Friday was a good night for Jason Booth. In front of his home crowd he took home his Lonsdale strap for keeps by defeating Matthew Marsh and picked up the vacant commonwealth super-bantamweight belt for good measure.
“2 Smooth Booth” delivered a peach of a right in the eleventh that left Marsh with a gushing cut above his right eye, leading to the referee calling a halt to proceedings. The cut was initially sustained in the fifth round and worsened as the bout progressed and the West Ham-born fighter can count himself unlucky not to win.
It wasn’t plain sailing for the champion. The early rounds went Marsh’s way and the Londoner looked good value, beating Booth to the punch and moving around the ring with gusto. The salad-dodging fighter had previously been stripped of the British belt after failing the weight last September, but on Friday night he looked fit as a butcher’s dog as he danced around the ring like a gazelle, at times out-classing, out-thinking and out-boxing Booth.
In the fifth round Booth got dropped in front of his Nottingham faithful, although replays suggested that it was more like a slip. This was an incentive for 2 Smooth to get himself back in the fight and he managed to do this by cutting Marsh soon after he was felled. After showing a tremendous work ethic in the first half of the fight Marsh began to visibly tire as the rounds clocked by. He must have still been a round or two up when the referee stepped in to call a halt and end his chances of regaining the championship. With blood pouring from the cut the ref had little choice and it was very unfortunate after the Londoner put in such a solid shift.
It brings up a total of 14 straight victories for Booth who is excelling in his senior years. At 32 years of age he seems a much more rounded fighter now than in his younger days and he will now be looking to move on to a world title match-up.
As for Marsh, he can count himself very unlucky. He took the fight to Booth and overall looked the better fighter - his footwork was exceptional and he worked incredibly hard in the first half of the bout. He’s had problems with his weight and it might just suit him to move up to a featherweight, that way he can use his extra pounds as an advantage rather than have it as a hindrance.
There is a very likely chance these two could go to a re-match. Marsh will feel hard done by to not hang on for another five minutes and will fancy his chances against Booth in a replay. Booth on the other hand will probably not be as keen - he will know that Marsh basically had his number and he won’t want to jeopardise his good run of victories. Now he’s in the form of his life he will be looking for a world title shot and a big pay day.
It wasn’t the fight he wanted but eventually Booth was able to wade through Marsh, although it was far from a smooth journey.
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