Heartache for Shropshire boxer Kieron Gray
So close yet so far - that was the verdict for Shropshire boxer Kieron Gray. So close yet so far - that was the verdict for Shropshire boxer Kieron Gray. The 32-year-old, from Horsehay in Telford, saw his Midland light-middleweight tussle with the Black Country's Jamie Ball end in a draw in Birmingham. "I thought I had done enough to win it but it was a brilliant atmosphere and I was really pleased with my performance," said Gray, who is now likely to retire from boxing. The draw means the Midlands title will remain vacant. Full report in today's Shropshire Star
Shropshire's Kieron Gray admits his Midlands light-middleweight title fight against Jamie Ball could have been his last after battling to a draw.
A grand fightback from the tough brawler from Horsehay in Telford failed to snatch the vacant belt at Birmingham's Holiday Inn last night, but put a blemish on the perfect record of his Black Country opponent.
And Gray was two points behind going into the 10th and final session but pulled level to score a draw, after putting Ball on the canvas for the first time in his career after being knocked off balance.
Referee Shaun Messer, from Ball's hometown of Dudley no less, scored it 96-96, four rounds a piece with two shared.
However, the chances of a re-match appear remote today after the Shropshire slugger announced plans for an immediate sabbatical from boxing which, at age 32, will probably result in retirement.
Gray is studying to become a PE teacher and, with wife Zoe expecting a second child in May to join one-year-old brother Coby, he feels there will be little time for boxing.
Whilst not completing shutting the door, it appears the "Slammer" has punched his last.
He said: "Win, lose or draw - I was retiring no matter what. I would never say never, but it is 90 per cent that was my last fight.
"I am going to miss the game, I love it, but my family comes first.
"I am going to be out for a while and, if I come back in a year's time, I will be ring rusty - and at my age I have got to think about my future.
"There's always that 10 per cent chance, but it's very unlikely."
Gray felt aggrieved not to be bowing out as the new Midlands champion, despite having to come from behind late on, having landed the more hurtful shots in the earlier rounds.
There was more meat in the punches he connected with in the first half of the fight, with a left hook forcing Ball onto the back foot in the second round before a left uppercut tested his chin in the fifth.
However, Ball finally settled into his boxing to claim some of the middle to later rounds slip in what was a compelling 10-round bout.
Neither was pleased with the result, but Gray was happy to sign off with, perhaps, his most entertaining performance.
He said: "I was gutted with the draw but it's swings and roundabouts really.
"We are both winners really for getting in there and putting on the fight that we did. But I think I just pipped it."
