Mutley boxes way to win 25 and now targets old belt

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Former British welterweight champion Young Mutley has always admitted it's difficult to get motivated for non-titlefights.

The iron-fisted puncher from West Bromwich, who won a shutout 60-54six-round decision over durable Sergejs Savrinovics , Latvia, at a sweltering Wolverhampton Civic Hall on Thursdaynight, is always going to be a step above those he faces in thefour, six or eight-round bouts. He knows he can comfortably winthose fights without putting his foot firmly on the accelerator.

The likes of Surinder Sekhon, Geraint Harvey and Peter Dunn,although he'd previously been halted and later said Mutley was thehardest puncher he's even been in with, have all managed to fiddletheir way to the finish line  partly because Mutley isn't asferocious as he would be in a title fight and partly becausedefence is a high priority for them. But sometimes he meets afighter, like Ukrainian Vladimir Borovski late last year, who he'sseemingly unable to seriously rattle.

Savrinovics, now with four wins and a draw in 13 (two stoppages),can now join Borovski on that short list of men who weren'tseriously hurt by the sculpted banger.

The anvil-chinned Eastern European has only been stopped once, aninjury retirement to Dennis Shafikov in February of this year, andhas taken the likes of German-based Turk Selcuk Aydin, dubbed MiniTyson' by the German press, and another sledgehammer-punchingformer British welterweight boss, Belfast banger Neil Sinclair, thedistance. It appears as if the 26-year-old doesn't go looking foreasy nights.

But Mutley, though never looking likely to add the Latvian to hislist of stoppages, was never in any danger of tasting defeat forthe fourth time. He is pencilled in to meet Shepherd's Bushsouthpaw John O'Donnell in a British 10st 7lbs eliminator by theend of the year and this was 18 minutes of workmanlike action thatwill keep him ticking over until that fight is made.

After a quiet opening round, a three minutes that saw the formerEnglish light-welterweight boss sizing the shorter man up, Mutleybegan to show glimpses of the class that saw him take the Britishtitle and end Michael Jennings' 28-fight unbeaten run in 2006. Abody shot sent a sickened look across his opponent's face, athree-punch flurry topped by an uppercut made him hold and then along right late on got a brief nod of approval.

The third followed in the same vein, Mutley attacking and Sergejsdefending, and I don't think it would be unfair to say that thehighlight of round four was referee John Keane trying to kick aphotographer whose lens had intruded into the ring a bit too far.Mr Keane missed the lens  and the photographer's face  but didsucceed in making Mutley stumble with the flying leg.

Body shots and spiteful combinations, most notably aleft-right-left-right-uppercut combination from the flat-footedlocal, stung the Tukums  a Latvian city that's home to a formerOlympic champion, javelin gold medallist Dainis Kūla resident in the fifth. He waived the mallet-fisted Midlander in formore, but was forced back onto the ropes by the end of the round.

The Errol Johnson-trained former European 10st title challengercontinued with the dominance throughout the final 180 seconds,shaking his man with sharp one-twos to the body and fast-handeduppercuts to the head. As ever, Savrinovics shrugged them off andshook his head in defiance after shipping another solid-lookingleft hook to the dome late on.

Both weighed a fraction over the welterweight limit, scaling 10st8lbs on the night, and 32-year-old Mutley, now 25-3 (13), said: Hewas tough, canny and difficult to break down. It was good to getsix rounds under my belt and I'm looking forward to the eliminatorlater this year. I know I'll win it and then I'll get the chance towin back what I feel is rightfully mine [the Lonsdale Belt].

Tipton crowdpleaser Joe Skeldon , returning to competitive action for the first time since asix-round loss to Basingstoke-based Botswanan Clive Johnson inFebruary 1999, must have feared the worse when he was decked lessthan 30 seconds into his comeback outing against Barnsley's winless Jason Smith , now 0-4, on this well-attended First Team-promoted bill.

The 36-year-old Black Country banger was sensationally sentcrashing to the canvas by a cracking left hook but got up, shruggedoff some more solid shots and eventually stopped the Yorkshiremanon a cut with 49 seconds left of the final round in a six-twos. Thedoctor deemed the slicing wound, over Smith's right eye andbleeding away from the optic, too bad for the bout to continue.Many felt otherwise.

I had them level at 48 apiece going into the final two minutes,giving the first round only 10-9 to Smith (12st 10oz).

Whatever the result or scorelines at the time of the ending, theshaven-headed scrappers served up 11 minutes and 11 seconds oftoe-to-toe, give-and-take action. Bobbing and weaving, stockySkeldon's compact hooks were a direct contrast to Jason's uprightstance and lengthy lead. Smith's early knockdown gave him the firstbut Joe had started to warm to the task by the second, banging bothbody and head with left-rights.

Blood was sent flying from Trevor Schofield-handled Smith's mouthin the third, a left cross doing the damage, and Skeldon (12st 13/4lbs) seemed to be chipping away at the taller man's resolve. Thefourth was even, but the fifth saw Errol Johnson-trained Skeldontire. Throwing little, Smith was outworking him and body shotsproved even more uncomfortable for the well-built son of formerBritish title challenger Roy.

And things were shaping up nicely in the final round, both tradingon equal terms, until a clash of heads saw Rob Chalmers take theaway fighter to the doctor, ending Smith's chance of a first win infour at 1-11. Skeldon makes a successful return after almost adecade away and is now 2-2 (1).

The most intriguing-looking scrap on the bill was the heavyweightfour-rounder between Birmingham's undefeated Neil Perkins (15st 7 1/4lbs) and Preston's always-willing Howard Demolition' Da ley (16st 9lbs), Shrewsbury official Nigel Gill giving theJewellery Quarter-based fighter a deserved 40-36 vote after the12-minute bout reached its conclusion.

Daley, a policeman by day and puncher by night, always seemed to bea step behind the quicker, taller former ABA Novice finalist, 26.He hadn't had any amateur bouts, learning his trade on theunlicenced circuit, and had been thrown in with top amateur starsfrom the start in the pros: ABA champions David Dolan and BenHarding, who he drew with, and a World junior champion, Cork-basedCuban Mike P