Napa regains Bantamweight title

Clapton fighter Ian 'Dapa' Napa regained the British Bantamweight title as he outpointed St Helens fighter Gary Davies in a dominant display in Bolton on Friday.

In a thrilling contest Davies made a good start winning the early rounds using his height and reach advantage to good effect moving in and out quickly to negate the threat of Napa close-in.

However, as the fight progressed The Clapton man began to show his class, regularly connect with hooks and jabs while fending off most attacks Davies had to offer.

The middle rounds saw Napa assert his dominance even further, tactically outclassing his opponents by brining Davies in close to reach his intended target with greater ease.

A hard right over the top in the sixth caught Davies hard, while in the eighth the Hackney man really took control.

A good left hurt Davies, while Napa's quick feet and good work had Davies all at sea.

Napa had Davies rocked a few times, but in the 11th came extremely close to scoring a knock down with a devastating right hook, with Davies did well to recover from.

That shot seemed to secure victory for Napa as judges Marcus McDonnell and Dave Parris gave the Hackney man the win by 115-114 and 116-112 respectively, although Howard Foster saw the bout as a 114-114 draw.

"Tell my boys I am bringing the belt back home," said a delighted Napa after the contest.

"It does not matter to me, I can fight on the ropes or in the centre of the ring. I don't have to go crazy and throw wild punches, it does not matter to me if I have home advantage or not, a ring is just a ring amd there are just two boxers in it."

His manager and trainer Brian Lawrence told the Gazette: "We are now looking to regain the European title. The training will be different this time if our promoter Frank Maloney can get us a title shot.

"I don't know anyone out there top defend the British title against.