LAUNCESTON’S two professional boxers, Jordan Platt and Wes Smith, retained their unbeaten records after putting on dominant performances against tough and vastly more experienced opponents at Plymouth’s Guildhall last Friday night.

First up for the Launceston club saw the very popular Jordan ‘Scattman’ Platt in his second appearance in the professional ring face Liam ‘Rocco’ Richards from Melksham in Wiltshire in a super-lightweight clash. Richards brought with him a record 12 wins from 54 outings while Platt was looking to make it two wins from two.

From the opening bell, Platt got down to business utilising his usual no nonsense approach unleashing left and right hook bombs to the head and body of his opponent pushing him onto the back foot. Richards covered up well but had to work hard to stay out the way of the punches and often found himself pinned on the ropes soaking up fierce looking body shots.

The second-round saw Platt continue where he had left off, taking the centre of the ring unleashing his bombs, again to the head and body. As his fighting name (Rocco) suggests, Richards was tough and game and refused to give in and tried to come back with counters of his own connecting with the odd body shot and a decent left hook that just bounced off Platt’s chin.

Platt continued to apply the pressure into the third to keep his opponent backed up but there was a switch of tactics from his opponent who elected to try and get up close to prevent him from throwing his bombs. This proved to be more effective than trying to stay away — even managing to connect with one or two uppercuts to the Platt chin.

However, due to his physical strength together with his fitness, the Launceston builder was able to shove his opponent off and return to his relentless attacks all the way through to the final bell.

There could only be one winner and Platt’s hand was raised, winning every round with a score of 40-36 to make it two impressive wins from as many outings.

Platt was pleased with his performance and is already looking ahead, saying: “I was happy with the four rounds and glad to get the unanimous decision. My fitness is very good and I boxed pretty well.

“Des (Charnock) said to not look for the knockout too much as he’s a tough man and he was right. But I managed to completely outwork him and everything he tried hit my arms. To be fair he changed his tactics after the second-round which made it a lot harder but I still did the job.

“There was a great atmosphere in there and I’d like to thank everyone who supported me.

“Now over the next few weeks I’ve got to get my annual medical and all that sorted and my licence renewed and then I want to be straight onto my next fight, although that’s not been sorted yet.”

Altarnun welterweight Wes Smith made his return to the professional ring after damaging both his hands during his fight in May last year.

Again the fighting farmer was up against it in his third outing as a professional where he faced veteran Kevin McCauley from Stourbridge in the West Midlands who was making his hugely impressive 186th appearance as a professional fighter.

McCauley was aiming to repeat his last performance in the Plymouth Guildhall where he knocked down and beat Exeter’s Super Welterweight Challenge belt-holder, Faheem Khan.

From the opening bell, Smith elected to box at long range to take a look at what his opponent had to offer, firing out lightning fast jabs and very accurate straight rights through the guard forcing his opponent back to the ropes.

McCauley immediately charged back, throwing big hooks of his own but the Launceston fighter outmanoeuvred him with clever footwork and countered with thunderous right crosses to the head.

Following the success of the first-round, Smith continued to stay at range in the second, stepping up the phases of attacks whilst maintaining his blinding hand-speed and supreme accuracy.

McCauley tried all the usual tricks, but Smith stuck to his gameplan and continued to dominate from the centre of the ring.

The third-round saw Smith switch up another gear landing solid straight shots to the head and now followed up with rib-crunching hooks to the body.

McCauley refused to quit despite visibly tiring, as Smith remained relentless in his fast attacks, connecting at will until the final bell.

Again there could be no doubt as to who was the winner, with Smith winning every round to a score of 40-36.

Smith was pleased with his night’s work, saying: “It was a fairly good performance. I managed to keep on him and outbox him as well. He was an experienced fighter who knew when to tuck up but I did well.

“I’m already in the process of looking for my next fight. It’d be great to fight within the next month as I want to stay active but we’ll see what happens.”

Their trainer, Des Charnock, said: “I couldn’t be more proud of the pair of them, we never pick our fights like others do. We take whoever they give us and train like demons to win. All their hard graft has paid off. Both fighters have massively improved since their last outings and there is still so much more to come from them. Roll on the next contests.”