STEED Woodall can walk away from Saturday’s stoppage defeat to Ezra Taylor with head held high.
At London’s O2 Arena, the Birmingham fighter’s corner threw in the towel at 54 seconds of the ninth of a scheduled 10 rounder.
It was a perfectly timed intervention. Woodall, who took the bout at less than a week’s notice, looked fatigued and was being hit cleanly and often.
Up until then, the underdog had shown courage, displayed stubborn resistance and had his moments. He was brave to the end.
Ultimately, Taylor, from Nottingham, was too big, sharp and fit. He was to have faced Lewis Edmondson for the British light-heavyweight title on a show topped by Fabio Wardley’s world title victory over Joseph Parker.
When Edmondson pulled out with a hip injury, Steed – a natural super-middleweight – answered the call, took the gamble.
As manager Jon Pegg said: “If opportunity knocks…”
In the ring, Taylor towered over the 31-year-old and hit with precision. Woodall caught him with a hard left hook in the second, but simply couldn’t subdue an opponent now unbeaten in 13.
He was hurt in the sixth and by the ninth Taylor was really unloading, prompting his corner’s signal of surrender.
Steed initially protested, but, by now, will have realised the wisdom behind trainer Paul “Soggy” Counihan’s action. He hadn’t been really hurt, but, with energy levels low, was close to being really hurt.
“He gave it his all,” Pegg said, “you can’t moan. He got tired – after round five his punches began to lose their sharpness, after six or seven Steed’s legs got heavy. He was actually firing back when we pulled him out.
“He was a bit down afterwards, but we had a good chat with him. Hopefully, that performance has pushed the demons from the Callum Simpson fight out of his mind.”
In January, British super-middleweight Simpson ended Steed’s challenge in two.
Pegg added: “It showed how tough Steed is. The referee told us he was at the point where he was looking at Steed closely and thanked us for doing his job for him.”
Before taking the Taylor contest, with something called the WBA continental gold title on the line, Woodall was lined-up to compete in GBM tournament The Heist.
He was among eight super-middles to take part in the last man standing competition in Hull on November 8.
His place will now be taken by Eastside stablemate Liam O’Hare.
