Ted Cheeseman’s career hangs in balance after underwhelming draw vs rising star Kieron Conway
TED CHEESEMAN’s career was left hanging in the balance after the British super-welterweight champion was held to a draw by prospect Kieron Conway. The highly-rated Bermondsey boy was left a bloody mess in February, after a gruesome 12-round battering at the hands of Sergio Garcia in his failed bid for a European title. The 23-year-old […]
TED CHEESEMAN’s career was left hanging in the balance after the British super-welterweight champion was held to a draw by prospect Kieron Conway.
The highly-rated Bermondsey boy was left a bloody mess in February, after a gruesome 12-round battering at the hands of Sergio Garcia in his failed bid for a European title.
The 23-year-old admitted after the hard-to-watch hammering that he had been battling a gambling addiction for most of his adult life, that had cost him close to a £1million.
And, at Wednesday’s pre-fight press conference, he vowed he would hang up his gloves if he could not beat Northampton’s rising star on his return.
After another 12 gruelling rounds at York Hill on Friday night, with Conway, 23, handling all the pressure the champion threw at him, the judges scored the clash: 116-113 Conway, 115-114 Cheeseman and 114-114 draw.
ON THE FRONT FOOT
The Big Cheese landed the tastier shots in the first, the clever angles he works opened up opportunities he gobbled up to tag Conway, who likes to counter on the back foot.
A second-round left hook landed from Cheeseman, a master of absorbing shots on his guard before retaliating rapidly.
And Conway, who looks the part with socks long enough to match his gangly arms, was tagged again in the corner with two shots from close range as Cheeseman took control.
In April, Conway was the hot favourite to win the Ultimate Boxxer middleweight tournament but he was roughed up and outpointed by eventual winner Derrick Osaze.
Down a weight class he should have packed more power but Cheeseman never seemed troubled by a single shot from the talented challenger, despite him landing an impressive amount in the third.
Conway was pinned into his own corner toward the end of the fourth session and pinged with a looping hook he did well to shake off.
But it seemed his accuracy was paying off when a smearing of blood across Cheeseman’s nose became visible from ringside at the end of the stanza.
FADING AWAY
Conway’s longer reach was bringing him success with rapier shots right down Cheeseman’s pipe and the razor sharp reactions we were accustomed to before his first loss to the excellent Spaniard seemed to have faded.
With all the physical advantages on his side, Conway should have avoided trading in the pocket, and boxed on the outside, but he was game enough to engage in his fair share of phonebox fighting.
Cheeseman was cracking away at Conway’s trunk but the power that had stopped nine of his 15 victims was lacking.
Even a peach of a straight right, that landed flush on Conway’s left cheek, failed to hurt the underdog.
A left hook from the champ caught Conway in his red corner again but he showed superb resilience to match his slick skillset.
Cheeseman started the year as one of Britain’s brightest prospects but all his natural talent and expert schooling were worryingly absence on Friday night as he tried to war his way to a career-saving win.
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For the judges, Cheeseman dominated the 10th but he was grinding out a result against an inexperienced prospect, on paper, well below his level.
For the first 15 fights of Cheeseman’s career his Plan A was faultless but his last two contests have revealed a worrying lack of alternatives.
And he will need to drastically improve if he is to get past in-form hard man Scott Fitzgerald next and go on to fulfiul his once glittering potential.