Britain’s Shanee Martin won her second consecutive contest tonight (December 3) as she outpointed tall and rangy German Rebekka Hermann at historic York Hall in London over eight rounds.

It was just as well that the miniature Martin’s fighting heart was an order of magnitude above her physique. The German, unbeaten in five previous fights, was calm and determined. She had a significant height advantage and, more importantly, knew how to exploit it. The only loss on Shanee’s record came when she decided to have a war with fellow-Brit Juliette Winter, who was also a taller and longer-armed opponent.

The hometown fighter began the battle by showing head movement that Cus D’Amato would have approved. Hermann didn’t have a static target at which to aim her shots, and Martin jabbed aggressively and well to both the head and body.

Martin’s problems unfolded when either her head movement went astray or she was pushed back by Hermann. This started in the second as Martin received her first significant tastes of the set left-right staple dished out by the German.

The Colchester warrior took the third round and just edged Hermann in the fourth on my card. Martin not only made the fight, but delivered her right hand in lovely hook and uppercut packages. It was evident that Hermann was at her most dangerous when she forced Martin backwards. The length and power of the import’s jab seemed to perpetually upset the shorter fighter.

The long, straight in-coming traffic from the girl out of Offenburg continued in a steady stream. It proved dependable—and successful—all night long. In the fifth, Martin’s head movement returned, and she compensated for taking too many right hands by jabbing well and even turning a jab into a hook halfway through the shot—a lovely punch.

In the sixth and seventh sessions, Martin was still taking too many punches. But to her credit, she was making the action more often than not and returning fire. Whilst there was little variety in the pumping action of Hermann’s endless jab/straight right combinations, they were a model of German efficiency.

It was a tough bout to score, and one of those fights in which a hometown advantage is priceless.

As it happened, Martin’s big final round sealed the fight for her. She wanted it so badly, swarming forward and working tirelessly for the entire two minutes; the pick of her punches was a fantastic left hand. At the bell Shanee took a razor-thin—but well deserved—77-76 verdict.

Martin desperately wants to avenge her only loss, to the aforementioned Winters. She said in the press conference prior to her last fight, “Juliette beat me and was the better woman on the night we fought, but everyone who knows me knew I had a big off-night”

By William Hale
email:spunmyheadout@hotmail.com