Rocky Fielding’s return to the ring ended in heartbreak after he was stopped by Dan Azeez inside eight rounds on Saturday night.
The bout in Bournemouth was part of the card headlined by hometown fighter Chris Billam-Smith's cruiserweight contest against Kosovo's Armend Xhoxhaj. Fielding, who was returning to the ring for the first time since April, had already been denied the chance to become a two-time British champion after failing weight on Friday.
After scaling 12st 8lbs at the weigh-in, Fielding did not return for a second attempt to make weight, meaning Azeez, who weighed in at 12st 5lbs 5oz, retained his British title on the scales. The fight, however, still went ahead as planned at the Bournemouth International Centre, with Fielding eyeing a big upset that could have put him back amongst the light-heavyweight elite.
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But Azeez, who was a late starter to boxing, started the better. He outworked Fielding in the first round as the Liverpudlian tried to find his range. The Londoner continued to set the tone as he maintained forward momentum, repeating jabs but also going to the body at select moments.
A clash of heads in the second round cut Fielding by the left eye before the referee warned Azeez for reckless use of the head in the third. Fielding was trying to catch Azeez coming in with hooks but the 33-year-old got his gloves back to block the punches, and swung through particularly eye-catching uppercuts.
The fourth round was a much closer affair before Fielding snagged the champion with a one-two off the ropes at the end of the fifth. Fielding then landed a good left that Azeez certainly felt during the sixth as he looked to put his opponent under pressure. But to Azeez's credit, he fired back with two hard left hooks of his own.
However, from there, the fight became one sided with Azeez finding more success, and it wasn’t long before a right straight to the body dropped Fielding to a knee. Fielding’s trainer, Jamie Moore, gave him one round to turn things around following the seventh, but the 35-year-old was soon under attack again as Azeez unleashed a number of crushing shots to the head and body.
And as Azeez pressed Fielding into the ropes, and started to unload, his corner threw in the towel to pull him out with just under a minute of the round remaining. Speaking after the fight, Azeez, who claimed the vacant Commonwealth belt as a result of the win, praised Fielding for the toughness he showed in the ring.
He said: “He was tough, to be honest I thought I might get him out of there a bit earlier, but he showed his experience. Even when I tried to blast him out of there, he knew how to tuck up and come back.
“I’m the midget in the division, everyone is taller than me, so there is nothing better than going down to the body and it worked again. I would love to get on the January 21 card. I feel good, I’ve been in the gym, I weighed in my career lightest and I feel good.”
While taking to Instagram after the fight, Fielding wrote: “It wasn’t what we wanted, but got my number 1 next to me and am on me way home to my two girls. Thank you all for the messages.”
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