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Review of York Hall show 24th April

On Saturday night at Bethnal Green’s York Hall, London-based Morrocan Yassine El Maachi (10st 12lb) headlined a seven-fight card under the Goodwin Promotions banner.

El Maachi scored his thirteenth victory with an entertaining 96-93 points win over Frenchman Bertrand Aloa (10st 13 ¾ lb). Yassine (13-4) likes to be known as "The Showman” and he certainly lived up to this name with his all singing all dancing ring entrance.

The battle of the entrances was clearly won by El Maachi but the fight was a lot closer with Aloa (15-7) demanding respect in the ring. Promoter Steve Goodwin’s offer of £15k for Aloa to stop El Maachi was on the table tonight but the money went home safely in the promoter’s pocket. In a first round where both fighters started fast El Maachi landed cleaner, getting home with his vicious body shots. With his ‘Carl Froch style' low guard El Maachi always offers up a target and Aloa did get some success landing to the head while pushing his opponent back to the ropes. Yassine closed the round well with a nice uppercut which the Frenchman’s chin soaked up.

More of the same in the second with El Maachi drawing his opponent in then throwing all his weight behind his trademark body shots. This prompted some bravado from Aloa. Both guys took turns in applying pressure with Aloa’s output being a bit wild, throwing and missing some big bombs. Rounds three and four were good sessions for Aloa. He won these rounds by being the more positive and aggressive fighter. Most of Aloa’s success would come while he had Yassine pinned against the ropes. El Maachi’s work rate had noticeably dropped. Aloa was again wild and almost toppled himself over after throwing and missing some huge left and right hooks. El Maachi seemed content to wait for incoming attacks and try and pick off Aloa. Finally, Bertrand landed a telling monster right hand on El Maachi’s jaw while finishing the fourth well.

Was El Maachi getting tired or had he realised this could be going the distance and was pacing himself for the full ten rounds?

The middle rounds were close with El Maachi landing the noticeably better quality shots but not necessarily landing more. Aloa was by no means letting El Maachi have it all his way. Yassine was content to take the odd shot waiting for opportunities to pick his man off with nice counter shots from the back foot. During the intervals both corners were reading the riot acts to their men, El Maachi’s corner telling their man to work the body more and Aloa’s corner urging their man to be more aggressive.

El Maachi seemed to be revitalised by the eighth round and started to boss the fight. In the ninth round both guys threw caution to the wind and went for it, this saw them both land heavy shots, El Maachi landed a looping shot to the head of Aloa which sent the Frenchman to the canvas for an eight count. He was not badly hurt but this gave El Maachi the confidence to go in for the kill and he finished the round strongly.

The tenth and final round started like the ninth ended, El Maachi was dominant going all out for a stoppage, working hard and landing numerous times to head and body. Aloa was forced to hold on, then El Maachi was warned by the ref for throwing Aloa to the ground. The final minute was scrappy with both fighters pushing, holding and getting rough on the inside. The fight finished with the very confident El Maachi showboating around the ring with his hands down. El Maachi had to work to earn a decent win against a tough opponent who definitely came to win this fight. He did take a few shots, maybe due to the way he fights with his hands low. Yassine will always be a handful for his opponents the way he throws his shots from unusual angles. After the fight Yassine said he wants to continue to test himself and he will be out again on June.

In an all-action lightweight contest scheduled for four rounds Mark Alexander (9st 8 ¾ lb) stopped Michael Devine (9st 9 ½ lb) in the third. Devine (3-0) going in, started the first round throwing wild bombs and was made to pay for it by Alexander, now (9-4). Firstly a right to the top of Devine’s head sent him down. He wasn’t in any serious trouble and continued trying to nail Alexander with wild shots. A counter punch by Alexander had Devine down again, this time it was a heavy knockdown but Devine showed good heart by getting up and seeing out the round.

With a bit more patience I think Devine could have made this a different fight. Devine was down again in the second. When he had risen to his feet he caught a glimpse of one of his corner men just about to throw the towel in and screamed at them to allow the fight to continue. The fight was stopped in the third round. Alexander caught Devine with a beautiful counter punch. Devine made it up after an eight count but the referee waived the fight off.

Other undercard action: Eder Kurti (12st 4 ¾ lb) put on a tidy boxing display against James Tucker (12st 3lb) winning a 39-37 decision over four rounds. The naturally bigger Kurti, now (9-4) worked nicely behind his jab without much coming back at him from Tucker drops to (2-25-3). In a tremendous fourth round of action both fighters went to war going for the stoppage but both guys made it to the final bell.

Former English super-featherweight champion Ryan Barrett (9st 12lb) got back to winning ways with a six round shutout victory over durable Sid Razak (10st 3 ½ lb). Barrett controlled the fight throughout and landed some eye catching shots. Barrett improves to (19-8-2) and said after the fight that he wants to keep busy this year to try and get himself back in some sort of title contention.

Debutant Michael Norgrove (11st 3 ¼ lb) pounded out at 40-36 victory over four rounds against Duncan Cottier (11st 4lb). Norgrove used the first to get to grips with Cottier and grew in confidence as the fight went on. He showed good skills working behind a fast left jab. Norgrove finished the fight well punishing Cottier with big right hands.

Unbeaten cruiserweight Tony Conquest (13st 13lb) continued his winning streak against Bulgarian Tayar Mehmed (14st 1 ½ lb) with a 40-36 victory. BoxRec poster Conquest, who improves to (4-0) started fast working the slightly fleshy body of Mehmed. Conquest was slowing down his opponent with the vicious body shots and opened up and in the third round landing some big right hands. Looking at the Bulgarian in his corner after the third round he wasn’t enjoying this fight. Conquest had far too much skill and power for Mehmed who did manage to see it out to the final bell. He heads back to Bulgaria with his record reading (1-3-1).

John Wayne Hibbert (11st ¾ lb) took on tough journeyman Matt Scriven (11st 8 ½ lb) over six twos. The bout was scored 59-56 in Hibbert's favour. The well supported Hibbert took the fight to Scriven from the off working his way in behind an educated jab while Scriven was just pot shotting back. As the rounds went on Hibbert, now (6-0) was taking control by using his superior speed and footwork to get his shots off. After five rounds Scriven’s right eye was swelling up and he did start to look somewhat disheartened. Credit to Scriven (14-66) who doesn’t stop trying put up a good fight