Last night, former England cricket captain, Andrew ‘ Freddie’ Flintoff, defied all the odds to win his first professional heavy-wight boxing bout.
Flintoff’s decision to take up the sport had been widely criticised but his 39-38 points decision win over Richard Dawson has gone a way to proving his critics wrong.
Freddie entered the ring wearing his Lancashire cricket shirt to the sound of Oasis and the Manchester crowd attempted to recreate the same electric atmosphere we saw at Ricky Hatton’s comeback fight at the MEN last week.
Flintoff started strongly and looked the more experienced fighter in the opening exchanges but in a scrappy fight Dawson seemed to have gained the upper-hand when he sent Flintoff sprawling to the canvas with a left hook in the second round. However Freddie rose to beat the count and then took the attack to his opponent knowing that he now need to win the remaining two rounds to win the fight.
Flintoff dominated the final exchanges as Dawson looked to defend and hold onto the lead which he had taken earlier on. As the final bell rung Freddie raised his fist in expectation of the win and the final scorecard proved that he had done just enough to win the fight.
It wasn’t one of the most graceful boxing performances ever witnessed and it may turn out to be Flintoff’s only boxing venture, at 34 the former Lancashire cricketer isn’t getting any younger.