‘The Ginger Matador’ Rachel Ball took on Matchroom’s Shannon Courtenay in the third instalment of Fight Camp. The fight was scheduled to be fought over 8 two minutes rounds in the featherweight division and had become a highly anticipated bout of boxing. Ball (29) weighed in 8 stone 11 with Courtenay (27) weighing in at 9 stone.
Ball shot out jabs from the first bell on the first round, in Courtenay's first real attack she banged in some good shots and caught Ball with a nice right hand, Ball returned fire with a cracking left hook which put Courtenay down for the first time in her career. Courtenay managed to get to her feet took an eight count and was able to see the round out. In the second Ball kept Courtenay on the end of the jab for most of the round, Courtenay came back with some good right hands to earn a share of the round. The third was another back and forth round, Ball boxed well and got some good shots off but I had to give this one to Courtenay. Ball continued to box well in the forth but Courtenay was really pressuring her getting some great right and left hands off to win the round.
Courtenay continued to press but BalI in the fifth getting off some cracking combinations, a battling round but Ball won it. Good start to the sixth by Ball as she threw loads of shots, Courtenay came back strong at the end of the round but Ball nicked the round for me. In the seventh Courtenay continued to press and get good shots off Ball continued to throw nice combinations and just nicked a close round. In the final round ‘The Ginger Matador’ came to life, Courtenay looked tired as Ball moved well and poured on the pressure to win the round and the fight.
Referee Howard John Foster had the fight 77 to 75 in favour of the Walsall fighter Ball, myself I had it 78 to 75 to Ball.
Dexter’s Thoughts
What a great performance by ‘The Ginger Matador' Rachel Ball, I will say that Ball seemed to make it a harder fight than it should have been, but it did make it entertaining. Ball caught Courtenay with a cracking left hook to put her down in the first and Courtenay showed a lot of heart to continue. If you watched it on Sky you would have thought that Courtenay had won this fight easy due to the Bias commentary, yes there was some close rounds but Ball was by far the better and more skilled boxer and rushing in swinging your arms should not win you rounds. It was the same in the Eggington v Cheeseman fight but since then screens have gone up so people ringside can not hear the commentators. I would like to give the ref Howard John Foster a lot of respect for calling the fight fair and giving the win to the right fighter. Ball has made a big statement on this show and I would say to Matchroom and Eddie Hearn that they should look to sign up ‘The Ginger Matador’ as soon as possible before the likes of MTK or Hennessy come knocking on her door. The Birmingham Boxing Column would like to congratulate Rachel on a great victory.
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