Liam Walsh retained his Commonwealth Super-Featherweight on Friday after staging a thrilling comeback against Paul Appleby.
Norfolk fighter picks himself off the canvas at York Hall
Liam Walsh retained his Commonwealth Super-Featherweight after staging a thrilling comeback against Scotland's Paul Appleby at York Hall on Friday.
The Norfolk man got up off the canvas in the seventh round and found a second wind that eventually forced Appleby's corner to throw in the towel at the end of the 10th.
The referee had been willing to allow the 24-year-old from South Queensferry to continue as he staggered back to his stool following a crunching left hook that put him down in the last second of the round.
But Appleby's trainer and uncle thought better of it and called off the fight to ensure Walsh a second successful defence of his title.
It had looked as though Appleby would be taking the belt when he put Walsh down in the seventh with a bullet of a left hook. By that stage, the champion's corner were already patching him up after a cut opened up on his face in the second round.
The momentum swung between the two throughout the fight, with each unleashing brutal combinations on the other, but in the end it was Walsh who was the last man standing after going on the offensive after his own knockdown.
"Richard brought the best out of me, I have a lot of respect for him. He's a true warrior," Walsh told
BoxNation afterwards.
Appleby was full of respect for his opponent too, adding: "I thought that was it (in round seven), but he's a warrior and he came back at me and got me."
