King Solomon strikes a rich seam

THE MIDLAND BOXING BEAT WITH MIKE LOCKLEY

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NOW the dust has settled, the true enormity of Solomon Dacres’ victory over Ukrainian knockout artist Vladyslav Sirenko is beginning to soak in.

And, let’s be honest, it was a victory, on the huge Usyk-Dubois Wembley world title bill that probably only the Warley heavyweight and his trainer Max McCracken truly believed would happen.

Fight figures I spoke to didn’t give Dacres a prayer on Saturday night, the majority didn’t think he would get past the ten-rounder’s halfway mark. The “stats” suggested a slaughter, yet the predicted massacre became a Dacres masterclass.

Sirenko, ranked in the WBO world top 15, had won all 22 pro bouts, a staggering 19 inside distance. What's more, he had fought 125 times in a topflight international amateur career.

Those figures fly in the face of post-fight claims Sirenko was hyped as a beast, but was not. As McCracken told me: “The pedigree was there.”

Dacres, the former English champ, was coming off a one-round loss to David Adeleye - his first setback in ten outings. It appeared one-sided - and it was, but not in the way the bookies saw it.

Dacres boxed the ears off Sirenko, uncorking classy punches in bunches from first bell to last.

By the end, the Kyiv KO king was simply trudging dejectedly into punishment, the landslide scores reflecting 31-year-old Dacres’ total dominance - 99-91, 98-92, 99-92.

McCracken could be forgiven for feeling a little smug.