By Diarmuid Sherry

Tonight on the Tony Davitt-promoted show at the Red Cow Moran Hotel, Balbriggan welterweight Gerard Whitehouse pleased his loud support in winning against tough Bulgarian, Radoslav Mitev.

However, Whitehouse knew that he was in a fight, having left the ring with swelling under his eye. Referee Mickey Vann scored it 40-37, to “Crank” Whitehouse, which seemed unfair to the Eastern European import, who was convinced he had won, but it was a very competitive battle

Whitehouse, who is coincidentally Andy Lee’s cousin, allowed himself to get dragged in a war, and while he did catch Mitev with strong left hooks to the body and straight rights behind the jab. He also got caught far too often for his liking.

The Dubliner started purposefully, and seemed too quick and powerful for Mitev who resorted to holding and rabbit punching, for which he was twice warned by Vann.

However, in the second, a left hook caught Whitehouse while he was lunging in, which gave Mitev some confidence. Mitev threw more combinations, but didn’t hurt Whitehouse, who countered with a powerful right uppercut of his own, followed by strong hooks to the body.

The superior boxing ability clearly belonged to Whitehouse, but this did not deter the Bulgarian, as he dragged Whitehouse into a war in the third. Two straight rights caused swelling underneath Whitehouse’s right eye. The third round was Mitev’s strongest round of the fight, which was also the likely drawn round on Mickey Vann’s card.

Mitev once again tried to drag Whitehouse to a trench battle, but Whitehouse was able to hold off the onslaught and box nicely in the final stanza, timing Mitev nicely when lunging in. Although he was caught with a right hook, Whitehouse landed the larger volume and better quality punches, with a double jab, straight right combo, and a left uppercut with his back against the ropes in particular were the Irishman’s highlights.