Experience is key in sport - and Norwich fighters Liam Goddard and Owen Blunden added more strings to their bows in differing ways.
While Goddard was tackled with undoing the puzzle that was the granite-strength head of Michael Williams, stablemate Blunden had to overcome a nasty cut from a head clash which poured blood into his left eye and reduced his vision considerably against Lee Connelly. The cut ended proceedings a round early, but Blunden was ahead on referee Lee Cook's scorecard, winning 30:28.
"Owen was ahead when the ref stopped it," said trainer Graham Everett. "We take the win, simple as that. It was a hard fight - Lee Connelly has been in with some good fighters - but a great learning curve, learning to fight with a cut."
Blunden, who now has three wins out of three, said: "There was a lot of blood in my eye for a couple of rounds, but I worked through it. I couldn't really see out of my left eye but I told the ref I was good. I just wanted to fight because I felt good in there. I wasn't going to give it up - he would have to stop the fight or knock me out."
Goddard's problem was altogether different: Williams was a stubborn opponent who took everything the Norwich man threw at him.
"I am very happy with myself," said Goddard, now 4-0. "I gave it pretty much everything. I rocked him, his legs went, but he regained from that so quickly and from my next punch he was ready to go again. He had a solid head - he was tucked in nicely because I couldn't get to his chin, but my hands are a bit sore now."
Goddard has been working alongside Ryan and Liam Walsh, and the influence of the current and former British champions respectively was clear.
"I was really impressed with Liam," said Everett. "He is a smooth operator, never gives up trying to hurt someone. He has an array of punches and you can see how much he has benefited from Liam and Ryan. You can see bits, little hooks to the body, cute little bits of work. But huge respect to Michael Williams - he deserved every penny he earned, and more."
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