Jones shows Troy grit in defeat

THE MIDLAND BOXING BEAT WITH MIKE LOCKLEY

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OR Troy Jones, the future still glints after suffering his first professional defeat.

The heavy-handed light-heavy showed he possessed the old fashioned cajones needed at top level in suffering 10 round defeat to the home city’s Ezra Taylor at the Motorsport Arena.

The right man won on Saturday night. But two of the judges’ scores - a 100-90 whitewash and 99-91 - provoked an angry response from Jones’ manager Lee Beard. John Latham's 97-94 assessment appeared closer to the mark.

“You don’t have to be a boxing person to know Troy won rounds,” Lee said. “When the fight was over, people were saying it was close. Those two scores were a joke. What were they watching?

“If you look at the rounds, they were very close. There was no way in the world Troy didn’t win those first three rounds, for me.”

The decision snapped a 12-fight unbeaten run for the Birmingham bomber now based in Tamworth. With something called the WBA Continental Gold belt on the line, 26-year-old Jones finished the fight bruised and bloody.

His grit will have earned admirers and further slots on stadium shows.

At times, Troy appeared shaken by Taylor, particularly in the eighth and ninth, but had his moments, especially in the first three sessions. Undefeated Ezra, who had stopped eight of his previous 11 opponents, threw his best shots, but couldn’t break Troy.

Jones worked the body well in the early rounds and, on my card, also took the seventh. Taylor, tipped for big things and guided by Frank Warren, looked stylish and well schooled.