SportGibraltar

Boxing: Jamie Kaylor rocks to a win, in London

Friday 10th March 2006:

The Royal National Hotel's events room, was huge, with well over 500 boxing enthusiasts, accompanied by a great atmosphere around the ring. Hollington Amateur Boxing Club’s, Dinner Boxing Show, was most certainly that, a Show. The £90 a seat event, promised to be a spectacle as the junior fights progressed to the senior bouts, which were the highlight of the evening.

The event was a charity event to raise money for the club. Hollington ABC is a small club located in Stockwell, South London. The club is placed in the middle of a housing estate and has very few facilities. The idea of the fundraiser was in order to provide the club with much needed equipment and capital to pay for their other expenses. The night was very successful and managed to raise thousand of pounds, primarily through the auctioning of some very interesting, signed, memorabilia, including a print of Mohamed Ali which he signed himself, this item alone ended up going for a mere £2,500.

Jamie’s fight was number seven out of eight fights scheduled for the evening. Was it to be a lucky seven for Jamie, on his first fight in 5 years? His trainer and support staff from Hollington A.B.C were confident in a Kaylor win. Jamie’s lack of match fitness however, could have been a determining factor on the outcome of the three round bout. The confidence emanating from the Hollington camp was down to Jamie’s preparation. Jamie has been working hard in the gym, over the last few months and according to his father, “was looking fitter than ever”.

The presence, of Steve Collins, invited by the Hollington club, added to the level of significance attached to the event. Steve Collins, nicknamed The Celtic Warrior, is a former world boxing Champion. He is considered to be one of the toughest boxers of the past century, never having been stopped in a high profile career. The Irishman was part of a golden age of European Supermiddleweight boxing, along with Chris Eubank, Joe Calzaghe and Nigel Benn. Collins started boxing profesionally in 1986. However he was long considered the nearly man of boxing, after losing 3 World Title fights on points. It was not until Collins reached his 30's that he fulfilled his potential, becoming the WBO Middleweight champion and later the WBO Supermiddleweight champion. In 1998 he appeared in the film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (directed by Guy Ritchie) as a boxing gym bouncer. (source: Wikipedia)

In 1999 he made a cameo appearance in U2's video for The Sweetest Thing. He remains a much loved figure in Ireland due to the courage, passion and talent he displayed in the ring. This passion for boxing was apparent last night as he watched every match with knowledgeable enthusiasm.

Fight number seven was up and Jamie walked into the ring with a composed but focused look. There was no air of arrogance just the appearance of a man that wanted to get into the ring and do the job. The level of noise in the hall was increasing as the excitement of the night’s main event reached its start.

The lighting in the hall was almost blinding as was the dense cloud of smoke, traditionally found in boxing events.

Jamie steps into the ring the two fighters touch gloves and the fight begins. Jamie is immediately prodding his opponent with a combination of left and right jabs. His intent represented through his front foot that was on the attack. His dominance in the ring persisted throughout the first round, his opponent holding well but unable to counter Jamie’s pressure.

The second round started off in a similar fashion to the end of the first. Jamie’s quickness a dilemma for his opponent, he puts his hands down but clearly decides to put practice to all his training and does so with great effect. Jamie’s use of his favoured right punch was shadowed by the excellent use of his left arm.

The third round was the deciding round for Jamie who was now firmly in control, his opponent's persistent attempts at keeping Jamie at bay were beginning to weaken due to tiring. This resulted in his opponent seeking shelter by holding on to Jamie. Jamie’s thirst to fight was clear to see and resulted in Jamie pushing his opponent of him, which resulted in a warning by the ref. It was clear that Jamie was not going to take any prisoners and successfully kept his opponent at the required distance to continue searching for gaps in the tiring defence.

The ringing of the bell called an end to a convincing win for Jamie, who despite his success voiced his desire to do better “I fought well but I know I can do better” were the words emanating from a winner that feels there is more of him to come. The announcer announcing: “in the red, by a unanimous decision, Kaylor!”. The referee lifting Jamie’s hand aloft to provide Jamie with another, well deserved, win.

Jamie was trained by Mr Victory, whilst in Gibraltar and thanks him for providing Jamie with a solid education in boxing. Jamie is proud of his Gibraltarian upbringing, demonstrated by his insistence in wearing the Gibraltarian colours, red and white.

It was great to see so many people enthralled by Jamie's boxing abilities as well as to be able to help his club in providing funds for a club that provides a means of escape for youngsters who live in a deprived part of London.

Jamie will continue to train hard and is looking forward to his next fight. We wish him well in his sporting endeavour.

1^st Image: Jamie Kaylor receives the winning trophy from legendary boxer, Steve Collins.

2^nd Image: Jamie cocks back for a left hander

3^rd Image: Jamie in full Gib colours before the match

Click on the sidebar gallery to view two clips of video and other images of the bout.