Paul Webb
22 February, 2025
Sport

Ben Vaughan dominates in Northampton homecoming

Ben Vaughan (11-1), back headlining in his hometown, got in -some valuable rounds in a one-sided points victory over Octavian Gratii at the Mercure Hotel Friday night on BCB Promotions 'Fully Loaded' event. 

BEN VAUGHAN VICTORIOUS

The hard-hitting welterweight was coming into the fight on the back of his first career loss, a fight of the year contender with world-ranked Ekow Essuman, and showed why he deserves to be back at that level with an excellent display of power punching and variety that had the Romanian-born Gratii tucking up at every opportunity.

Vaughan's previous two opponents before Essuman had failed to see the end of round one, but Gratii is a veteran of the game, and despite taking some heavy punishment, he used his smarts to see out the action mostly unscathed.

A small nick on the eye didn't seem to affect the current Midlands Area Welterweight champion, who dominated the bout from start to finish, coming away with a 60-54 shutout decision on referee Chris Dean's scorecard.

"It was overall a good performance; he's a tough, durable opponent, said Vaughan. It's nice to be back out and great to be back in my hometown, but now I want to get on the big TV shows again. I want a big title next to my name in 2025, and I'd take Conah Walker for the British or Sean Noakes for the English next.

BEN VAUGHAN LOADS UP AGAINST OCTAVIAN GRATII
BEN VAUGHAN LOADS UP AGAINST OCTAVIAN GRATII Credit: PRO SPORTS

Elsewhere on the card, Nico Michael (7-0) moved his unbeaten record to seven wins from seven with a career-best display against Tanzanian Adam Yahaya. The popular bantamweight prospect is closing in on his first title shot and put in a mature performance, showing patience and choosing his punches carefully, taking a 60-54 points decision.

Dempsey Madden (6-1) had to overcome a tricky cut and the aggresive style of Shane Smith on route to a 39-37 points decision. The Daventry man had Smith wobbled in the opener with a big left hand, and it looked like he may get his career knockout, but in his first fight in nearly a year, he had to settle for a distance victory.

Guillaume Azagier got his professional career off to the most exciting of starts, scoring an early knockdown against Jenson Irving before engaging in a four-round war, getting the 39-36 points win.

NICO MICHAEL
NICO MICHAEL Credit: PRO SPORTS

It was another solid display from unbeaten Klinton Baptiste (2-0), with the highly touted light heavyweight beating Tom Ramsden 40-36 in the show's opener.