The 14th of march was the date, The iconic York Hall in East London was the venue and Dale Evans was the opposition to shot at the British title. Nigeria’s Larry ‘’The Natural’’ Ekundayo stepped in the ring in an all-important British title eliminator against hard hitting and highly ranked British tough man Dale Evans.
The fight was billed Ultimate glory the perfect title for such an important night in Larry’s career. After dealing with a tough time out of the ring , the boxer was keen to let fans and commentators know why he is highly rated in the boxing world and more importantly get back on track towards his ultimate dream of becoming a world champion one day.
With both fighters in with a chance of challenging for higher honours, the importance of a win here in front of a sold out East London crowd can’t be overstated. Covered in Nigerian colours ( Green and white ), you would have thought Larry was the British fighter with the amount of Ekundayo T-shirt wearing fans in the arena and more importantly the applause he received from the fans on his entrance.
Coming out under a beaming spotlight and huge smoke filling the walk path, Larry walked in to the York Hall to Kanye West’s ‘’Jesus walks’’ bouncing along with a look of a man who meant business and had only one job to do on the night which is to put away his opponent on the night. Once the bout was announced and instructions handed out to the fighters by the referee, the tension and excitement grew in the air with both sets of fans jeering the opposition.
After the bell rang, Larry burst out of the blocks with confident jabs at Dale Evans putting a stamp on the fight early and setting a tone for the match with Dale instantly finding it hard to hit his target. The early rounds clearly went to Larry as he displayed his superior boxing abilities , with an array of jabs, feet movement and clear points scoring punches to fans screaming chants of ‘’Larry Larry Larry’’. Dale attempted to change his in ring plan finding his way slightly back into the fight in the third round catching Larry with a few shots and trying to make the ring smaller ensuring an ever elusive Ekundayo found it tough to get away from his clutches.
During the break after the third round, world welter weight contender Ajose Olusegun who was in the Ekundayo’s camp was seen speaking to Larry in addition to the coaches input clearly asking Larry to step it up a notch leaving no room for Dale Evans to regain confidence and get back into the fight. The fourth round was a case of Larry getting back to his best bits controlling the match, picking his shots at will and evading Dale Evans with his quick feet movements reminiscent of Sugar Ray Leonard.
After the fourth round Dale Evans had started to tire and Larry’s barrage of punches and combinations had started to flow easily leading to a clean shot which fell Dale to the canvas in the fifth round. Dale took a standing count and was allowed to carry on to the crowds excitement and noise, sensing Dale was stunned , tired and a bit out of sorts Larry pounced with more combinations with no response from Dale Evans, the ref jumped in and stopped the fight in the fifth round.
An excited Larry applauded the fans in the ring after getting a standing ovation for a classy yet clinical performance at the British’s home of boxing saying after his fight that ‘’there is more to come from me’’ and after this performance , nobody would doubt that. With Larry making light work of such a highly ranked British fighter like Dale Evans , the future seems to be very bright for one of Nigeria’s proudest boxing sons fighting out of the United Kingdom
For more information on Larry Ekundayo and his future fights , please visit larrythenatural.com
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