TALENTED duo Paul Butler and Matty Fagan both fought at the annual cricket club dinner show at Nantwich Civic Hall.
The Vauxhall Motors ABC pair, both strong prospects who have caught the eye of England coaches in the past, experienced very different feelings by the end of the night.
Butler was matched against fearsome flyweight Phil Smith of Stockbridge ABC in a rematch of a contest earlier this season.
His initial speed of hand and foot left Smith floundering and Butler punished every mistake.
After a chat between rounds, Smith began to close the gap but Butler counter-punched with style and eventually Smith resorted to clinching.
He knew he was trailing in the final round and came out firing but the pace began to tell after spending the fight chasing Butler down and Smith once more attempted to hug Butler.
But this time the Port fighter saw it coming and unleashed an astonishing eight-punch, two-handed combination into Smith’s body as he cruised to a points victory.
Fagan had a tough prospect in only his third bout for three years as he faced England’s number two lightweight Sam Maxwell from the Higherside stable.
Carrying a height and reach advantage, Maxwell boxed to his strengths from the off, keeping Fagan out of range and switching stances to throw the Port prospect off.
The gaps he opened up allowed him to tag Fagan with powerful crosses and some spiteful-looking uppercuts to the body.
Fagan drew on his experience and tried to close the space between them to shorten Maxwell’s leverage and score some hits of his own.
He enjoyed some success, giving Maxwell something to think about with some concrete right counters.
But while the blows were strong, they were infrequent and Fagan never landed enough clean blows to sway any of the judges.
It may have been a little too ambitious for a fighter who has been out of the game for so long and who has only just returned, but Fagan earned some credit for his tireless work and brave attempts to turn the fight around as it got away from him.
