The chief support bout at the London O2 Arena last night saw Lee Haskins defend his title IBF bantamweight title against his old rival Stuart Hall.
The fight went the full twelve rounds and saw Haskins retain his title with a unanimous points decision, with the judges scoring the bout:
? 115 ? 113
? 117 ? 111
? 116 ? 112
However, although Haskins built up a lead in the early rounds, with Hall getting off to a slow start, many pundits inside the O2 Arena believed the thirty-six year old had done enough in the second half of the fight to take the verdict.
The fight was a cagey affair with Haskins awkward style not allowing any prolonged exchange of punches to occur. Hall, pushing forward, often saw his punches miss or fall short whilst Haskins was content to pick Hall off with some fast right hooks.
After the fight, in the post-fight interviews, Haskins had this to say,
‘It’s hard not to tire against someone like Stuart.
‘I feel like I was winning the fight clearly with my shots, I made him miss a lot and I think that is what won the fight for me.
‘You try boxing this guy, he just keeps coming forward, forward, forward, he’s like a pit-bull and take it from me he hits very hard.
‘I am not stupid enough to stand here and get caught by big shots. I’m not here to show I’m the toughest man in Britain. I’m here to win fights and get paid.’
Whereas Hall commented,
‘I could have edged it but I think I started a bit late.
‘I thought it was closer than the points but I started late. It was silly and it is a bad night.
‘I should have started a bit earlier. I gave him too much time in the first few rounds. I thought I did enough to maybe nick it at the end but in the first few rounds, I didn’t do enough.’
The result sees Haskins extend his record to 34-3 with 14 wins coming by way of knockout whilst Hall sees his drop to 20 wins, five defeats and two draws.
Haskins Retains IBF Bantamweight Title
