Matt Jennings and Sonny Jury embrace after their match, as Graham Guilbert celebrates. (0540705)
MATT JENNINGS said he was going to do it – and he did.
In the hype leading up to the Guernsey number one’s rematch with Sonny Jury, the 31-year-old Jennings said he was going to beat the former national champion for a second time.
Cruiserweight Jennings had got the better of the Newbury fighter at the December Dinner Boxing Show. And after four bruising rounds it was the Sarnian who had his arm raised again in victory.
It was a fitting end to an incredible night of boxing on Saturday at a packed Beau Sejour that witnessed Guernsey come from behind to defeat a determined North of England Select side.
‘I felt good in that one,’ said Jennings.
‘Full credit to him – he was up for it. He’s a strong lad and he knows how to box.
‘He definitely put up more of a fight this time, but I was catching him when he came in and going out.’
Jury seemed to be amused by all the euphoria from the 800 crowd as they were nicely whipped into a frenzy by announcer Liam McKenna who borrowed Michael Buffet’s ‘Let’s get ready to rumble’ catchphrase to get the proceedings under way.
But Jury was certainly not smiling as the first bell went and he clearly meant business although Jennings had the upper hand in the opening round as he connected with one crushing right hander.
The Sarnian, now clearly buoyed by the crowd, came out hard in the second and again had the rub of the green.
But Jury is a prickly customer and was not going to lie down.
He bloodied Jennings’s nose in the third and there were some concerns that the fight could have been stopped.
Now looking to hit it again, Jury stuck with the head shots.
However, Jennings came back in the fourth and last round and by the time the final bell went he was on top.
The judges certainly thought so as they unanimously awarded it to the Guernseyman with the scores 25-17, 21-7 and 20-14.
‘I didn’t think Jury would have been as strong as he was,’ said Guernsey’s head coach Graham Guilbert.
‘I thought the power of Jennings would tell and he took a lot of punishment tonight. I told Matt to watch out because he was hanging around for the last round.
‘Matt did the work.’
At the other end of the scale, 11-year-old Jack Gilvear got Guernsey off to a winning start when he took a split decision over Nial Fielding in the opening bout of the night.
There was not much between the pair but Gilvear showed a lot of heart in his debut fight.
He was also named Guernsey’s boxer of the night by North of England coach Steve Walshaw.
‘I felt really good and it was a great feeling,’ said the 11-year-old St Sampson’s schoolboy.
‘I was very nervous when I saw everyone cheering. I felt I’d won it all the way through because he was scrappy. I want some more.’
Next up, Tom Maunder was undone by Kieran Hayes but Chris Sumner from Alderney got the home side back on track when he won his 46kg fight with Isle of Man’s Alex Lawrence by a unanimous decision.
However, the wheels fell off for the greens when they lost the next four bouts.
Perry Bentley and Josh Harvey both lost on a split decision to Alex Taylor and Danny Linnahan respectively.
‘I’m a bit gutted,’ said light-middleweight Harvey afterwards.
‘After the fight everyone said I was unlucky. I thought I had the cleaner shots but I really enjoyed it.’
Gage Demoor was then stopped by Andrew Kremner when the Guernsey’s boxer’s nose was bleeding enough for referee Phil Pattimore to call it off.
Light flyweight Bradley Watson was then stopped in his clash with Kieran Farrell.
Next up was the fight of the night as light-heavyweight Shaun Sawbridge in his second competitive bout took on Christian Brew from the Viking ABC, Isle of Man.
Both fighters went at it from the start. Sawbridge took a bloody nose in the second round that was followed by Brew being given a standing count.
The 19-year-old Sarnian took a standing count in the third as the bout ended with the pair swinging away looking for the knock-out.
Sawbridge took the majority decision. ‘Brilliant,’ said Sawbridge.
‘When they said it was a split decision, I was surprised because I thought he’d won it.’
The excitement of Sawbridge’s bout was quickly replaced by the sight of Guernsey’s Dan Marriott being knocked out in the opening seconds of his heavyweight fight with Reese Fowler.
You could not help feeling sorry for the likeable Marriott when in his second fight, the superior Fowler set him up with a right to floor him with a left.
It was over virtually before it had even begun and Marriott was clearly embarrassed afterwards.
‘I don’t remember much about it. I feel fine now,’ said the 19-year-old.
‘It’s only one fight and hopefullyI can come back and do the business in the next one.’
Now 6-3 down, Sawbridge’s younger brother Matt put the home side back on track when he took a split decision over Paul Scott which was quickly followed by a unanimous decision for welterweight James Woolnough in his rematch with Craig Boardman.
‘I beat him the first time and he came out tonight twice as strongly to try and even the score but I wanted it more than he did,’ said Woolnough.
Shane Le Patourel then had few problems overcoming the older Darren Wilson who did not seem to be totally focused on the job at hand.
Guernsey-based Scot Wayne Calladine then exacted revenge over Rob Boardman in their light-heavyweight contest.
Boardman had beaten Calladine before but had to contend with face full of canvas when he was knocked out in the second round.
‘I’m a bit gutted – I’ve never been hit like that before,’ said Boardman.
In another cracking bout, Alderney’s Adam Rose had a real ding-dong with Danny Roberts from Warrington.
The two light-heavyweights each had great footwork and fast hands.
It was too close to call but the judges awarded it to Roberts.
The score now seven each, Tom Duff entered to face Ryan Sotton.
In a more subdued affair, the Sarnian middleweight was content to pick his man off to ensure that Guernsey would not lose.
Jennings then entered the room and saw Guernsey home.
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