Leo’s back on track - but is made to scrap

Clock ticking…Leo in dressing room before Sunday’s battle

FOR LEO Fanthome, the most important thing was to get back on the winning trail on Sunday.

He achieved that, outpointed Manchester’s Luke Thomas over four rounds at the Holiday Inn, Birmingham Airport, referee Chris Dean scoring 39-37.

It was a decent scrap, too, with Thomas, having his moments.

Fanthome looked sharp in his first outing since being floored and outpointed by Ryan Frost in September.

But I’d be interested to know the inner thoughts of Lee Spare, who trains the welter at his Nuneaton gym.

For me, there were traces of a hangover from the Frost setback, which is understandable. Leo appeared to be building confidence during the 12 minutes of action and saved his best work until the last session when Thomas was worked over to the body.

That was the formula for preventing Luke becoming a nuisance – non-stop pressure.

In the first half of the bout, Leo allowed Thomas to get back into the fight when he didn’t need to and, at times, fired single shots rather than let the combinations flow. You could almost see Thomas’ ambition grow.

The double jab-right to the body worked well whenever it landed. That was the key to keeping Thomas in his place.

Leo also got caught by a couple of heavy left hooks and stumbled after one connected in the second.

The above will be food for thought for Spare, a very good judge of the game.

The bottom line, however, is Fanthome won, won well and entertained. He jabbed with authority in the first before Thomas connected with a left hook, regrouped and, by the third, was landing his own left hooks.

Now Leo was blazing away with both hands and Thomas struggled to keep with him. By the fourth, Fanthome was hammering the body and drilling rights to the head.

He was bossing the action. That aggression – and the way it worked for him - will fuel Leo’s drive towards titles next year.

Leo has now won five of seven, Thomas has won one of seven.