Mark Flanagan edges Daniel Ammann for domestic honours

 
MARK Flanagan moved up to the cruiserweight division with hopes of earning national honours within twelve months. Last night in front of an enthusiastic home crowd at the Townsville Entertainment Centre he was crowned – but not after ten enthralling and highly competitive rounds with Daniel Ammann.

 
Flanagan had to fight tooth and nail against an experienced campaigner, but he managed to pull out a ten-round split decision against a crafty Ammann, who many saw as unlucky not to regain his vacated title.

 
Flanagan, 23, got off to a slow start and looked to have fallen behind after four rounds. However, he dug deep into his reserves and appeared to pull clear on the judges scorecards in the final two rounds. In the end, with his face bruised and bloodied, he had his hand raised in victory.

 
Judges Allan Burford and Chris Condon scored it 97-93 and 97-95 in favour of the local, while judge Phil Austin scored the fight 96-95 in favour of Ammann, 31 – who lost his second consecutive fight – while Flanagan has now won five straight since moving up to cruiserweight.

 
With the victory, Flanagan’s record improved to 16-4 (10 KOs) while Ammann’s record dropped to 29-7 (6 KOs).

 
“I had a great fight last night against a tough opponent, and I’m now the Australian cruiserweight champion.” said Flanagan post-fight. “I was a bit emotional last night.”

 
Promoter Angelo DiCarlo, who co-promoted last night’s event in conjunction with Dennis Clancy, heaped his praised on the local product Flanagan and spoke promisingly of future fights to be made for the newly crowned Australian champion.

 
“Mark Flanagan has been one of my favourite fighters for some time,” said co-promoter Angelo DiCarlo. “He has never rejected a potential fight that I have put in front of him and whilst he has lost a few fights, that outcome was merely due to the difficulty of making the light heavyweight division.”

 
“As a cruiserweight, he is certainly a different fighter, I personally believe he is the best cruiserweight in this country. Before approaching Daniel Ammann, we approached David Aloua for the fight and at that time they were not interested.” he continued. “Ammann is a five-time Australian champion and he is a fighter that should not be underestimated.”

 
“We are be looking for any and every challenger in the cruiserweight division.”

 
 
Photo: Hayden Hooper/Chatterboxing