By: Ste Rowen
Jordan Gill set Peterborough alight on Saturday with a stunning 3rd round stoppage of Emmanuel Dominguez and made time to call out the recently crowned WBA ‘Regular’ featherweight champion, Xu Can,
‘‘I want Kiko Martinez for the European. If not I want another big name in the top 15. What’s that Chinese fella’s name, who’s the WBA champ? Can Xu? He’d want it on DAZN, you’ve got DAZN, I’m gonna be in the DAZN. Let’s have it.’’
‘The Thrill’ Gill, who improved his record to 23-0 (7KOs), continues his run of victories and collecting minor titles, this time the WBA ‘International’ belt, and spoke with as much confidence as he fought with,
‘‘I really enjoyed tonight. The crowd lifted me, they boosted me. I heard them with every punch in there…I know if I hit someone with 8oz gloves, despite my record, I can actually punch.
Dave’s (Coldwell, Gill’s trainer) working on things in the gym that I’ve never even seen before. We’re starting on the basics and it’s gonna get bigger and better.’’
It was fast paced from the start as Dominguez looked to feint his way to an upset win, but the pressure was telling as Jordan, fighting in his home-town for the first time since 2014, proved the sharper man. He evaded much of what his Mexican opponent threw and by the end the 2nd round was looking very comfortable.
Then came the finish in round 3. With just over 60 seconds gone, Gill threw swift left and right hooks, landing each time to send Dominguez to the canvas for the first time. Emmanuel was clearly out of ideas from there. Jordan rushed in shortly after to drop his foe yet another classy right-left-right combination. The Mexican was allowed to stand and continue but as soon as Gill began to land once more, there was no need for it to continue and referee, Robert Williams called an end to the bout, handing Gill his third straight TKO win.
Richard Riakporhe vs. Tommy McCarthy
The big fight of the undercard saw Richard Riakporhe stop 13-1, Tommy McCarthy in four rounds.
Defending the WBA ‘Inter-Continental’ belt for the first time, Riakporhe in white shorts with a shock of red, Richard made the Irishman look a lot smaller than McCarthy actually is, but it didn’t seem to daunt Tommy from swinging forward. Both men cancelled the other’s attack through the opening rounds.
With a minute left of the 4th, Riakporhe landed a huge overhand right that wobbled McCarthy and had him in desperate need of a break. He got it when he dropped to the canvas and took an 8-count, but it clearly wasn’t enough. It was survival mode from there on, but Richard wasn’t letting up. With every punch he landed Tommy had no way out, no defensive instinct to recover in the moment. The referee stepped in as McCarthy was stuck on the ropes with 15 seconds left of the round and hand Riakporhe the stoppage victory.
The London native improves his record to 9-0 (8KOs) and spoke post-fight,
‘‘This is a big statement I’ve made. A lot of people think I just have power and not a boxing brain but just remember…I can go all the way to the top with a good team around me.
He (McCarthy) called me a novice, I took that really personal in the press conference but I wanted to show I could box, and I did.’’
