Jason Welborn does it again at Civic

Rowley Regis' Jason Welborn again proved that power can beat skill as he retained his Midlands welterweight title for a second time At Wolverhampton Civic Hall.

Trailing 39-38 on points with referee Terry O'Connor's scorecard going into the fifth of the scheduled 10 rounds, the champion took matters into his own hands against the challenger, Scott Haywood, on Friday night.

Derby's Haywood got backed up into the corner and took a right hook that left him with a suspected broken jaw, as he sank to the canvas.

'Super' Scott responded and gamely tried to battle back but was dropped once more in the ropes, this time by a low right hook to the body.

Haywood was saved by the bell and berated by his corner but, when they realised the extent of his injury, they didn't argue as he retired with his mouth full of blood, failing to come out for the sixth.

It was the second straight defence where Welborn has scored two knockdowns and a stoppage against a technical foe in the fifth round with the belt up-for-grabs at the same venue.

Under the bright lights of the Civic in March, Welborn put Coventry's James Flinn down twice with body shots with the title on the line.

In the two chief support bouts, Birmingham's Thomas Costello and Northampton visitor Nathan Reeve picked up useful wins to go forward.

Sharp body punching from nationally-vaunted light middleweight prospect Costello made opponent Paul Morby, himself a former Southern area champion, feel lucky to last a 60-54 points defeat.

Reeve, a super flyweight entrant in Prizefighter last year, utilised a right hand that belied his stature and put down Bulgarian Fikret Remizev, who was waved off in the third round.

Elsewhere on the undercard, the time had come for Tipton's Ricky Summers and Birmingham's Andrew Robinson, both star graduates from Lions Amateur Boxing Club in Dudley.

Robinson went in first for a middleweight contest against Walsall's Bobby Wood, himself a highly-rated amateur until his dad Joe, the founder of Pleck ABC, passed away in 2002.

Wood retains the tools but boxes for a living and hadn't come to lay down for the debutant, who was a bundle of energy until he settled down with his work from the second round.

'The Animal' peppered Wood with body shots that his game opponent – who was sent sprawling from a right hook to the jaw but stood firm in the fifth – did well to last the distance from.

The points win was Robinson's by 59-55 but Wood took a round on the way in a trying effort.

Summers went up against slippery Scunthorpe combatant Jody Meikle and looked sharp in answering his opponent's best shot – a right hook – with the same punch plus venom in the second.

Meikle was forced into brawling tactics but Summers refused to be dragged into a fight and picked his attacks to take a shut-out points win, by 40-36.

Summers and Robinson have been trained in the pro ranks by Dudley's Shaun Cooper and stable-mate Steven Pearce, of Stourbridge, was also in action to see off boxing's newest centurion.

Birmingham's Sid Razak stepped through the ropes for his 100^th contest as a pro fighter but Pearce is not the sentimental type and he let it show when the bell rang.

'Fierce' Pearce peppered the Brummie with his trademark body shots but found him a tough nut to crack, even with the power of his low punches.

Razak has based his career on being durable and he proved true to type as, no matter what came his way, he was able to survive despite taking nothing in the points decision, Pearce the victor by 40-36.

The last fight of the evening came with the second professional outing of Cannock's former Chasetown footballer Dave Egan, with his former Scholars boss Charlie Blakemore a vocal supporter.

The popular welterweight had over 200 fans on hand at the Civic but had suffered mischief with his scheduled opponent, when Welshman Ray Akhtar pulled out the day before the fight.

Bulgarian-born Londoner Danny Dontchev stepped in at less than 24 hours notice and was ill-prepared to press the issue with Egan, who was forced to chase a fight.

A right hook to the body was the pick of Egan's work but some muddled offense left Dontchev hobbling back into the corner nursing his left knee at the end of the third of their four rounds.

Dontchev was later dumped on the canvas by what was ruled to be an over-exuberant shove by a frustrated Egan, who will take back-to-back shut-out 40-36 points wins and hope for better things.

By Craig Birch