MOREE hosted its first professional fight since 1957 on Saturday evening and the locals marked the occasion with six victories out of the eight bouts they were represented in with split points decisions proving the difference from a Moree clean sweep on the night.
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“There was a capacity house and all the Moree boys went very well; we were just a bit unlucky with a few split points decisions,” Moree Boxing Academy president, Danny Cheetham, said.
In the amateur bouts Clayton Mark defeated Casino’s Zac Roberts, Chris Daley defeated Casino’s Chris Skinner, Ashley Duncan defeated Coffs Harbour’s Dempsey Hartmann, Curtly Hammond defeated Nambucca Heads’ Mitch Stapleton and Jake Hetherington defeated Casino’s Scott Copeland.
Mitchell Girard and James Duncan were on the receiving end of the result after both fought their way to the very end, with Cheetham disagreeing with the outcome of Girard’s fight.
“I thought he fought well, but maybe he was a victim of circumstance and the referees thought they’d share it around a bit due to Moree being victorious in all of the other fights.”
There was an element of surprise in Duncan’s loss with the 17-year-old suffering his first defeat in six attempts in another closely competitive match, but Cheetham believed there were a few factors which brought about his demise.
“He’s had a bit of a layoff due to suffering a leg injury playing footy so I thought that contributed to the outcome of his fight, but I agreed with the decision; there wasn’t much in the fight but his opponent probably just shaded him.”
The night however wasn’t without its hiccups with a minor glitch with the ring about halfway through the 13th bout involving Mitch Whitelaw from Nambucca Heads and Mt Tambourine’s Quentin Carey.
“Yeah we had a bolt come out which required us to hold up the fight for about 10 minutes or so, but it wasn’t anything too serious,” Cheetham said.
The night was a tremendous success and the president took the time to thank the Moree people for their attendance.
“I’d like to thank the Academy and the community for their support because without them the night wouldn’t have been possible, and we look forward to doing it all again soon,” he said.
In the other amateur fights in a unanimous decision Nambucca’s Vero Beeby defeated Armidale’s Duke Dean, Mathew McQuewan from Casino was too good for Nathan Riley from Dubbo, and Guyra’s James MacDonald defeated Curt Murphy from Coffs Harbour.
Narrabri boxer Riddock Smith, who trains in Moree, defeated Asher Wolff from Mt Tamborine, Braidon Newman (Dubbo) defeated Mickey Kelly (Ballina), Joel Taylor (Dorrigo) beat Josh Paasche (Mt Tamborine), and Quinten Carey, also from Mt Tamborine, was too good for Nambucca’s Mitch Whitelaw.
In an exhibition fight Dubbo’s Briana Luckie fought Casion’s Kara Ann Barnes.
In the two professional bouts leading up to the main event, Gunnedah’s Allan Tanada was a unanimous points decision victor over Michael Corria from Sydney in a clash dubbed the ‘country versus city clash’ while Kyle Teer from Warwick was also victorious with a unanimous points decision over Alistair Lardner from Kempsey.
