Four of Hull’s five boxers in action celebrated victory at Connexin Live
Lewis Sylvester and Harry Powell
Lewis Sylvester is hoping his luck will change with a shot at the British title eliminator in the next few months, after seeing his super-featherweight debut fail to materialise.
While he had fought at the 130llbs limit before, the 28-year-old former English lightweight champion had made the decision to pursue the next stage of his career formally at a new weight division.
A testing super-featherweight contest had been lined up as one of the chief support fights for Curtis Woodhouse’s Battle on the Humber show at Connexin Live on Saturday night, only for the fight to fall through the day before due to paperwork issues.
It meant a late opponent being parachuted in and a bout not at his new lower weight, but one officially two weights higher than lightweight to take on welterweight journeyman Dale Arrowsmith.
“I got the call Friday lunchtime that my opponent couldn’t fight, something to do with his visa,” explained a frustrated Sylvester.
“I immediately thought that was it, there’s no fight, but then they said I could still get out if I fought Dale Arrowsmith. I asked, ‘who is that?’ And they said he’s a super-welterweight.
“I didn’t want to let all my fans down, so I took it. I could feel the weight of him when he was leaning on me, he was heavy, but I got the job done. It wasn’t ideal, but I got the win.”
Sylvester completed what proved to be a routine 60-54 points victory in the six-round contest against a journeyman in his 161st pro’ contest. It may not have been the super-featherweight bout he wanted, but the Hull man looked sharp and will have taken confidence from a training camp built around preparing for a super-featherweight contest. He’ll need that confidence if his new promoter Woodhouse can get the fight he wants next.
“Curtis has promised me a British title eliminator,” adds Sylvester. “That’s easier said than done, so we’ll see. But I’ll stay in the gym now, stay active and let’s see what goes from there. If it’s not an eliminator in May, maybe June or July, but I’ll be back out again soon.”
Sylvester’s fight was one of a series of wins for Hull boxers at Connexin Live, with Ryan Gibbons starting the night off with victory in his first fight for seven years, picking up a 39-37 points win. While Liam Macmillan was beaten 40-36 by Henri Cooper from York.
Next up Ted Jackson extended his record to 6-0 with a straight forward 60-54 win against another journeyman who was happy to survive and offered little. “It is hard when your opponent boxes that way, but I tried to listen to instructions from the corner and it was a learning experience,” said Jackson. “The support was great, I’ve got Hull City behind me and feel the fans getting behind me.”
In an eight-round middleweight contest Harry Powell picked up valuable rounds against Dimitri Protkunas, who occasionally offered a reminder he had a looping right hand, but on the whole not a lot came back at the Hull man, who kept his focus and coped with his opponent’s use of the head, winning every round to get the job done.
“It was a good performance and it was good to get the experience of my first eight round fight,” explained Powell, who also moves to 6-0.