Lewis Crocker made a successful first defence of his WBO European welterweight title in Bolton last night, but was made to work for it by an extremely game challenger in Deniz Ilbay.
Lewis Crocker takes on the tough Deniz Ilbay. Photo Credit: Scott Rawsthorne / MTK Global
MTK promoted another busy night of action at the Bolton Whites Hotel, with a pair of continental title fights topping the bill.
The nominal head of the bill came at Welterweight, where Lewis Crocker defended his WBO European strap with a dominant, yet entertaining points win against the teak tough Deniz Ilbay.
Crocker was making the first defence of the belt that he won last time out, with a seventh round stoppage of Louis Greene, while Ilbay was coming off a first round success back in December 2019.
Lewis Crocker wins a cracker against Deniz Ilbay
BELFAST welterweight
Lewis Crocker topped MTK’s bill at the Bolton Whites Hotel and maintained his 100 per cent record. The wide margin of victory over Cologne’s
Deniz Ilbay at the conclusion of 10 highly entertaining rounds, though, fails to fully tell the story and certainly doesn’t reflect the toughness of an opponent who just wouldn’t succumb.
After a close couple of early rounds, Lewis looked to have made the breakthrough late in the third when a crunching left to the body and a follow-up right sent Ilbay to one knee. At that point the odds on it being an early finish looked particularly favourable, but no one had seemingly told the man from the Rhine. He came storming back late in the fourth, to such a degree that Crocker was left holding after being tagged by a weighty right.
Lewis Crocker risks his perfect record against Deniz Ilbay
Lewis Crocker takes on Deniz Ilbay in Bolton on Friday
THIS Friday (March 12) at the Bolton Whites Hotel, Belfast’s Lewis Crocker risks his spotless 12-0 (7) ledger in a welterweight 10-rounder against visiting German Deniz Ilbay, 22-2 (10), live on iFL TV (UK) and ESPN+ (US).
The fight represents a marked step up in class for Crocker, whose most notable wins so far have come at domestic level against John Thain and Louis Greene – both last year. In February, “The Croc” widely outscored previous British title challenger Thain over eight rounds, before stopping former Southern Area titlist Greene in the seventh in August.