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Photo © Werner Kalin
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Former Victorian lightweight champion Shane ‘Psycho Kid’ Kelly made his long awaited return to the ring with a six round whitewash of former Australian super featherweight champion Karim Nasher at Moorabbin Town Hall on Friday night.
Fighting in front of a parochial crowd of supporters, Kelly 7-1 (1) showed little ring rust in his first fight in two-and-a-half years as he duked and jived to win every round on all three judges’ scorecards.
From the opening bell it was obvious that Kelly’s plan was to box and move, a strategy that worked well against the sometimes lead-footed Nasher, 14-9 (9). Kelly’s southpaw jab was an effective tool as he repeatedly nailed Nasher coming in, but it was his deadly accurate left cross that proved to be his money punch in the fight, stopping the more experienced 35-year-old in his tracks on several occasions.
As early as the second round Nasher was showing signs of frustration, pausing to mock Kelly in the hope of dragging him into a brawl. But the slick southpaw refused to come to the party, opting instead to target Nasher’s midsection while he goaded him.
In the second half of the fight Nasher managed to land the occasional bomb, but Kelly continued to control the action with his superb ring generalship and quick-fisted counters.
The classy Brian Slatter trained fighter continued to use his superior footwork and mobility to play the matador to Nasher charging bull, catching the Paul Fiefield trained fighter with sharp counters every time he attempted to mount an attack.
Nasher, who was returning from a four-and-a-half year ring hiatus himself, was unable to recapture his previous form that saw him challenge for a Commonwealth title in 2001.
With the win 30-year-old Kelly is looking to get a second crack at the Australian title currently held by hard punching New South Welshman Allan Luxford.
Also on the three-fight Keith Ellis promoted card Johnny Walker, 7-1 (5), notched up a win over Kiwi journeyman Bruce Glozier, 3-5 (2). Glozier was game but Walker’s superior technique and firepower soon took over as the well supported local bludgeoned the visitor to the canvas twice in the opening stanza. Going in to round two is was only a matter of time before the fight was called off and another trip to the matt for Glozier forced referee Ignatius Missailidis to call a halt at 0:42. The fight was scheduled for six rounds.
Heavyweight Kim Heta, 6-0 (4), was too strong for New Zealand’s Hiriwa Te Rangi, 0-5, stopping him in the 4th round of a scheduled six. Rangi is better than his record suggests with three of his losses coming against classy heavyweights Bob Mirovic, Shane Cameron and Roger Izonritei, but this experience wasn’t enough to help him against the stocky and powerful Heta. Throwing bombs from the opening bell, Heta successfully found his way inside against the much taller Rangi and worked the Kiwi over to the body and head. All three judges had Heta winning every round when referee Chris Anderson pulled the plug on the carnage at 1:42. |
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© Copyright / All Rights reserved: Doghouse Boxing 1998-2006
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At Ringside by Anthony Cocks (March 15, 2006) 
