Classy Christopher puts on fight clinic

Tyler Christopher made it nine straight wins at Holiday Inn

BERMUDIAN Tyler Christopher breezed what looked a possibly demanding test at Birmingham Airport’s Holiday Inn on Saturday.

The Birmingham based light-middle used his boxing skills to widely outpoint Serge Ambomo, a squat slab of muscle who carries power.

The Cameroon boxer has uncorked his share of upset in a 77 bout career (61 losses), but at 37 has seen better days and has slipped into the role of solid journeyman. He showed more ambition in the fourth and last round, but it was too little too late.

At 27, Christopher was too quick and had too much variety.

He has the tools, but, as a newcomer in the Second City, struggles to sell tickets – and that has stunted his progress. At this level, boxers have to put bums on seats.

Despite peeling off nine wins on the spin, Christopher has yet to go beyond eight rounds.

The only solution may be to give Tyler a fight away from home with the odds against him and see if he is as good as he’s been telling us.

I wasn’t present for Saturday’s show, but Christopher informed me: “You missed a boxing clinic, it was like a bull and matador.

“They said he was going to be my toughest opponent. To be honest, it was a slick, easy performance – I didn’t have to dig deep into my bag of tricks.

“He didn’t catch me with anything flush. He caught me to the body a couple of times, but he never caught me flush.”

Christopher, a full time pro, wants to strut his stuff on a TV show. Manager Jon Pegg has guided him well with sensible, learning fights.

Pegg will know that a TV date means putting Tyler in more demanding bouts. He’ll probably be booked as an opponent for a major promoter’s prospect. For the first time, the odds will be against him.

“I want to up the anti,” he said. “I want to be seen on TV, I want to fight someone with a higher ranking than me. I feel I have the boxing ability and boxing IQ to do that.

“I don’t think I want to do any more journeymen small hall shows. It’s depressing trying to sell tickets.

“Jon could get a call next week for a TV fight. I want to be out as soon as possible, I don’t want to be out of the ring for three or four months.”