Oakey slays Gladiator Spartacus

Oakey slays Gladiator Spartacus

At Ringside, Ralph O'Neil (May 21, 2007) Doghouse Boxing

SENI:07 roared into action last night as the Mick Hennessy promoted SENI:BOX provided a great spectacle for decent live and Sky Sports TV audiences alike. Steve Spartacus of Ipswich was systematically broken down by Portsmouth’s squat and determined Tony Oakey, referee Ritchie Davies intervening in the final round (0:34) with Spartacus (now 19-4) hurt and defenceless on the ropes.

Many had questioned whether Oakey had had a battle too many over the last 5 years, he had just not seemed the same

fighter since his much publicised and BBB of C induced lay off. Spartacus was seen as the fighter on the way up, with perhaps higher aspirations than the British Title. It was on this basis that the match was made. The Toe-2-Toe Arena at London’s Excel provided the Coliseum for the evening.

Both fighters had scaled inside the championship weight the day before, both lads were well supported on the night with Oakey perhaps having the vocal edge. Spartacus was first to the ring, full gladiatorial regalia for himself and his entourage, with a trio of scantily clad maidens equally historically attired. Oakey on the other hand entered to his usual ‘Oakey Cokey’ anthem.

It was Spartacus who set the pace during the opening stanza, uppercuts slammed in as he tried to close the show via the short route, the Oakey durability of old was still there though, and the ‘Pompey’ mans reply was to carry on doing what he does best, double jabs followed by straight rights, bob and weave and then sway from the Spartacus early onslaught. Definitely Spartacus round though and the crowd had warmed to the early action.

From the second round onwards it was Oakey who started to dominate, Spartacus missed repeatedly as Oakey continued to accumulate the points with his solid albeit predictable work. Spartacus was still catching the eyes of the judges with occasional aggressive flurries but Oakey was working for 3 minutes per round. I noted in round 3 that Spartacus was looking tired but he still managed to rock back Oakey’s head with a straight right very late on in that round. Spartacus was warned for a bit of head use in the 4th but Oakey was not to be denied. A sly undetected pot shot below the belt in the 5th was the only punch of that round to trouble Oakey as Spartacus seemed to be getting desperate. The Pompey man continued with his dominance in the 6th and I noted that he might ‘stop Spartacus late on’ … how true this was to become! All Spartacus was offering was single shots, and despite the fact that Oakey was easy to hit Spartacus just did not seem to have the engine to follow up his shots. The same pattern continued into the 9th round and then all of a sudden Spartacus seemed to get his second wind, he caught Oakey early in the round and then followed this with a continuous solid attack that swung the round his way, at the end of this round I had Oakey still 3 points clear, it looked like Spartacus had been told he needed a huge finish or a KO to win. The following 2 rounds saw Oakey dominating and when the lads touched gloves for the last I had Oakey perhaps 5 points to the fore at this stage. Spartacus was breathing heavily and both combatants, determined to put on a show, traded together from the opening bell of the last, it was the tired Spartacus who was caught and an Oakey barrage on a defenceless gladiator left the 3rd man with no option but to save Spartacus from further punishment. He was stopped on his feet but the intervention seemed timely, shame we did not see the final bell but that’s boxing for you. Oakey moves to 24-2(6).

Oakey’s proud manager Frank Maloney was absolutely delighted with the result and will no doubt promote Oakey’s first defence, probably in the summer. Tony Oakey has had a decent career but we are now probably entering the twilight of it, Commonwealth Champion, WBU World Champion and now of course British Champion. The smile that adorned Oakey’s face when the Lonsdale belt was placed around his midriff told us that this title was very meaningful to him. It was great to see two good domestic fighters fighting for the legendary belt, somewhere up above Lord Lonsdale was smiling.

Next up for Oakey is probably Andrew Lowe, the smart money was on Peter Haymer but ‘the daddy’ was beaten on points by Paul David on tonight’s bill. I’m not sure Oakey can tread deeper than this level, but the opportunity to make the Lonsdale Belt his own will surely be his goal.

The under card results were as follows:

Peter Haymer lost on points over 8 to Paul David at Light-Heavyweight

At Cruiser Troy Ross stopped Tony Booth in the 2nd of a scheduled 8 rounds

David Walker out pointed Catweazle Hudson over 6 rounds at Welterweight

Lenny Daws beat Billy Smith over 6 rounds on points at Light-Welter

At Cruiserweight Mickey Steeds out pointed John Anthony over 6

Matthew Thirlwall beat David Kirk over 4 rounds at Middle-weight

Light-Middleweight George Hillyard closed the show outscoring Matt Scriven over 4 rounds.