Horner is pleased with improvement

The 23-year-old was rarely troubled as referee Kevin Parkin judged him a 40-36 winner in the bout at the Beachcomber club in Humberston, near Cleethorpes, on Friday night.

While light-welterweight Horner had only been in the ring as a pro once before, it was the 236th bout of Laight’s career, which has earned him the nickname ‘Mr Reliable’.

Horner, who boxes for the Scarborough-based Westway club, said: “I felt I boxed well. He was a tricky customer and he certainly loved a chat in between exchanges.

“He kept calling me pretty boy though, so he must’ve had a few blows to the head over the years.

“He told me afterwards that he usually just cruises through fights, but that I’d made him earn his money that night.

“I landed a lot of clean shots and the upper-cut worked for me on a number of occasions.

“He was always going to be a different proposition to my debut, but I felt more prepared for this fight and it showed in the end.”

Dozens of Horner’s fans added to a raucous ringside atmosphere after making the short trip to the south bank of the Humber.

And most of their cheers were reserved for the repeated successes their man enjoyed with hurtful hooks to the body of his Midlands opponent, which looked sore and reddened at the end of the four-round encounter.

But, despite slipping to his 218th defeat as a professional against Westway ABC man Horner, Laight has still only been stopped by five of his previous opponents.

He has had more contests in the last month than Horner’s entire professional career to date and the respect the Bridlington man showed after the contest suggested he had learned more in those 12 minutes than in most of his work as a professional so far.

The bout was fought on the undercard of Kevin Hooper’s successful first defence of the English lightweight title.

Two years ago, Hooper fought and beat Laight for a second time after losing a previous title attempt.

It may not be an omen, but there was enough on show for fight fans to look out for Horner in the coming months and years.

The only downside to Horner’s weekend came when plans for his next bout to be on home turf in May took a blow.

Professional boxing in Scarborough looks to be dead and buried after the British Boxing Board of Control refused permission for the scheduled show at The Spa because the nearest neurosurgical unit is around an hour-and-a-half away at Hull Royal Infirmary.