By Jason Acres
STANFORD’S own “John” Wayne Hibbert lost a controversial decision at the Civic Hall.
Hibbert faced Derby boy Dave ‘Rocky’ Ryan (29).
From the second Hibbert entered the hall it was obvious who the crowd came to see, the noise was incredible! A chorus of “There’s only one Wayne Hibbert” filled the room as he made his way the ring and continued throughout the entire fight.
This didn’t put off Dave Ryan though who fought through the noise and composed himself excellently against the local boy.
The bout offered blow by blow entertainment and wow what a fight! Both fighters were swinging away at each other through the whole 10 rounds, I don’t know how either of them were still standing by the end of it, but they certainly both had their eye on the prize. Wayne Hibbert lived up to his nickname ‘John Wayne’ by coming out to the ring with the air of confidence John Wayne always had in his movies, he was focused and looked at the top of his game.
‘Rocky’ Ryan also lived up to his alias, showing he certainly could pack a punch and anything getting in the way of his right fist was going to get hurt; to be honest I wouldn’t like to get on the wrong side of either of these guys and they both fought a good fight, giving the crowd everything they came to see – excitement, skill and excellent sportsmanship! Hibbert however found himself down by 2 points by the final count, with the judges awarding a 97-95 victory to Dave ‘Rocky’ Ryan.
Controversy set in as the crowd went wild, both in celebration of Dave’s victory and in commiseration for Wayne. I can say with some certainty, this will not be the last time we see these two come head to head in another skull crushing main event.