The first four rounds were relatively even with Skelton probably landing the cleaner punches and hence, probably shading the rounds on the judges cards. The fight changed dramatically in the fifth when Rogan managed to push Skelton onto the ropes and unleash some thunderous hooks to the champion’s body. A huge right then opened a deep gash in the corner of Skelton’s left eye, demonstrating to everyone that Rogan had the necessary punch power to trouble him (something which was questioned before the opening bell). Skelton really lost his way over the next few rounds as the fight developed into a brawl that suited Rogan perfectly. The champion seemed to forget his boxing skills and the fact that he had a huge reach advantage over the challenger and allowed Rogan to continually bully him onto the ropes. Rogan grew in confidence, obviously abetted by the fact that he now knew he could hurt Skelton. The referee could easily have stopped the fight in the seventh as Skelton was once again forced onto the ropes and subjected to some brutal body and head shots without throwing much back in return.

Although Rogan came close, he couldn’t put Skelton down. He began to take chances and used far too much energy. In the ninth and tenth rounds he ran out of steam. Skelton seemed to regain some boxing skills and kept Rogan away with his superior reach, landing some hard combinations to Rogan’s head. It looked like the Prizefighter’s dreams were in tatters. He fell around the ring with exhaustion and everyone waited for the one punch that would finally stop him.

However, the taxi driver from Belfast is made of sterner stuff. In the eleventh, he landed a huge right hand to Skelton’s chin which made the champion’s knees buckle. Rogan chased him to the ropes, sensing victory could be his. He produced a flurry of devastating punches which left Skelton tumbling across the ring and landing onto the canvas face-first. He somehow managed to beat the count but Rogan wasn’t prepared to let him off the hook. He cornered the champion again, and this time, after more successful combinations, the referee stepped in.

Skelton was stopped for the first time in his career and Martin Rogan is dreaming of a world heavyweight title shot. In a division lacking in any outstanding talent or excitement, Rogan is exactly what is needed. A man with heart and pride, his exploits to date give lie to the title of underdog. Bring on the Klitschko brothers because it might need both of them to stop this steam train!

In what has now become a glorious British tradition, the three debutants were hyped up by the television “experts” as potential world champions before a punch had even been thrown. On this night however, the would be world champions had little to fear from their opponents. In fact they would have been more likely to have been injured by the punch bag in the gym than by the Eastern European “fighters” who they were up against. Saunders and Gavin ended their pro debuts with TKO victories (Gavin’s came courtesy of a very enthusiastic referee who obviously wanted the home town boy not to feel outdone by his Olympic compatriot, Saunders).

DeGale entered the ring to a rousing reception and judging by his opponent’s record (18 fights with ten losses), he would be leaving very quickly with the fans satisfied. However, DeGale, who seems to fancy himself as the middleweight’s answer to Naseem Hamed was embarrassing. His opponent, Vepkhia Tchilaia, wanted nothing more than to fall early and collect his paycheck but DeGale hadn’t even the ability to facilitate that. He constantly found the gloves of Tchilaia too much of a barrier to penetrate and decided to prance around the ring and shadow box himself. His promoter, Frank Warren, looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him whole as the entire crowd booed the Olympic hero from the third round onwards. After all, this was the first fight of a million pound contract for De Gale who will be lucky if even his mother and father bother to turn up for his next fight. He managed to win on points, with the statistics stating that Tchilaia threw eleven punches in the entire four round contest. Of course, the pundits were suitably impressed. Is it just me, or do you too wish that you were receiving your boxing coverage on whatever happy clappy signal these “experts” are receiving theirs on? But of course, we paying viewers and fight fans know absolutely nothing about boxing! I’m sure I’m not the only one who is tired of the ridiculous hype that Sky Sports surrounds their boxers with (just remember Amir Khan’s first Sky Box Office fight ended with him being knocked out after 50 seconds). It’s far too early to say if these young boxers are of professional quality, never mind world-class quality. They would be better served staying off the Sky Sports radar while they find their feet and perfect their craft in the paid ranks.