years older than the undefeated Cooper, who won the English title in this very same arena on March 16. Essuman, however, is coming off the back of his first defeat, when he lost on points to Harry Scarff in Manchester in November. We are one round down and Cooper seems to have found an early groove – this is shaping up nicely.
WELTERWEIGHTS NEXT
18:30:40
Zach Parker provides an explosive stoppage in the first of tonight’s (Magnificent) seven fights. Next up is Owen Cooper against Ekow Essuman for the English welterweight title.
IT’S OVER
18:26:03
Arnfield is wobbled by a big right hand from Parker and goes stumbling back to the ropes. Parker then lines him up for a huge right hand which sends him heavily to his knees. Arnfield does well to even get up at all, let alone beat the count, but he is allowed to box on. However, one more attack from Parker, which downs Arnfield again, is enough for referee Chris Dean to wave things off. The official time was 1:16 of the fourth.
THREE DOWN
18:23:42
Not much to report through three here. Parker chipping away but Arnfield has been equal to everything so far. Of course this is Parker’s first outing since he was dropped for the first time in his career, against Tyron Zeuge in March, in a fight he won on points. No knockdowns for either as of yet.
PARKER-ARNFIELD FIRST
18:15:00
And without further ado, the 10-rounder between Zach Parker and Jack Arnfield is now underway in what is the first TV bout on the card. We are one round down. Off TV, Shabaz Masoud and Bradley Thompson both won on points over eight and four rounds respectively.
WE’RE OFF
18:13:12
Hello and welcome to tonight’s live blog for the latest Magnificent Seven card, this time in Birmingham. I’m Declan Taylor and I will be walking you through every cough, splutter and everything in between via this magical medium of text. If you want to get involved remember to enter your predictions on the Boxing News app and of course you can Tweet me all your thoughts to @declantaylor87.
Nathan Heaney faces Brad Pauls in a clash for Heaney’s British middleweight title. Headlining the latest Magnificent 7 card, the pair fought to a draw in March.
The televised undercard action, ‘Fight Night Live’, kicks off on TNT Sports from 6pm (UK/IRE). Catch Bradley Thompson and Shabaz Masoud in the preliminary bouts here:
Nathan Heaney vs. Brad Pauls 2 Fight Card
Nathan Heaney vs. Brad Pauls
British middleweight title – 12 x 3 rounds
Zach Parker vs. Jack Arnfield
Super-middleweight – 10 x 3 rounds
Chantelle Cameron vs. Elhem Mekhaled
WBC Interim World super-lightweight title (vacant) – 10 x 2 rounds
Ashley Lane vs. Andrew Cain
British and Commonwealth bantamweight title – 12 x 3 rounds
Solomon Dacres vs. Michael Webster
English heavyweight title – 10 x 3 rounds
Owen Cooper vs. Ekow Essuman
English and WBO European welterweight titles – 10 x 3 rounds
Shabaz Masoud vs. Marvin Solano
Featherweight – 8 x 3 rounds
Ezra Taylor vs. Carlos Alberto Lamela
WBC International light-heavyweight title (vacant) – 10 x 3 rounds
Bradley Thompson vs. Stephen Jackson
Super-flyweight – 4 x 3 mins
