ALL 5 VIP FIGHTERS WIN ON THE MANCHESTER SHOW - SUNDAY 12TH FEBRUARY
ALI NUUMBEMBE - Beat late Okine replacement Sergey Starkov on points over 8 rounds which saw the Russian take one hell of a beating . Referee Phil Edwards nearly jumped in to stop the fight in the 6th when Ali was giving out some serious punishment without reply , but decided to let the brave Russian carry on. SKY have been informed that Ali is available to box Kevin Anderson on the 17th March if they have opponent trouble again.
CRAIG BUNN - Beat the experienced Howard Clark over 6 rounds on points and showed great improvement since his December debut. It was a compliment to Craig when the normally relaxed Howard was shaken up and put in a position of having to fight back, with his tight defence being broken.
DANNY HARDING - A nervous pro debut saw Danny dragged into a fight with Gavin Deacon and it was a you hit me and I hit you contest for the first few rounds. As the fight went on he settled into it and deserved his points win at the end.
GARY O'CONNER - Took his record to 4-0 with a 4th Round stoppage of the looser but normally durable Lance Verallo who was stopped for the first time in his 13 fights. Gary basically jumped on him from the bell and worked on him for every second of each round , the ref had no alternative to stop the contest as although Verallo was not really hurt , he was not throwing anything back.
MARK THOMPSON - Also moved to 4-0 with a points win over Darren Gethin. This fight was cut to a 4 x 2 min round contest as Darren only took the job at 10.30pm on the Saturday night after Geraint Harvey pulled out , considering the very short notice Gethin put in a good performance but was beaten in every round by a determined Thompson.
The 2 other non VIP fights saw John Hussey beat Tye Williams on points and the debut of Lee Kellet going wrong when he was stopped in the first round by John Anthony.