Jon-Lewis Dickinson wins Prizefighter
York Hall was awash with discarded betting slips on Friday night as dark-horse Jon Lewis Dickinson won Prizefighter: The Cruiserweights II and gave his career a huge boost in the process.
Dickinson’s victory was marred by the early withdrawal of former WBO Heavyweight champion Herbie Hide. It was a bad night for the Norwich man who went into this thinking he could have a nice little tune-up against beatable opponents and pocket £32,000.
What Hide didn’t expect was a lionhearted young welsh slugger to open up a big gash on his head and end his evening prematurely. The cut was caused during an accidental clash of heads in a dramatic match with Wayne Brookes. Hide later withdrew from the competition after winning the bout citing the fact he didn’t want to jeopardise his No.2 world ranking by aggravating the injury for the sake of a minor tournament.
Hide looked set to win his first-round encounter with ease; it was the equivalent to putting a new-born rabbit in a cage with a tiger. Brooks, who goes by the nickname “Brooksy”, was fighting off a record of 5-2-2 and probably wouldn’t even have got to spar with a boxer of Hide’s calibre ordinarily.
The Cardiff native had eyes like saucers when the first bell sounded as he nervously shuffled around the ring. It had a vibe of Romans-watching-a-peasant-in-with-a-lion about it, and it wasn’t long before Hide bopped the youngster on the head with a huge right and he went crashing to the canvas. Yet Brooksy hauled himself up and bravely fought on.
Hide still looked on for a comfortable win until the second round a clash of heads left “The Dancing Destroyer” shocked as blood poured down his face. The ref deemed him ok to fight on but you could tell that it had really affected him. Brooks courageously tried to take the fight to Hide and ended up taking more hits than Ozzy Osbourne, his face was no oil painting by the end either. The point’s victory went the way for the former champ and he raised a wry smile at his brave opponent before disappearing from the competition.
Elsewhere Mike Tyson wannabe Leon Williams went widely swinging around in his quarter-final with Dickinson. Williams clearly doesn’t believe much in the jab as he went for haymaker after haymaker and proved an awkward customer for Dickinson, who never really found his stride. The two scrapped out a split decision for the Geordie but it ended up quite tight after a few of Williams’ bombs landed, late on.
Meanwhile Martin Krence and the ever jovial Irishman Darren Corbett comfortably came through their bouts against Zahid Kahut and John Anthony respectively.
On to the semi-finals and it was the impressive Dickinson who stole the show. The Geordie had only five pro fights before this tournament and he grew in stature throughout. He faced the experienced Krence and made short shrift of his opposition, dispatching his rival with a fantastic short right. It had a bizarre effect on Krence and was a bit of a slow burner, he didn’t seem to recover from it and “The Animal” was on the deck twice in the first. As the bell went it looked like he would be ok, until he started walking back to his corner, waddling like a duck, out came the towel and Dickinson had his first professional knockout.
So enter the super-sub. Fireman by day journeyman by night Nick Okoth came off the bench as a replacement for Hide and immediately ended a seven-fight winless streak with a decent performance against a lacklustre Corbett in the second semi-final. The wobbly Irishman reckons he lost four stone for Prizefighter which means he must have been absolutely massive a few weeks ago. He played possum all fight and Okoth was much more the aggressor. Corbett’s corner were furious with their man when he lost the decision, but “The Ox” was the deserved winner.
So on to the final and Okoth might not be Hide, but had taken Nathan Cleverly the distance in the past so he must have something about him. He has previous with Dickinson as well, losing on points in only the Geordie’s third pro fight.
That time he lost on points this time it was a straight knockout, there was no fairytale ending for the sub. After a dusty start, Dickinson put Okoth down with a short right in the first as the Londoner struggled to cope with Dickinson’s accuracy. He rallied slightly in the second but was a spent force in the third. Dickinson was picking his shots well and The Ox had to take a knee twice in the third round before his corner ended his misery by chucking in the towel.
Dickson had proved himself to be a decent puncher, considering he has only five fights experience before this and gone no more than four rounds he did very well. He looks accurate and composed, was a deserved winner, still has a perfect record and is one to keep your eye on for the future.
It is fair to say that Dickinson is very lucky he didn’t have to face Hide though. I’m sure that’s not the last we will see of him; In fact I am certain that we will see Herbie ride again.
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