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How did Savage collect this eye cut?

. .by coming in like this, head down?

ON Friday May 11, Murray Thomson staged another Fighters Factory promotion at Fort Knox, which drew a thousand loyal Thomson fans. Overcoming late pull-outs and last-minute withdrawals Murray still managed to put together a four fight card.

The main event, Kongthawat Sorkitti, 62.6, met Fatai Onikeke, 63.5, for the IBF Pan Pacific super-lightweight title over 12x3s.

Onikeke played with Sorkitti like a kitten plays with a ball of wool and allowed him to escape his coup de grace on numerous occasions. Once when Sorkitti was knocked down in the fifth he mistakenly thought referee Malcolm Bulner had stopped the fight, and his face wore a look of relief, only to be replaced with a "Not happy Jan" look when Malcolm told him to fight on.

This bout should not have gone more than two rounds and if you’re the type who likes pulling wings off flies you’d have enjoyed it.
Sorkitti has now had 12 fights in Australia for 12 losses, I think this will be his last.

EDDIE "Psycho"Delic, 66.6, belied his name against Paul Tapley, 66.2, fought a disciplined 10 rounds in defence of his Australian Welterweight title and ran out an easy winner on the scorecards. Psychedelic means drugged, in a dream world, whereas Eddie Delic was clear-headed as a child.

Eddie showed good skills doubling up his left and catching Tapley all night with it. On occasions he would lay back on the ropes and allow the Queenslander to hit him only to storm back with a nice assortment of rips and hooks.

Tapley, outclassed by Delic, fought gamely throughout but I think his dreams of a Welterweight title are dead in the water.

IN AN eight- rounder undefeated Pradeep Singh, 72.8, took on William Hadlow, 72 kg, in a bout that on paper looked a walkover; but no-one counted on Hadlow’s courage. Time and time again he took Singh’s best punches and stormed back to land his own bombs. On a few occasions William had Singh in real trouble. Hadlow took the fight up to Singh and every hole he found in Singh’s defence he exploited.

This was a mega-gutsy display by Hadlow and I thought he deserved the decision but the judges scored it a draw.

This fight is going to present a conundrum for the ratings as Singh, the number 1 contender for the Middleweight title, came in 300 grams over weight while Hadlow made the weight. On this performance Hadlow should be listed number 1 contender. He at least deserves something for his efforts, a bloody top effort by him.

Heath Ellis chops at smothering southpaw Savage

THE 6x3 bout between Heath Ellis and Jim Savage was another fight on paper that seemed one-sided. Undefeated teenage tiger cub Ellis against 36 year old Savage who (while one of the toughest cookies I have seen) had had only three fights in the previous seven years.

But boxing certainly can make fools of us all and this boy ate up all of Ellis’s best punches and kept coming back for more. And not only that, he took the wind out of Heath and hurt him a couple of times. Throughout the fight Savage would hold and hit, I don’t think he understands that these punches don’t score with the judges, but I explained it to him after the fight.

Savage bled from the left eye for the last few rounds, which he later blamed on “Heath butted me.” More likely, the head clash originated from Jim’s own head-down approach. See Pic.

I asked the Quenslander why he hadn’t had more fights, and Savage told me he has been concentrating on Kick Boxing and Cage Fighting. [He had just won the final of cage fighting by KO 1 in Queensland].

Heath won this fight by a narrow margin and after Savage has a couple more matches they will make very interesting return fight.