[1980-06-25-Joint Promotions] Marty Jones vs Young David

[SAMS]

1980-06-25
Joint Promotions
Marty Jones vs Young David
Combat Challenge Shield Semi Final Match
Southport, Merseyside, United Kingdom
★★★

Semi-final match for a tournament called the “Combat Challenge Shield”. Not sure the importance of it but the winner of this round would face Marc Rocco in the final. The footage joined at the beginning of the second round.
David has improved leaps and bounds over the last few months. The second round here had him working on top and it certainly didn’t feel like the veteran was leading him in any way. David had the wristlock applied and they spent the entire fall working around Jones trying to escape in various ways with David being too fast and being able to consistently reapply it. In a swerve however, Jones was able to catch David out at the last and roll him up for a flash pin just before the bell to take a 1-0 lead. Out of the 5 rounds broadcast here, this was by far the best with David looking incredibly comfortable and at ease in the ring.
The middle four rounds had Jones mostly in control and things kind of fell away. Jones is a guy with a strong rep, so I was looking forward to him cropping up in my match listings, but he really hasn’t jumped off the screen for me so far and this match was no different. I’m not sure whether David should have been more combative when working from underneath but Jones’ offense throughout this period didn’t grab me at all. The best spot was them both going for a shoulder charge and Jones wiping David out.
They worked a raucous pin sequence at the end of the fifth, where each man tried for a pin and the other countered, going back and forth for perhaps five or six attempts before finally David caught a bridge and got the equaliser. That set up a final sixth round and this for sure made up for the somewhat dull previous rounds. They upped the pace with both men going for that victory and a path to the final and they teased a number of different finishes, from countout on Jones after getting sent flying over the ropes, to David potentially grabbing another flash pin. All the while it seemed like Jones was in the ascendancy, so any offense here David got in felt meaningful. But it wasn’t to be and while David valiantly attempted to capture that winning fall, he left himself open to a sit down pin for Jones.