DYLAN Clift’s partner took the mic to add showbiz to his ring entrance.
With fireworks unleashed on the Eastside Rooms, Birmingham, stage, Lilly belted out Amy Winehouse classic Valerie – the name of the couple’s baby daughter.
Actually, she didn’t do a bad job. I preferred her turn to the entertainment provided by a break-dancing crew on Anthony Manning’s Saturday show.
I can dance like them. I’d need to sink six pints, but I can dance like them.
Inside the ropes, Clift, from Acocks Green, looked pin-sharp in gaining a shutout 40-36 points win over Naheem Ali, a veteran of close to 150 contests.
Now unbeaten in five, the 22-year-old appears to be hitting with more venom, although Ali, a man who knows all the defensive arts, is near impossible to budge.
He showboated during the four rounder, constantly talked to Clift and, at the final bell, spent some minutes passing on advice to the winner and his corner – dad Chris and Gary Turner. Journeymen know what they are there for.
Clift, improving with each fight, shrugged off the Blackburn man’s shenanigans, remained poker faced and kept drilling home heavy shots.
“I could’ve done a bit more, but I can’t be too harsh on myself,” Clift said afterwards.
He had earlier told me: “I’m hoping title opportunities come very soon. The people who are there for me over 10 rounds, I think I can beat them. I can see the title coming very soon, but I also want to make sure I get the rounds in before taking that step.”
Dylan (10st 8lbs) started as he meant to go on – jabbing with authority to head and body, then harpooning Ali (11st) with rights to the ribs.
One particularly heavy left lead snapped Ali’s head back in the second: It was the signal for Clift to find another gear.
He pinned Naheem in a neutral corner and unleashed a two fisted barrage, for the first time introducing a sweeping left uppercut.
Ali clowned in the third, pulling faces and swinging his arms, after Clift buried a left hook into his stomach. My notes summed-up his antics: “Ali showboating, but fooling no one.”
He nodded in acknowledgment after a right bounced off his head in the fourth, then smothered for the final seconds following a sustained body attack.
It was a pleasing performance from Dylan, although Ali is a fighter who very seldom has his hand raised.
Clift is making steady, smooth progress. We’ll know more about what he brings to the table when the rounds and opposition are cranked up.
