Paul Butler captures WBO Interim title with points victory over Sultan in Liverpool

By Dan Kelly

With the major boxing news story this week, cancelled TV slots due to the links to Daniel Kinahan and the closure of MTK GLOBAL meaning dozens of fighters including some high profile names such as WBC and the ring magazine world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury are left without a management company, I was slightly surprised to still see this card going ahead at all and we all now wait in anticipation for any news regarding the future of Probellum.

It's going to be very interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks and months ahead. Boxing is life and the sole income to the majority of fighters across the world so I can only sympathise and hope that they can all find alternatives. 

Paul Butler topped the bill beating replacement Jonas Sultan by  116-112, 117-111, and 118-110 in a 12 round contest for the WBO bantamweight championship (interim). Jonas Sultan came in for Casemiro at short notice as the latter was declared unfit to fight after the British boxing board of control were made aware of him having “made use of a sauna in close proximity” for his fight with the baby faced assassin. This isn't the first time the champion has had weight cutting issues and now fans are calling for him to be stripped of the WBO strap and the Liverpudlian elevated after a clinical performance in which his Filipino opponent was just never able to cut off the ring and close the gap, Butler who also won the IBF bantamweight title in 2014 now sits at the top of the division again with notoriously hard hitting Naya Inoue and Nonito Donaire. 

In the co main event Peter Mcgrail 4-0-0 who was on the same card as brother Joe was matched vs Uriel Lopez Juarez 15-17-1 in what was scheduled for 8 rounds at super bantamweight, the fight barely made it to the half way point as McGrail was looking to land a big left hook from early on, he carefully picked his shots landing at ease and dropping his opponent on the way to forcing referee Steve Gray to call a halt to the contest in the fourth round and save Juarez from any more punishment delivered from the scouse southpaw.

Sam Maxwell 16-1-0 was involved in all action fight which proved to be fight of the night. A pretty big upset caused as Meneses (16-5)  the underdog going into the IBO world title fight just couldn’t miss with his right hand and hurt Maxwell repeatedly, dropping him twice before toppling the Englishman in the ninth round and earning the stoppage in a fight that both men looked vulnerable, both having momentum swing their way yet it was the Mexican who prevailed.

Fan favourite Jazza Dickens 31-4-0 immediately looked to  establish centre ring in his scheduled 12 rounder vs Andoni Gago 25-5-4 and it was clear to see Dickens wanted an early night   

and looked really sharp putting Gago down in the third, which the Spaniard complained of a clash of heads that caused it. Knowing his opponent was rattled it only provoked Jazza to step up the gears in the fourth and knocked Gago out with a terrific uppercut in the fifth responding to last year's defeat to Kid Galahad and looking ahead to a possible world title eliminator.

Crowd favourite Rocky Fielding 30-2-0  was mismatched against Timo Laine 30-18-0  in a scheduled 8 rounder. Fielding established a stern left jab very early on and it connected regularly, following up with right cross' and a flurry of combinations. Rocky's work was enough to earn him a routine win and a good stoppage victory in the third round. 

Will Cawley 2-0-0  vs Marius Vsynianuskas 2-13-0 in a bantamweight 4 round contest with Cawley's size towering over his Lithuanian opponent. Cawley looked very sharp, finding gaps through Vsynianuskas' tight guard and landing regularly. There was a couple of big flurries from Cawley, there wasnt much of it that was clean work but he still produced a very high work rate throwing several combinations and showcasing his talent throughout to a decision of 40 points to 36.

Harry Kinsella made his much anticipated debut in his home city vs Christian Navarez 16-39-6 in a super featherweight 4 rounder. Kinsella slightly rushed his work in the first round in an attempt to make a big impression for his stronghold of supporters in the m and s arena. Over the second and third rounds the script was the same with Harry's body language showing that he was growing more confident as he eased into the fight, his work was far more controlled going into the final round and he outpointed his opponent 40-36.  

Joe Mcgrail 3-0-0 empathically stopped the mismatched Mohammed Al Warith 0-3-0 in a super bantamweight contest also scheduled for 4 rounds. Mcgrail landing immaculate shots from the start so it didn't take him long to pick the perfect shot, with it echoing in the arena the referee John Latham stopped the contest before Al Warith took more of the severe punishment McGrail was ready to dish out. Big statement moves him to three wins out of three in the pro ranks

Steve Cairns 3-0-0  stopped Jose Hernandez 4-41-1 in a super featherweight contest scheduled for 4 rounds. Cairns established centre ring instantly landing several clean straight right hands with the penultimate one sending his opponent into the ropes, the count was given but Steve Gray waved off the contest.

Blane Hyland 6-1-0 outpointed Stephen Jackson 1-16-0 by 57-56 including a knockdown on Jackson in the 4th round in a bantamweight match up consisting of 6 rounds scored by referee John Latham.