Gardner doubles up on belts (From Your Local Guardian)

New Addington's Gardner doubles up on belts

6:00pm Wednesday 14th March 2012 in Boxing By Alan Foley

Gareth Gardner became only the second man in the history of the Queensbury Boxing League to claim title victories in two different weight divisions when he emphatically beat Streatham’s Michael McPherson on Saturday.

Headlining the league’s big Night Of Champions event in front of a capacity crowd at Epsom Downs Racecourse, the 27-year-old from New Addington won virtually every round on all three of the judges scorecards to the jubilation of his army of travelling supporters.

That gave him the middleweight crown to match his super middleweight belt and the carpenter was delighted “It was a good performance by myself and I trained really hard for the fight,” said Gardner.

“But I’m not sure if I left some of my fight in the gym as after the first round I felt tired and my legs were weak and I was only at about 20 per cent.

“But I got the win and my second title and now I’m looking forward to my next fight at the end of June and defending the belt.”

Croydon’s Nigel James challenged Ian Fletcher for his southern area super middleweight title but was knocked out in the first round, while Laurence Lofts lost his middleweight fight to Mussy Daniels on points.

Gardner’s title triumph will be shown on Eurosport on Match 30.