Moncriffe in Contender semi-finals

It was not a dominant performance, but Devon 'Concrete' Moncriffe did just enough to score a unanimous decision over rival Jermaine 'Cross Breed' Bowen last Wednesday night at the Chinese Benevolent Association auditorium and to book himself a spot in the semi-finals of the Wray and Nephew Middleweight Contender 2015 competition.

All three judges, Clifford Brown, Peter Richards and Lindell Allen, scored the fight 58-56 in favour of Moncriffe.

There was some doubt about Bowen's participation before the fight as he had sustained an injury in mid-May, but he gave a good account of himself throughout the night. The difference in the fight eventually was that Moncriffe was able to score frequently to Bowen's body, and these valuable points gave him four of the six rounds on the scorecards of the judges.

The two amateur bouts on the card ended inside the distance. In the first, Ian Darby from the JDF scored a second-round technical knockout (tko) victory over Alando Lewis from Hard Knocks gym, while another army man, Nicholas Walker, had a first-round tko victory over Davion Thomas from Boys' Town.

There will be a break in the series next week, and the first semi-final on June 17, over eight rounds, will see Tsetsi Davis going against Richard Holmes. Moncriffe will take on Kemahl Russell the following week.