Prizefighter champs Rees and Casey triumph in title shots

Posted on | November 8, 2010 | No Comments

Duo claim belts with stoppage wins on home turf

Prizefighter winners Gavin Rees and Willie Casey showed the value of winning Barry Hearn’s eight-man one night tournaments by claiming major titles on Saturday night.

Prizefighter Light-Welterweights champion Rees won the vacant British Lightweight title in Newport against John Watson, while in Limerick, Prizefighter Super-Bantamweights winner Casey disposed of fellow Irishman Paul Hyland in style to win the European Super-Bantamweight belt in just his 11th professional outing.

Rees came out on top of a fabulous tussle live on Sky Sports, heading the Matchroom Sport bill at the Newport Centre in Wales and seemingly in command for the first six rounds. But just when it seemed he was cruising to victory, Watson dug deep and threatened to turn the bout on its head. However, Rees scored a crucial knock down in the 10th round and his Liverpudlian opponent never recovered his legs, with the referee stopping the fight in the next round to hand the title to the Welshman.

In Limerick, Casey was in commanding form and after growing into the fight in the first three rounds, Casey continued to land the more potent shots in the fourth and the referee was forced to stop the fight, handing the belt to the man called Big Bang, extending his unbeaten record to 11 fights and he is expected to face the man who vacated the belt – Kiko Martinez – in the new year.

Unbeaten British Super-Featherweight champion Gary Sykes tops the bill in the 15th edition of Prizefighter on November 20 at York Hall, Bethnal Green, joining The Mongolian Warrior Choi Tseveenpurev and Coronation Street actor and former England Commonwealth Games captain Steve Bell.

European Lightweight title challenger Gary Buckland, Prizefighter Lightweights semi-finalist Gary McArthur, British and European challenger Scott Lawton and former British and WBU title holder Derry Matthews line up in front of the Sky Sports cameras too, as does Ben Murphy, the Brighton fighter who replaces Kevin O’Hara.

Tickets for Prizefighter Super Featherweights are available now at £35 (unreserved), £60 (ringside) and £100 (VIP) – call Matchroom Sport on 01277 359900.