Hennessy Sports held their November show at the Skydome Coventry (13,11,21) with the undercard being streamed live on Hennessy Sports YouTube channel. The joint main events were being aired live on Channel 5 later in the night Shakan Pitters taking on Reece Cartwright for the WBC light Heavyweight International title and River Wilson-Bent taking on Tyler Denny for the English Middleweight title. On the undercard from the Midlands, we had four fighters in the home corner with two fighters having 4 round fights one having a six-rounder, and one having an eight. Doing the four-rounder’s you had the talented Danny Quartermaine and Scott Melvin, doing the six-rounder you had Idris Virgo, and doing the eight was the hard-hitting Kaisee Benjamin.
Kicking off the show you had the talented Danny Quartermaine making his debut on a Hennessy Sports Promotion show. He was taking on the tough journeyman Dean Jones in a four-round contest with Quartermaine coming in 9 stone 8 and Jones coming in 9 stone 9 in the lightweight division with Kevin Parker refereeing.
Quartermaine was very busy at the start of the first round putting in nice combinations together with great movement, Jones battled hard but it was Quartermaine’s round. In the second Quartermaine continued his good work picking his shots well as Jones covered up well and fought back when he could. Quartermaine controlled the ring in the third as Jones hung in there but was getting outboxed especially on the inside with Quartermaine bang in good shots. Quartermaine picked up the pace in the final round and started to bang in some heavy shots especially to the body of Jones, fair play to Jones for seeing the final bell.
Ref Kevin Parke scored it 40 to 36 Quartermaine I had it the same.
Next on the card was another Hennessy debutant with the highly-rated Scott Melvin taking on Matar Sambou in a 4 rounder in the super lightweight division. Melvin weighed in 10 stone dead with Sambou coming in 10 stone 2 with Shaun Messer reffing.
Quite start to the first round as both fighters gad a look at each other, Melvin let his hands go in the second part of the round with Sambou fighting back hard showing he wasn’t here to make up the numbers, but Melvin edged the round. Melvin got on the front foot from the start of the second and pushed Sambou back with some great combinations, Sambou came back near the end of the round but Melvin won it. Melvin got some cracking combinations off at the start of the third but then was warned for a low blow, Sambou got some good shots off in the middle part of the round but Melvin finished the round strong to win it. In the final round Melvin moved well as he picked his shots well as Sambou pressed him all the way.
Ref Shaun Messer scored it 40 to 36 Melvin, I had it the same.
The next Midlands fighter on the card was Idris Virgo who took on Gregory Trenel in a six-round contest in the Super Middleweight division. Virgo weighed in 11 stone 13 while Trenel came in 11 stone 11 with Shaun Messer refereeing.
Scrappy first round with Virgo being warned for hitting around the back of the head, Virgo just edged it. The second was another scrappy round with Trenel getting some good shots off Virgo came back with some nice shots to win the round. Trenel continued to mess Virgo around taunting him and living up to his crazy image, Virgo stuck to his boxing and got some good shots off to win the round.
Virgo banged in some big shots in the fourth as Trenel mocked ‘The Body Breaker’ shots but Virgo won the round. The fifth round was like a really bad white-collar fight as both fighters held and looked tired with both missing with sloppy punches with Trenel nicked it. The sixth started like a good white-collar fight as Virgo rushed out throwing swinging lefts and rights catching Trenel and rocked him. Virgo continued to bang in shots but missed a lot and looked tired with Trenel seeing the round out.
Ref Shaun Messer scored the fight 60 to 54 Virgo I had it 59 to 57 Virgo.
Finishing off the undercard for the Midlands lads you had the hard-hitting Kaisee Benjamin who was taking on Andrea’s Maier in and eight-round contest in the welterweight division. Benjamin weighed in 10 stone 1 with Maier coming in 10 stone 2 with Shaun Messer refereeing.
Benjamin boxed well behind his jab in the first banging in some nice shots to the head and body to win the round. Benjamin let his hands go in the second and went to the head and body well, as he took control of the fight. Maier had a go at the start of the third but Benjamin went through the gears and banged in some cracking combinations to win the round.
Benjamin moved well in the fourth and got some sharp shots off to head and body with Maier battling back but he was hurt by Benjamin’s body shots. Benjamin came out with intent in the fifth and went to the head and body well with some vicious shots. He dropped Maier with an evil left then right body shots with Maier somehow getting up. The ref let him carry on and Benjamin went back to work banging in big shots to the head and body with the body shots doing the damage dropping Maier again with the ref stopping the fight.
Dexter’s Thought’s
What a great undercard for the Hennessy Sports show at the Skydome, we will start with the two debutants. Both fighters showed why they have been given the opportunity to show their skills on a big show with excellent performances. I have said on a number of occasions that Quartermaine is looking like a great prospect and I really like the way he boxes, I look forward to seeing him box again. I have talked about Melvin since he was an amateur and he is progressing well and showing that he will be destined to fight for titles in the future.
Virgo got the job done in his six-rounder against a very tricky opponent, this was the first fight he has fought with a fighter with a positive record so this was a definite step up. He got the job done and moves to 11 wins and one draw and there are rumors that he could be fighting unbeaten Nathan Heaney, I honestly think he is not ready for Heaney but if Virgo could beat the Hitman that would be a massive statement and people would give to take him seriously.
Kasiee Benjamin showed his quality in this fight with some great boxing. His shot picking was fantastic and his body shots were evil with a great stoppage to end the fight. He is looking to move down to super lightweight and I think he will be even more dangerous at that weight. The Bbcolumn has always called Benjamin ‘The Hard Hitting’ but we will now be calling Kaisee ‘The Real Body Breaker’ after this performance.