Title rival ripe for picking by Berry

ONE wrecking-ball right uppercut detonated by Nyall Berry turned what looked to be a tough night's work into a demolition job - and earned the pocket dynamo his first belt.

- MIKE LOCKLEY

With the vacant English super-bantam title on the line at York Hall, Bethnal Green, last Saturday, Berry flattened Lewis Frimpong with the pay-off punch in the third.

The Oxford fighter made it to his feet at six, but was gone. He lurched across the ring and into the ropes. With his back to the referee, it was clear Frimpong was in no state to continue.

In his 14th fight, Chelmsley Wood's Berry had blasted out a man who had never been dropped before and who took the current British featherweight champ the full distance.

"Nyall doesn’t know how good he is," manager Jon Pegg said after the fine victory. He is starting to see it now. "If he believed he was as good as we believe he is, there would be no stopping him. Winning that first belt will have done him the world of good."

And 25-year-old Berry captured it away from home by beating a very capable boxer. Built like a pocket battleship, Frimpong had lost only one of ten contests and collected the Southern Area title.

He gave Berry plenty to think about, setting a fast pace and applying relentless pressure before the sky fell in.

"He was causing problems," Pegg admitted. "It was one round each going into the third and, as the away corner, we were worried it could be 2-0.

"Nyall stayed calm under pressure. I told him, 'don’t look to land lots of shots, land the quality'. With opponents like that, you've got to make sure you land the big shots and hurt them."