In a messy, mauling affair, Harlem Eubank, maintained his unbeaten record with an eight-round decision over Nurali Erdogan.
Scores were announced as 77-73, 79-70 and 77-72, but both fighters lost points and Eubank picked up a nasty cut over his left eye from a headclash.
Brighton product Eubank, now 20-0 (8 KO), boxing up at 147 having campaigned for years at junior welterweight, started aggressively, firing out his jab and punching in combination to the body. It was untidy, with Erdogan clinching with regularity, and the referee warned them for tussling in close and told Eubank he would lose a point if he held and hit the Frenchman.
At the bell, they fell into one another and tumbled to the floor on top of each other.
The second was a marginal improvement. Eubank clipped Erdogan with a left hook, having followed in a left to the body.
A collective hush fell over the crowd at the Walker Activity Dome in Newcastle in the fourth owing to the lack of activity and, specifically, a lack of clean work and again both fell to the floor as one and the referee – Ron Kearney – again warned them to tidy it up or he would throw them both out.
Erdogan was physically rough and tough. He was strong and sturdy, and he scored with a left hook that landed on Eubank’s chin in the sixth that clearly registered but in the sixth Erdogan had a point deducted for pushing with the palm of his glove. That served to galvanise the Frenchman, who doubled down on his efforts to turn things around with one punch, but Eubank became more slippery and the Frenchman merely became more frustrated.
And for a third time they once again wound up on the canvas together in the seventh Erdogan had his moments in that session and Eubank was given a further stern warning by the referee for infractions on the inside. Moments later, Eubank emerged from the maul with a cut by his right eye, and he looked irritated as he made his way back to the corner.
Unsurprisingly, neither could get anything going in the final round. Eubank was warned for coming in too low, Erdogan was warned for pushing Eubank down and with 90 seconds left in the round, Eubank hit the canvas again and Erdogan, 16-4 (1 KO), had another point docked for wrestling the Englishman to the floor. With a minute to go, they traded left hooks and Eubank’s cut bled down his cheek but with just 10 seconds left, the referee took a point off Eubank for coming in low with his head.
Three points deducted in total; three times they fell to the floor together; eight rounds. One mess. It was a night when styles just did not blend.
“It was very frustrating but we were prepared,” said Eubank. “It’s good to be back. Tricky style tonight but I went in there and got the job done. I’m happy. I felt strong in there. I was getting the cleaner punches in there up close, with the grabbing it made it difficult.”
Eubank had been out of the ring for more than a year since his stoppage win over Timo Schwarzkopf, having seen a fight with Adam Azim – which had been publicly announced – postponed, rescheduled and ultimately cancelled, chewing through Eubank’s 2024.
Earlier in the night, Tyne and Wear junior middleweight southpaw prospect Dan Toward scored an eight-round stoppage of now 9-2 Colombian Johan Nova, who was down in the second, fifth and sixth rounds. Toward is now 5-0 (4 KOs).
Newcastle-born ticketseller Cyrus Pattinson was too much for Russian Andrei Antonov, landing his southpaw left to the head and body often through the first two rounds. Antonov constantly switched stances and was calm under pressure, and he tagged an overzealous Pattinson with a right near the end of the second. Antonov had plenty of success and Pattinson was happy to be engaged in a fight that he seemed to make harder than necessary, but it ultimately served to shed more than a year of ring rust following the first loss of his career. Pattinson won by margins of 60-55.
Antonov is now 4-4-2 (1 KO). Pattinson is 7-1 (4 KOs).
German junior lightweight Sophie Alisch is now 10-0 (1 KO) after a 60-54 victory over France’s Marina Sakharov, who is 6-20-2 (3 KOs).
Darlington junior middleweight hope Ben Marksby improved to 11-0 (1 KO) with a second-round win over Sheffield’s Levi Kinsiona, who drops to 11-4 (1 KO).
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