Double success as Salam and Mitchell record York Hall wins
Promising duo Tony Salam and Vinny Mitchell both put win number eight on their pro records with a pair of four-round triumphs at York Hall
By LEN WHALEY
Promising duo Tony Salam and Vinny Mitchell both put win number eight on their pro records with a pair of four-round triumphs at York Hall on Friday night.
Salam made a successful return to the ring by halting Romford's Richard Horton while Mitchell secured a repeat of an earlier points win over Crawley's Robin Deakin.
Salam bounced back to top form by lifting the Southern Area super middleweight title on his return to action following his lone pro setback - a light-heavyweight defeat by Courtney Fry at the Bethnal Green venue 12 months ago.
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Now the confident East London fighter is aiming to make his mark in the super-middleweight division.
"I know I have the power to beat most of the super middleweights around right now," Salam insisted.
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The former ABA winner certainly looks a heavy puncher for the super-middleweight division and his attacks carried too much power for Horton.
The Romford fighter was also bidding to land the title with just a single defeat on his record and although he tried to hit back, he generally finished second best in the fast-punching exchanges.
Salam landed the damaging shots and when the blood started to flow from a gash above Horton's eye in the fourth round, referee Richie Davies stopped the encounter. Mitchell also powered to an eighth straight success with a 40-36 points victory over the ever-willing Deakin.
Crawley's 'Rockin' Robin had dumped Mitchell to the floor of the York Hall ring before losing on points a year ago, but never looked capable of repeating the knockdown in the return clash.
Mitchell, the younger brother of Commonwealth champion Kevin Mitchell, was always going too well for his rival, switching his attack from the mid-section to the head and his solid left hooks rocked his rival in the fourth round.
Deakin survived to reach the end of the contest but Mitchell earned a clear points triumph, much to the delight of trainer Paul Cook.
"We have been working in the gym on getting Vinny more relaxed, taking his time to pick his shots and the improvement certainly showed against Deakin," Cook said.
