Jay Swingler was given a tougher test than expected tonight in Telford as he struggled through a four-round Majority decision win over unknown quantity NichLmao in his hometown.
Swingler established himself as one of YouTube's hardest hitters in his last outing, a first round knockout of Cherdleys in the main event of Misfits 002 back in October. But he struggled to get going against a tough operator in Nicholai Perrett, who moved well and landed a number of big shots as the fight went on.
Perrett, who boasts over 20million subscribers on YouTube, was signed to Happy Punch Promotions last year and began training with eyes towards a fight against the likes of Swingler. And he gave a tremendous account of himself, only losing his composure due to exhaustion as the bout continued.
Swingler landed big early, but looked as if he had prepared himself for a quick finish and was out of ideas after it didn't come. And by the third, both men were running on empty as they landed shots but struggled to keep up the intensive pace of the opening two as the crowd cheered on every little movement from the home fighter.
Here are the rest of the results from tonight's card...
Deen The Great vs Pully Arif
Deen The Great defeated Pully Arif by way of a dominant unanimous decision despite harbouring two shoulder injuries, dropping the Brit on his way to a first title defence. Arif boxed well but was dropped in the third and couldn't really get going even against a compromised Deen The Great. Fans want Deen to face Walid Sharks, who commentated at ringside, next. But he seems more keen on a fight with MMA legend Jose Aldo.
King Kenny vs Ashley Tebi from Rak-Su
The upset of the night was undoubtedly Ashley from Rak-Su's shock victory over King Kenny. After being dropped in three seconds and brutalised by Anthony 'Pretty Boy' Taylor last time out, fans expected the singer to act as a tune-up fight for Kenny as he continues his boxing journey.
But something seemed off with the Beta Squad member from early on and despite showing considerably better boxing ability, he was unable to keep from getting hit by big power punches from Tebi. And the X-Factor winner managed to sneak a split decision victory for his first win in Misfits Boxing before calling out Salt Papi for his next outing.
Luis Pineda & BDave vs Ice Poseidon & Anthony Vargas
Fans were absolutely ecstatic to catch a glimpse of the newly-minted cult hero Pineda in the Midlands, but it was his teammate BDave who landed the finishing blow in the debut of tag team boxing. Ice Poseidon and Anthony Vargas stepped in as late replacements and while they had the tag team system down better, couldn't box well enough to survive two rounds. Pineda and BDave's team are particularly popular, but it remains to be seen if the tag team concept, which proved a big hit online, will continue.
Astrid Wett vs AJ Bunker
Arguably the fight of the night, neither woman had any interest in taking a step back as they fought for the flyweight title; Misfits' first belt in women's boxing. Bunker worked well behind her jab but didn't have much else and was exposed as Wett powered through and landed bigger shots of her own. One judge gave it as a draw, meaning a rare 10-10 round, but the other two scored it 29-28 for Wett, who moves on as the self-professed "queen of Misfits Boxing".
Ginty vs Halal Ham
After a weigh-in controversy the day before the fight, Halal Ham and Ginty had a relatively heated rivalry heading into tonight's cruiserweight bout. But you couldn't have told from the pace, which was considerably slower than most crossover boxing fights as neither man wanted to engage. Mams Taylor warned that fighters not engaging won't be invited back, and Ginty did manage to score a big knockdown in the first. But he'll need to show more after calling out a number of big names including Brandon Buckingham for his next outing.
Tempo Arts vs Godson
The night started with hard-hitting heavyweight action and it took just one round for us to find our first winner of the evening. The 'obese 18-year-old' landed bombs early and made jeweller Godson wonder what he had done by accepting the fight. Ultimately, a dislocated shoulder was what stopped the fight.
