Akufo cruises to Coley win after Taylor's tantrum (From Dudley News)

Akufo cruises to Coley win after Taylor's tantrum

11:00pm Sunday 13th May 2012 in Sport By Matt Maher

HALESOWEN kickboxing king Simon Akufo cruised to a two round win over Ryan Coley.

Akufo had little trouble dispatching his 21-year-old in a hastily arranged catchweight contest – following the dramatic collapse of his world title defence against Scot Taylor.

Taylor pulled out of the fight late last night after failing to make the weight and Coley, a light-heavyweight, stepped in as a late replacement for a non-title ten round bout.

He was never in Akufo’s class and after being floored twice in the first, his corner threw in the towel when he went down for a third time early in the second.

But afterwards, much of the talk still surrounded the incredible actions of Taylor and Akufo admitted the evening had been something of an “anti-climax.”

He said: “It’s heartbreaking. This wasn’t the fight I wanted or the one I trained for.

“There were a lot of people saying me against Taylor would be a 50-50 fight but as time went on I think he realised he had bitten more than he could chew.

“I think he (Taylor) has shown a complete lack of respect for the sport. You should not treat a world title fight the way he did.”

Taylor weighed in just one gram over the 67kg limit at yesterday’s weigh-in but refused to lose the weight, before later storming off.

Akufo learned of his withdrawal late yesterday evening but agreed to fight Coley so as not to disappoint his supporters, who had purchased 250 tickets for the event.

While Coley showed great heart, he barely landed a punch on Akufo and was soon in trouble after being downed by a right to the body.

He was down for a second time from a kick just before the end of the first and it was something of a surprise to see him come out for the second.

Coley was in clear pain and was soon put out of his misery. After going down again from a flurry of Akufo punches his corner threw in the towel.

Akufo later admitted he could not take much satisfaction from the victory.

He said: “I can’t celebrate it too much. Fair play to Coley for stepping in at such short notice but he is not in my league.

“He is not the man I wanted to face.

“I had trained for 12 hard rounds. I was ready for 12 of the hardest rounds of my life.

“I have ended up with something which was no better than a bit of sparring.”