Zak Miller became the new English featherweight champion on Saturday night, picking up the vacant title by outpointing Lewis Frimpong over 10 hard-fought rounds at Oldham Leisure Centre.
Last November, Miller emerged from the small halls to push quality British and Commonwealth champion, Nathaniel Collins, to the brink before losing a close majority decision.
The big occasion whetted Miler’s appetite and rather than dropping back down to six and eight round level, he elected to wait for another title opportunity. His patience was rewarded and his manager, Kevin Maree, secured Miller the chance to become a champion in front of his home crowd.
Miller, 14-1 (3 KOs), certainly hasn’t been idle during his absence. He rarely misses a day of training at The Finest Gym in Ancoats and recently shared some rounds with teenage sensation, Curmel Moton, at the Mayweather Gym in Las Vegas. The 27-year-old needed every ounce of his stamina to get past the determined and previously-unbeaten Southern Area champion, Frimpong, 8-1.
The short, stocky Londoner was aggressive from the start but rather than pressing forward relentlessly, he patiently timed his attacks, waiting for Miller to throw single shots before closing the distance.
Miller began to find some lead right hands but Frimpong’s approach helped him to maintain his energy and he got inside regularly. Heads banged together from the start and the pair fell into a taxing clash of styles.
The onus was on the taller, faster Miller to use his footwork to change things and little by little he started to establish his range. He began to use his feet to step out to the sides and move around Frimpong rather than attempting to make him fall short and the extra time and distance enabled him to land cleaner shots.
If the fight had been delicately poised at halfway, Miller started to accelerate away over the second half of the fight. Almost inevitably, pushing the pace began to tell on Frimpong, whose output dropped as he found it harder and harder to get any quality work off. The ultra-fit Miller smartly worked out how to buy himself time on the outside and negate and pick smart, short shots inside.
The 10 rounds were gruelling rather than punishing but both fighters had their moments and the rounds flew by. In the end, it was Miller who just had that extra touch of quality about his work and who was able to work out how to impose his style. Despite a final round clash of heads leaving him with a cut over his left eye, he deserved the unanimous decision he was awarded and can now look forward to a second shot at the British title.
The scores were 96-95, 97-93 and 98-92.
OTHER RESULTS
Light Heavyweight
Billy Deniz, 11-0 (5 KOs) W PTS 8 Ondrej Budera, 18-39-2 (9 KOs)
Featherweight
Adam Carberry, 8-0-1 (2 KOs) W PTS 6 Michael Ramabeletsa, 18-21 (8 KOs)
Super Featherweight
Aaron Hayden, 6-0 (1 KO) W PTS 6 Jayro Fernando Duran, 15-27 (14 KOs)
Light Heavyweight
Victor Edagha, 3-90-3 (1 KO) W PTS 4 James Albert, 6-1-1 (1 KO)
Welterweight
Max Curtis, 3-0 W PTS 4 Jake Smith, 1-18-2
Middleweight
Alex Carter, 2-1 W PTS 4 CJ Wood, 5-27-2 (2 KOs)
Photo credit: Karen Priestly
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