Online Reporter
JACK CATTERALL won a bloodbath with welterweight warhorse Ekow Essuman.
The 32-year-old Chorley southpaw smashed the Nottingham hero’s nose before suffering a wound around his eye.
And it was Essuman, 36 who was bulldozed in the 11th session, knocked out of the ring and needing an oxygen mask to recover.
The welterweight pair tested the early Tottenham water, their opposing styles making it tough to score clean shots.
The second wasn’t much better, as both waited for the other to commit before they tried to counter.
Ekow ‘The Engine’ tried to get revved up in the fourth but it led to him walking onto trademark Catterall counters.
And then El Gato dropped him with a sensational dig that shattered Essuman’s nose.
The classy veteran was frozen by a lead right hook and iced by a straight left. He showed great heart to beat the count and start the fifth.
By the seventh, Essuman’s right eye was swelling shut too but then a gash opened up around Catterall’s right eye and he seemed to be struggling with the tempo.
Both pairs of white gloves were pink by the end of the ninth, from the shared claret being spilled.
Essuman’s fate was cruelly sealed in the eleventh, he slipped but was then caught with an ambush as he regained his feet.
The referee did a poor job in not protecting him when he was climbing to his feet.
He tried to march on but he was buzzed and broken. And Catterall put his foot down on his neck and hammered him until he sunk through the ropes and collapsed on the ring apron and was ruled out.
The Chorley fighter graciously elected not to celebrate the decision, instead showing concern for his fellow fighter.
He even kneeled down alongside the Nottingham man as he received treatment at ringside, including being given oxygen.
He put a hand to his chest next to the man in a show of respect, and it would be hard to leave the fight with anything but that for both men after what may have been the fight of the night. —Sun.
