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Ryan Garner stops Reece Bellotti late to continue his impressive rise
Ryan Garner moved one step closer to securing a world title shot with a late stoppage of fellow British super featherweight Reece Bellotti, live on DAZN.
The Southampton fighter had a strong argument for winning the fight via decision but took matters into his own hands in the final round, with one last flurry ending the contest on the referee’s intervention.
Garner was putting his European and WBC international titles on the line; Bellotti was risking his Commonwealth and British belts.
Despite fighting 30 miles down the road from his Southampton home, Garner was backed by the majority of the Bournemouth International Centre.
Having won his European strap at the venue in March 'The Piranha' was in familiar waters, but the opening exchanges were about both fighters figuring out their surroundings.
With thousands singing ‘When the Saints come marching in’ Garner was buoyed into going onto the front foot. Midway through the first round he hurt his opponent, Bellotti managing to back ‘The Piranha’ onto the ropes in a bid to recover.
It was not all one-way traffic as Bellotti managed to overwhelm Garner and press him into a neutral corner; a flurry of punches to the body. He repeated the trick to see out the round, indicating that this was going to be a topsy-turvy contest.
Both boxers refused to back down at the start of the second, Garner beginning an exchange that eventually led him back to the ropes. Both fighters were content to sit and trade in the pocket.
Bellotti attempted to calm things down after a minute, moving onto the backfoot and forcing Garner into missing. Having been outworked at the end of the first, Garner was very much the aggressor, dazing Bellotti slightly before giving chase to his opponent.
In the third Garner’s shots to the temple caused a graze to appear on Bellotti’s head, the wound worsening as the round went on. The more experienced man was skittish after the opening exchanges, whilst Garner was keen to maintain the pace.
A good combination from the Southampton man punished the feinting Bellotti, who was remaining competitive. Bellotti’s best route of success was to bring Garner into close range, throwing uppercuts as they were tied up.
As the fight approached the halfway point there were lulls, brief pauses before both decided to exchange blows. Neither fighter was truly in control of the contest, But Garner’s punches were cleaner and far more eye-catching.
Leigh Dawney/Queensberry
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Having found joy with the left hook, Garner’s fight plan had evolved to focus on the right, often splitting Belotti’s guard. The wear and tear was starting to show for Bellotti, especially on his face, but some neat uppercuts towards the end of the road evened out the action of the fifth.
The sixth was Bellotti’s best of the night. With Garner backed into a corner, a sweet left began a volley of punches. Bellotti’s work effectively bounced ‘The Piranha’ out of the neutral corner, allowing his foe to escape.
Bellotti’s corner had done good work on the fighter’s cut, but they were helpless to prevent their man from taking an uppercut in the middle of the ring during the seventh. ‘The Bomber’ would again find an opportunity to pin Garner in a corner and unload, but the European champion retaliated well to take the closing exchanges.
By the eighth it was clear that Garner was focusing on Bellotti’s head, the body of ‘The Piranha’ the target of the away fighter. Both remained content to get their licks in at the expense of receiving damage, despite the advancing rounds, Bellotti’s legs had regained a sense of stability.
In fact he showed a burst of pace to open the ninth, landing multiple clean blows to the body of his rival. Heading into the second minute there was a talking to Bellotti for repeatedly leading in with his head, the pause frustratingly arriving for ‘The Bomber’ shortly after some good work on the ropes.
Heading into the championship rounds both fighters would have felt confident of their chances, even if it seemed that Bellotti needed to do more to impress the judges based on the flow of the fight.
But if anything, it was Garner looking for a stoppage, wobbling Bellotti a few times. The work done to Garner’s body had not paid dividends for Bellotti, who was now dipping and hooking a right under the heavy artillery released by ‘The Piranha’.
Into the 11th and Garner was showing no signs of slowing, his speed advantage causing more and more problems for Bellotti. A huge right hand would have caused any super featherweight issues, Bellotti clinching to get his breath back.
Knowing that Garner could not move as much if he was grappling, Bellotti repeatedly tried to draw his opponent into long, drawn out exchanges in the middle of the ring.
Heading into the 12th there was a feeling that Garner was about to double his tally of belts. Not content with relying on the judges’ scorecards, Garner came out flying, catching Bellotti and starting what proved to be an unstoppable sequence.
A sprawling Bellotti backed towards the ropes; before Garner could finish it properly, the referee had stepped in to call it off.
Garner improves his unbeaten record to 18 wins, nine via stoppage, inflicting the sixth defeat of veteran Bellotti’s career, the Hertfordshire man now 20-6 (15 KOs).
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