JASON Easton was aged 24 and had 103 amateur fights under his belt when he turned professional last August but he is making up for lost time. Now 25, in only his eighth professional bout, an impressive second round knock-out against Rhys Saunders of Wales saw him claim the vacant Celtic Super Lightweight title.
A barrage of devastating body shots, a weapon demonstrated to him as a young fighter when Alex Arthur visited his boxing club in the capital, saw the game Saunders subjected to two eight counts, and when a third arrived the referee had seen enough to stop the contest. It was the kind of showing, on a televised platform at the Meadowbank Arena, which might have caused his fellow Scottish light welterweights Ricky Burns, and last night's star turn Josh Taylor, to sit up and take notice - even if his opponent Saunders was a late stand-in for his fellow countryman Mitch Buckland.
"I didn't expect to stop him so early but we knew he was weak to the body," said Easton, who is trained by Ricky Burns' old corner man Billy Nelson. "We trained for a ten-round fight but obviously he went down in the second round and I managed to get him out of there quickly.
"It was a late change of opponent, we were training for a southpaw in Mitch Buckland, but I had 100 fights in the amateurs, so it wasn't too hard to adapt to orthodox," Easton added. "We watched his fights on YouTube and we saw in his last defeat that he was beaten by body shots. So that is what we worked on.
"During my last year as an amateur I started working the body a lot and it started hurting a lot of guys. So it is definitely one of my favourite shots. Alex used to come into my boxing gym and he used to show me that shot at times, the touch and then through to the body. So it is a shot that has worked for me, as well as the likes of Alex and Ricky Hatton. I guess you could say that I save my best for the telly. Hopefully this is just the first title of many."
Also preserving his perfect record as a professional, albeit in somewhat more laboured fashion was Connor Law, a Tommy Gilmour-managed southpaw from Kelty who was roared on by a vociferous contingent from the Kingdom of Fife. He was a comfortable points winner against Spain's Jose Lopez Clavero, even if it was the first time the Fifer had ever gone eight rounds. As his army of fans sang afterwards, the Spaniard had fought the Law and the Law won.
"There were things I could have done that I didn't do," said Law. "I kind of doubted myself a bit. But tonight was a big step up, a tough opponent and an eight rounder, so I am on the ladder now. It is good to get it under my belt. This is the best following I have had yet, they were absolutely phenomenal and I can't thank them enough. They could have sat in and watched it on TV but they came here specifically just to support me so that support is second to none."
Craig McIntyre, of Glasgow, was a 40-37 winner against experience Nicaraguan Miguel Aguilar, while Edinburgh's John McCallum was another popular points winner against Norbert Szekeres of Hungary. McCallum only returned from his preparation at the gym of former WBO and IBF world cruiserweight title challenger Bobby Gunn. "I was feeling a bit jet lagged to be honest," he said. "I felt a bit drained and I struggled to sleep the night before with all the excitement of the fight. It was tough getting back but the trip was well worth it. It was great to pick up some old pro tactics from guys who are better boxers than me."
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