Prizefighter International Heavyweights - Full Boxing Report - York Hall
By Iain Dolan at ringside for Doghouse Boxing (June 23, 2012) Doghouse Boxing
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Tor Hamer
This past Wednesday at York Hall, New Yorker Tor Hamer showed a wide ranging skill set in order to emerge victorious in the latest instalment of the Prizefighter series. In the final Tor (16st 3 ½ lbs)  beat red hot favourite, Kevin “Kingpin” Johnson (17st 4 lbs) with smart, stick and move tactics against the bigger man. Exploiting his superior speed, Hamer darted in and out landing two punch combos and then retreating to a safe distance. It showed a good understanding of the three round  format and it seemed as though Tor’s whole plan was to bank two rounds and then get on his bike, knowing the lacklustre Johnson would take a while to warm up.
Fellow American Johnson started the 2nd round with a bit more urgency throwing out the jab with venom but Hamer responded with a quick left jab of his own and some good footwork to keep the flow of scoring punches in his favour. The crowd warmed to Hamer and seemed to resent Johnson’s apparent lack of effort. Johnson did land a big right in the third but failed to follow it up with anything meaningful.  Tor clearly felt he had done enough in the first two rounds and engaged less frequently in the last round. The Judges saw it the same giving Hamer the nod, 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 Tor gave a strange interview after the fight which might not have pleased Eddie Hearn, the promoter but he was a worthy winner.
 
Hamer showed his versatility by blasting out Chathams’s  Tom Dallas (16st 9 ½ lbs) in less than 30 seconds. Perhaps feeling he had Dallas’ number he went for broke, possibly thinking an early finish would conserve energy for the final. Tor jumped on the unfortunate Dallas from the opening belland landed almost at will. Perhaps still shell shocked from his quarter final, Dallas swallowed almost every punch Hamer threw. A left right combo followed by a thumping right hook had the referee stepping in to save Tom from  any further punishment.
The other semi  final saw two former world title challengers clash in the shape of Kevin Johnson and  Poland’s Albert Sosnowski (15st 13 ½ lbs) in a nip and tuck affair. Albert shaded the opener on work rate as “Kingpin” was again slow to start. Johnson stepped it up a bit in the 2nd and his power troubled Sosnowski on a few occasions as the straight right landed. With a spot in the final up for grabs, the last round was surprisingly tepid but in the end Johnson did just about enough work to take a split decision 29-28, 28-29 and 30-27.
Fight of the night was the 4th quarter final between Hatfield’s Tom Little (18st 3lbs) and Tom Dallas. The flabby Little, in only his 4th paid bout  showed surprising hand speed and a big heart as he threw the kitchen sink at Dallas from the off.  Finding success with jabs and hooks both upstairs and down, Little looked to be on course for an unlikely victory as Dallas neglected defence in order to meet fire with fire. Little started the 2nd round with similar ambition but, from quite early on, was looking up at the big screen to see how long was left in the round. Little continued to throw leather and give Dallas problems although he was clearly gassed by the end of the round. In the 3rd it all fell apart for Little as he had just completely run out of steam. Dallas landed some good shots but it was 90% exhaustion that caused Little to crash to the canvas. He managed to get to his feet but could barely stand so the fight was waved off.  If Little can find the discipline to spend more time in the gym and less time in KFC, he has plenty offer on the domestic heavyweight scene.
Tor Hamer Booked his semi final spot but outboxing  Brazilian Marcelo Luiz Nascimento  (16st 3lbs). Hamer countered well as Marcelo showed ambition throughout. Hamer managed to see most of the bigger man’s shots coming and land his own hooks downstairs quite easily. The crowd warmed to Nascimento because of his cavalier swinging and booed roundly when he was bundled to the floor and given a count. He was mostly shoved to the canvas but two big hooks a moment before may have weakened his legs somewhat.  In the end, Hamer scored a comfortable win 29-28, 30-26 and 30-26.
Kevin Johnson showed his undoubted class in his opening bout by stopping over matched Noureddine  Meddoune (17st 7 ¼ lbs) from Morocco in the first round. Meddoune started brightly enough and threw plenty of big shots, but Johnson’s left jab/straight right combination began to land. A big straight right put Noureddine on his back and he never fully recovered. The referee stepped in with just a second to go in the first round.
 
Albert Sosnowski was perhaps fortunate to progress against USA  veteran Maurice Harris (17st 3 ½ lbs). I felt that Harris shots carried the more menace in and he landed plenty of right hands but two of the judges saw it differently, giving it to Sosnowski, presumably because he was slightly busier. The cards read 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28.
 
It was an intriguing night’s action which Prizefighter invariably provides. There were some great KOs, slick boxing and some interesting characters. The one fly in the ointment was the 9pm start time on a Wednesday. I understand the show went out live in the US but a lot of the fans had left before the final which was after 11:30pm. One of those was forced to leave early  was York Hall regular Roy Venables, who said disconsolately “I am not backing the late kick off time, I have to be up early to singlehandedly revive the global economy”.

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