Composed Cairns beats Belgian to extend unbeaten start

Steven Cairns’ loyal following had to wait that bit longer than usual to celebrate victory in Liverpool tonight.

The Cork prospect came into his latest Liverpool outing on the back of two first-round stoppage wins but had a later night at the Olympia this time around.

Belgian Angelo Turco proved durable and took the young pro the six-round distance on a Probellum Card. ‘The Irish Take Over’ dominated from start to finish and won 60-53 in what was a real learning fight.

The fighter was disappointed post-victory, that he didn’t get the job done inside the distance, but his team will be happy he won while banking rounds and valuable experience against an awkward foe.

The 20-year-old pressured Turco back to the ropes throughout the first round but was patient behind a solid and varied jab, obviously looking to get into the second round for the first time since his debut.

One right hand to the body did hurt the Belgian but the Rebel fighter was happy to step off slightly again possibly in a bid to bank rounds.

The second was similar with Cairns comfortable and in charge. The Dave Coldwell fighter did bring the backhand into play more but looked to be deliberately avoiding moving through the gears.

The European Schools medal winner did look to up the tempo and the volume somewhat in the third. The solid jab remained effective and his combination punching started to open up his opponent that bit more. However, Turco proved himself durable and at that stage didn’t look like wilting.

The Belgian, whose only been stopped five times in 26 defeats, tasted the power as Cairns sat down on his shots more in the fourth and pulled out all the survival tricks as a result. Those antics saw the Belgian docked a point in the fifth but the away fighter remained unfazed more than content with just making the sixth. He managed to use all his experience to navigate his way through the sixth and stop Cairns making it three consecutive stoppage wins.

The victory sees the Cork fighter improve to 4-0 while Turco’s record now reads 8-27-2.