SOUTHAMPTON, England – There was always a concern that styles could clash, with the low-handed southpaw Lewis Edmondson and economical Lyndon Arthur always unlikely to produce fireworks. But you never know and that is why they fight the fights.
As it turned out, there will be worse bouts than this in 2026 and certainly for Lewis Edmondson, it might not get any better.
He won the biggest bout of his career by scores of 96-95, 97-93 and 96-94 after 10 rounds at St Mary’s Stadium in Edmondson’s hometown in Southampton.
It was scrappy and messy but the judges were unified in favoring the South Coast man, though I had it all square from ringside.
Edmondson, with ex-pro Amir Khan and former two-weight world champion Billy Joe Saunders in his corner, switched orthodox in the third and his corner cheered his every success, including a right hand and right uppercut, but he got caught by an Arthur right uppercut and that triggered another standoff.
Arthur was finding the Southampton man both hard to catch and hard to pin down through the fourth.
The Manchester veteran applied more pressure in the sixth and was more industrious with his jab although Edmondson caught the eye with a left hook and late flurry with seconds remaining in the session.
Arthur drew blood from Edmondson’s nose in the seventh and it seemed the judges would have to choose between Arthur’s work on the front foot or Edmondson’s short bursts on the retreat.
Both had their moments in the eighth. Edmondson – the British light heavyweight champion who collected a WBA trinket for his troubles – attacked Arthur’s body and Arthur connected with some right hands but it was clear, of course, that it was going the distance and it always felt like it was going to be close. Edmondson is now 12-1 (3 KOs) while the 35-year-old Arthur is 25-4 (16 KOs).
Brad Pauls had been possibly a fight or two from a world title bout, but the WBO’s No. 4 and the IBF’s No. 8 middleweight suffered a defeat to Coventry’s Dominic Ingle-trained Bradley Goldsmith.
Newquay’s Pauls, who is now 21-3-1 (9 KOs), had been flying high following an upset win over Shakiel Thompson earlier in the year but Goldsmith never let him find his rhythm.
The winner, now 16-1 (10 KOs), set the tone early on and won by margins of 97-92 and 99-90 (twice), scoring a knockdown in the fifth round on his way to a clearcut 10-round decision win.
Even while Southampton soccer songs were being sung in the third round – which Pauls would have appreciated as he went to university here – Goldsmith’s southpaw style, his right hook and left hand, proved hard for Pauls to fathom.
The Newquay man landed a good right in the fifth but took a left hand in return and in the sixth Pauls was caught by a cuffing right hook and touched down, more from lost balance or a slip, but it was deemed a knockdown.
Pauls was dogged and determined but Goldsmith was able to time in with jabs and walk him onto occasional shots to keep the Cornishman in check and in the ninth round he caught Pauls with a volley of shots on the inside. Pauls looked frustrated but never dejected, though blood poured from his nose in the final round.
Goldsmith looked much improved from the lone loss of his career, to Troy Coleman in Birmingham two years ago via stoppage in the seventh round.
Super middleweight prospect Taylor Bevan didn’t sparkle but he did gain valuable experience going 10 rounds and winning a majority decision in his hometown soccer stadium.
The popular Southampton man sold around 700 tickets for his fight against Ryszard “The Polish Sniper” Lewicki on the undercard here in his hometown and improved to 9-0 (8 KOs) at the same time in a 10-round learning fight.
Bevan, a former Team GB amateur, won a majority decision although Lewicki survived a rough seventh round and things looked ominous, as Bevan steamed out for the eighth – but Lewicki saw out the session and the fight.
Bevan, who went the distance for the first time as a pro, got his jab working early and started to mark up Lewicki’s face. He took the occasional shot back but was often able to parry and deflect what came his way. Lewicki was spirited and stayed on the front foot, though he was steadied by a left hook in the third, a session that saw Bevan jolt the Manchester-based Pole’s head back several times. Bevan also kept investing into his opponent’s body.
There was a thud to Bevan’s shots. The Southampton man, having his first fight under trainer Jamie Moore – who has come in in place of Welshman Colin Jones – was in control although he paid for landing several hooks and uppercuts on the inside by swallowing a right hand in the fifth.
That was probably the biggest criticism of Bevan in that he stayed around for too many right hands when he could have rolled out or circled to his right to avoid them. But that’s a somewhat minor critique for what were 10 rounds that won’t hurt his progression. Scores were two cards of 97-94 with a third tally of 95-95, which I didn’t agree with.
Lewicki is now 12-4-3 (5 KOs) and Bevan will have plenty to work on with trainers Moore and Nigel Travis when he gets back to the gym.
Viktar Chvarkou was dropped at the bell to end the opening fight by big Irish heavyweight Adam Olaniyan, 20, and the heavy-handed youngster floored him again with a short right hand in the second. Chvarkou, a 40-year-old Kazakh who fights out of Watford, was in real trouble and taking more punishment when referee Bernard Oyet stepped in to save him after 2:11 of the second. In his previous fight, Chvarkou had taken another heavyweight prospect, Leo Atang, the six-round distance. Alaniyan is now 2-0 (2 KOs) while his opponent is 6-34 (3 KOs).
Olaniyan, who fights out of Tallaght, Ireland, is scheduled to fight again on August 1 in Dublin on a bill topped by Pierce O’Leary and Mark Chamberlain.
