Rocky Fielding: Prizefighter champ
Local lad Rocky Fielding was the surprise package as he won the super-middleweight Prizefighter in Liverpool tonight (Wednesday 23 March).
Fielding upset the odds as he blasted his way to the £32,000 prize fund by beating Tobias Webb in the final.
Fielding had to get past knock-out artist Patrick J Maxwell and Joe Ainscough before stopping Webb in the final and becomes the first man to win all his fights through stoppage. Webb, who had the harder route, beat former world champion Robin Reid and Jahmaine Smyle.
You could tell Webbs last fight (against Smyle) took it out of him and Fielding was very smart by attacking the body of his weary opponent. Webb just couldn’t handle it and dropped to his knees after Rocky landed a fantastic hook to the body with just 20 seconds left on the round one clock.
Webb was then saved by the bell after another knockdown, but his corner decided enough was enough.
This was the definitely the right call as Webb had nothing left to give and was really drained because of his two previous fights.
The first fight of the night saw knock-out artist Maxwell face off against Fielding. The first round began really scrappy, but Rocky took the centre of the ring and began trading with the big puncher. In the second round, Fielding again took the centre of the ring and landed some great shots, dropping Maxwell twice before the referee called a halt to the fight.
The second fight of the night was probably the most controversial as Ainscough beat Wayne Reed via split decision, despite Ainscough being dropped in the third. If I’m honest this was the worse fight of the night, with neither fighter displaying any real skill. Ainscough came out swinging wildly, displaying no defence while the cocky Reed wasn’t good enough (despite some of his earlier predictions) to exploit the obvious lack of defence from Ainscough. Even so, I thought Reed won the second and third rounds and was surprised as anyone to see Ainscough progress.
The third fight saw former world champ Reid take on Webb. Reid was disappointing in this fight, looking very sloppy and always looking to tie up when on the inside. I take nothing away from Webb who thoroughly deserved it, but Reid looked a shadow of his former self and should definitely stick to retirement.
In another shock, pre-tournament favourite Carl Dilks lost via a split decision to Smyle in the final quarter-final. Dilks looked as though he hadn’t recovered from the pounding DeGale gave him and despite winning the first round, was pressed back throughout the fight by the stronger Smyle. Smyle had Dilks rocking in the second but couldn’t finish the job but continued to press forward to take the split decision win.
The first semi-final saw Rocky blast past Ainscough in the first round. Despite knocking Ainscough down, the referee declared it wasn’t to be as he felt Rocky pushed Ainscough down but I’m still not sure. But Rocky wasn’t to be denied and continued to land some brutal shots, resulting in two cuts (one above the right eye and one between both eyes) which forced the referee to stop the fight in round one.
Webb came through another exhausting fight with Smyle but did enough to claim a unanimous points victory. Webb moved well throughout the fight and picked his shots well as Smyle continued to come forward time and time again, despite a cut on his mouth.
However the night belonged to local lad Rocky Fielding, who entered this tournament at short notice. He blasted his way through the tournament and was a deserved winner.
thesweetscienceuk 