‘Gully will stop Rhys next time’ - Carter

Powar piles into Edwards. Picture: Chris Dean/Boxxer

COACH Richie Carter was still quietly seething but determined to pick the positives from Gully Powar’s controversial draw for the British featherweight title.

“I’m just dumbfounded,” the former pro following Saturday night’s clash with Rhys Edwards on Boxxer’s huge bill at Cardiff’s Utilita Arena.

The consensus was 23-year-old Powar, from Wolverhampton, had done enough to win the 12 rounder and should now have possession of a Lonsdale Belt.

Instead, the bout, for the vacant title, ended in a majority draw – 115-114 for Gully, followed by two 114-114 scores. The pair are destined to do it all again.

“I had it 8-4 (in rounds),” Carter said, “7-5 at the very worst. I’m baffled by it.”

A blow-by-by account is redundant – those who wanted to know what happened tuned into the BBC coverage.

It’s the aftermath that now counts and the aftermath is highly controversial. Powar, with only one loss in 14 going into the biggest bout of his life, does what only he does: blessed with a phenomenal engine, the human whirlwind sling punches from all angles non-stop.

Powar simply doesn’t stop coming, crawling all over opponents. He’s the fight game’s equivalent of a rash.

Edwards, now 17-1-1, took the first three rounds on my card with his better boxing, then got sucked into Powar’s fight. To his credit, the Tonypandy stylist admit afterwards that the result felt like a loss.

Perhaps Gully, fighting a Welshman in Wales for a major prize, shouldn’t be surprised he didn’t get the rub of the green. The rows aside, Powar and Edwards staged a cracking, fast-paced battle.

“The kid (Gully)  has a very strong mindset,” Carter said, “and we’ve put it down to a positive. He’s only 23, he has plenty of time on his side. If he’d won, he would’ve been one of the youngest featherweight champions. The Board have told us they want it back on straight away.”

“I’m dumbfounded, absolutely dumfounded,” Carter repeated. “Afterwards, a coach with maybe 50 Welsh couples stopped at our hotel and every one of them shook Gully’s hand, wanted photos and many of them apologised for what had happened. That was very humbling – it choked me up, to be honest.

“At the end of the day, no one gave the kid a prayer, it was only the insiders who knew what Gully was about who thought he’d beat him.

“I always thought they would be in for a show – Gully’s a very hard fighter to deal with and I have to call time in training because he won’t stop.”

Carter believes the performance – if not the result – has won over casual fans.

“He showed he belongs at that level, he showed he is one of the top featherweights in the country and there are bigger things to come. The kid is world class, give him another 12 months and he’ll show it.

“At the end of the day, what’s come out of Saturday night is everyone’s talking about him, it’s made his profile much bigger.

“He (Edwards) had his successes early doors – that won’t happen next time, we’ve got it all planned out.

“I think Gully stops him next time because Gully knows he’s got his number.”