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Strike and Submit 5 - Lancastrian Suite- Gateshead - 2nd Feb 2008
Pete Irving retained his Strike & Submit British Welterweight title with a display of controlled aggression to complete a wild night in Gateshead. The Champ’s tussle with Lee Doski was a chess match. Both were pictures of concentration in the first. In the early stand up exchanges, Doski matched the Champion but, as the round wore on, Irving began to connect more regularly with crisp knees and kicks. His relaxed and fluid movement was impressive as he outscored the more cautious challenger. At the start of the second, Irving pushed his advantage. Straight away, he started asking some big questions and the counters suddenly dried up. The clincher was a knee delivered with venom to Doski’s head. Remarkably, Doski managed to stay on his feet, but his reward was final flurry of picked punches. Checkmate. Pete Irving showed plenty of quality and appears ready for the big time. Lee Doski made an impressive return from injury, but looked like he could have done with a warm up fight before trying to reclaim his belt. As he was blowing away the rust, his ribs were tasting shin. I get the feeling his next opponent is going to pay for it.
The fight was the climax of a night that generated more excitement than a coach load of eight year olds invading Blackpool Pleasure Beach after injecting blue Smarties and Tizer into their eyeballs. Four other titles were contested, with two of them being claimed by the formidable Thompson brothers. Kevin Thompson was first up, against Dublin’s Karl Roche for the S & S Light Heavyweight Title. The action moved so fast it was like watching a Buster Keaton film- bursts of frantic activity linked together with jump cuts. Kevin opened with a big overhand right. The pair, went to the ground. Roche looked like he had the advantage. Cut. Thompson is standing over him unloading punches. Cut. He’s back down and slaps a Rear Naked Choke on. It’s all over. Karl Roche got to his feet and shrugged;“What happened?” I know what he meant. It was head spinning. Thirty three seconds of pure excitement. Martin “The Ox” Thompson was equally impressive. He tasted a couple of digs from Italian Muay Thai specialist Matteo Minonzio and wisely decided to take the fight to the ground. First from side, then from mount, he brutalised his opponent until the relentless ground and pound forced a verbal tap. The S & S Super Heavyweight Title was claimed by debutant Darren Towler. Towler brought a legion of fans with him and, on the signal, unleashed Hell. His assault on Richie Moore was frantic, raw and irresistible. Moore did well to stand up to the big man’s knees and right hands for the forty five seconds the fight lasted. When the KO came- it sparked spectacular celebrations inside and outside the cage. Knuckledraggers fighter Rob Mills took the Semi Pro Middleweight victory with a composed but devastating win over the highly rated Chris Scott. Scott wasn’t given a moment to settle as Mills unleashed the destructive force equivalent to a Greek wedding in Hiroshima to blast his way to a thirty six second KO. On a night stacked with high octane encounters- the war between Steve Singleton and Chris Charlton stood out. The pair never let up as they traded punches and knees in a punishing first round. Although the gas needle started pointing to empty on both tanks- neither was willing to take a backward step. In second, the action switched to the canvas, with Charlton coming out on top by way of Rear Naked Choke. I don’t think anyone who saw this fight would mind seeing it again. Great entertainment. In the other pro bout- Eric Boylan caught Billy Saul in an armbar for a first round submission win. Heavyweight Peter Yendall took Fighter of the Night honours for his victory over Matthew Keen.
Crowd To say they were up for it would be an understatement. Large partisan groups cheered their fighters to the rafters, but showed due respect to opponents. The explosive nature of the action in the cage whipped them up to fever pitch. On a side note- the crowd contained the highest ratio of good looking women I have ever seen at a sporting event. Venue Packed out. I heard some people moaning and saying that Strike and Submit should move somewhere bigger, but I disagree. No matter where you are in the Lancastrian Suite, you have an ace view. In a larger space, you’d lose the pressure cooker atmosphere. Instead of moving- I hope they satisfy the demand by putting on more shows. Or maybe they could charge a bit more. Odd Sight of the Night The show was filmed by the BBC for their regional Inside Out programme. They spent most of their time filming the crowd rather than the action. The presenter was some guy in a diamond Pringle type jumper who is no doubt a household name in Geordieland. Early on, they spent a lot of time filming him watching the fights. I couldn’t tell if he was going for a look of “mild interest” or “slight disgust”. We’ll have to wait for the voice over. All I’ll say is- there weren’t many negatives for them to highlight at this show. Lookalike of the Night Pete Irving- Duke from the film Repo Man Man of the Night Dave Wilson. Heavyweight who stepped in at six hours notice to fight. And he won.
Results
Amateur
Tim
Close def Daniel Bloomfield R1 1:00 – Sub Armbar
Pro Eric Boylan def Billy Saul R1 0:48 – Sub Armbar
Strike & Submit European Light Heavyweight Title |
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