Lewis Crocker scored a fifth-round knockout over Jose Felix at the Ulster Hall in Belfast this evening.
Crocker took the headline slot in his hometown, fresh off a dominating performance over local rival Tyrone McKenna last December.
Just under two months on from his last bout, Crocker came in three pounds over the 147-pound welterweight limit, giving him a large size advantage against 146.6 weighed Felix.
Round one opened with Crocker taking the center of the ring, coming forward with a tight and high guard. Felix put two body shots together that didn’t deter the Belfast man, who landed a crowd-pleasing right to the head seconds later. Felix was caught on the counterpunch as he attempted a combination and the visitor was working well off the back foot, having success with some more good shots to the body, but he was regularly caught by Crocker’s right hand to the head.
Felix slapped in a looping right to the body to begin the second round, following up with another shortly after. However, Crocker’s plans were undeterred as he continued to press forward with his hands high. Crocker stuck a stiff jab in the face, then put together a combination. Despite Felix’s good movement and shot selection to the body, he was regularly being countered by Crocker’s smart right.
Both men exchanged jabs to the body in round four. The pair exchanged head shots with Crocker coming out the better and Lewis went for the finish towards the end of the round, catching Felix with an uppercut followed by more shots to the head. Felix fell back onto the ropes under the attack and the end looked near. Felix responded with two low blows, roughly 20 seconds apart, and the referee Marcus McDonnell deducted a point for the second.
Felix again looked sprightly on his back foot to open the fifth. However, Crcoker soon had the Mexican on the canvas from the right to the head. Felix just made it up on the count of ‘nine’, he did well to fight back and make the rest of the round competitive as a smiling Crocker pushed for the finish while staying relatively composed.
Round six saw a similar theme, with Crocker pushing the action. Felix still had some success with smart variation, catching Crocker with a hook that only served to anger him. It provoked the Belfast man to end the show with a destructive three-punch combination, ending with a clean left hook that sent Felix sprawling. Referee McDonnell called an end to the contest at 1.54 to the adulation of the Belfast crowd.
Crocker’s train moves at a pace, and his record improved to 19-0 (11 KOs). Felix flies back to Mexico with a record that now reads 40-7-1 (31 KOs).
