Streatham’s Chris Bourke ends 11-month ring absence by recording stoppage win

BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Chris Bourke ended nearly a year out of the ring with a stoppage win over Darwin Martinez last weekend.

The 28-year-old Streatham southpaw had been sidelined since March after complications with a broken left hand sustained in a failed British super-bantamweight title challenge.

And Bourke admitted to having more nerves for his return to action at Bethnal Green’s York Hall than he did when boxing for the domestic crown.

The former GB amateur did not require surgery on his hand but had to have three months of complete rest from the gym.

Then his rehab proved to be stop-start.

“It was to do with the tendons,” Millwall fan Bourke told the South London Press. “What they were telling me was to train with it and that it would get progressively better, but I’d do a little too much one day and then feel like I’d taken two steps back.

“I needed lots of physio to strengthen the tendons around the knuckles. My knuckles would flare up, get swollen and then it could take a week or so to be able to get back in the gym. My hand feels good after this fight. I hit him with some good shots and it held up alright. I’ve got a bit of bruising on my hands but I always get that after a fight, it’s part of being a boxer.”

All but one of Spanish-based Martinez’s victories had been inside the distance and he wobbled Bourke (11-1, 7KOs) in the first round.

But the South Londoner responded to drop his opponent

(7-10-2) three times before referee Lee Every called it off right near the end of round three.

“I definitely had a dodgy three minutes at the start,” said Bourke. “That ring-rust was there and was very clear in the first round – my timing wasn’t quite where I needed it to be and my distance wasn’t quite where I needed it to be.

“I got hit with a few big shots which woke me up. It told me that I really needed to switch on here.

“I said to my team that I felt more pressure for that fight than my British title fight. I knew the amount of time I’d been out and that put a little bit more pressure on me as well.

“I gave away three or four pounds to him at the weigh-in, just because I wanted to see how I felt boxing at bantamweight. I felt good, so I’m going to do that weight moving forward.”

Bourke’s only blemish in the paid ranks was losing a unanimous decision to Marc Leach.

“It’s been very frustrating because since that defeat people seem to have forgotten about me and I’m not really in the mix for fights,” said Bourke. “But now I’ve got the win and I got it in style – I stopped a kid who doesn’t get stopped and he has boxed a lot of bigger guys. It’s down to Frank Warren (promoter) and my team but I’m aiming for the big names domestically.”

PICTURES: QUEENSBERRY PROMOTIONS