Boxing News

Posts Tagged ‘TRAD TKO’

TRAD TKO Boxing Gym
Hard Knocks Boxing Promotions
Presents
MITCHELL BALKER Vs. CHINA CLARKE
Friday, 23rd March 2012 @ The Troxy, London

By Rio

London - Thursday, 1st March 20121

Balker-Clarke Added To Spencer Fearon’s ‘Shamrock Showdown II’ On 23rd March

After six months without a fight, London based Dutch Cruiserweight Mitchell Balker finally gets the chance to return to the fray at Spencer Fearon’s Hard Knocks Promotions first event of the year, Shamrock Showdown II, at The Troxy in Limehouse, London on the 23rd March.

Ever since Balker relocated to the UK, to train at the TRAD TKO Boxing Gym in Canning Town, his manager Johnny Eames has found it hard to secure his talented charge any bouts, especially after word got out that prior to turning pro that Balker had traveled to America to take part in, and win, the prestigious New York Golden Gloves tournament at the famous Madison Square Gardens.

However finding fights for the Dutch #1 here in the UK was made virtually impossible following a sensation against the odds victory over World ranked Blackpool based Slovakian knockout maestro Richard Turba back in August last year, which unsurprisingly rocketed Balker to the top of the domestic Cruiserweights ‘Fighters to Avoid’ list.

Things now look set to change for Balker though, as the aforementioned Spencer Fearon was so impressed by the Dutchman’s never say die attitude, as well as the victory over Turba, that he decided to add him to upcoming Premier Sports (Sky platform Ch 433) televised show, and true to form matched him in a genuine 50/50 fight against unbeaten Leeds hardman China Clarke.

Following yet another sparring war, with former British Cruiserweight Champion Leon ‘Solid’ Williams and Caine Brodie, a jubilant Balker said, “I feel very good and very excited about it, you know I’m always ready, so let’s do it.

I know nothing about my opponent, Spencer (Promoter Spencer Fearon) told me there is an opponent, China Clarke, so there is an opponent so we are going to have a fight and we’re going to make a special fight for the fans, and the TV, as they haven’t seen me fight for so long.

Even when there was no fight coming up I still stay in the gym, training and sparring, so I am always ready, my manager Johnny (Eames) and trainer Barry (Smith) make sure of that.

I have been sparring Leon (Williams) Caine (Brodie) and Paul (David) a lot, it’s the best preparation I could hope for, Leon was British Champion, Paul is the English Champion and Caine is a tough competitor at any time, so it’s good hard sparring with three of the best fighters in the UK.

Knowing Spencer it will be a hard fight, a 50-50 fight, but to me It’s a very special fight, my first with Hard Knocks and Premier Sports, so I will be really up for it and looking to win big.”

Mitchell Balker versus China Clarke will feature on the support card of Choi Tseveenpurev’s challenge for the vacant WBC Silver International Featherweight title at Spencer Fearon’s Hard Knocks Boxing Promotions ‘Shamrock Showdown II’ event at the Troxy in Limehouse, London on Friday 23rd March and broadcast live on Premier Sports (Sky platform Ch 433)

Tickets, priced £35 are available on-line now at www.tkoboxoffice.com or in person at the TRAD TKO Boxing Gym, Gillian House, Stephenson Street, Canning Town, London E16 4SA

PHOTOS
Mitchell Balker on his way to victory over Nick Okoth in 2011

PHOTO CREDIT
Gianluca (Rio) Di Caro

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

LEON ‘SOLID’ WILLIAMS Vs. SHANE McPHILBIN
British Cruiserweight Championship
13th January 2012 @ York Hall, London

As I said here at the TRAD TKO I have a great team around me, got plenty of great sparring partners and it’s all good, it’s almost perfect and the guy that’s fighting me now is gonna get crushed.

PHOTOS
Leon Williams ready for McPhilbin on Jan 13th

PHOTO CREDIT
Gianluca (Rio) Di Caro
JustListen2This Publicity & Promotion
London, UK, Gzira, Malta & Philadelphia, USA

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

‘Boxway’ Boxing & Fitness Centre - Valley Road, B’Kara, Malta

Edwin Micallef of Micallef Promotions, owner of the Boxway gym and Malta’s first internationally recognized boxing promoter, recently called us and we spent some time discussing his reasons for taking over the fitness centre and his plans for going forward.

Edwin explained that he has been involved in the local boxing scene for a number of years. With his involvement going back to 2008 when his two younger siblings showed an interest in taking up the sport and it was not long before he found himself involved in a number of amateur boxing committees and traveling with the local amateur boxing team for competitions and training camps abroad. Already an experienced events promoter, the organization and promotion of professional boxing shows was a natural step for Edwin.

“Earlier in May this year my brother Daniel who resides in the UK and Malta successfully registered as a professional boxer with the BBBofC and I decided to start scouting around for training facilities as I wanted to have greater control on the quality of training being offered to our young prospects” – “Then the former Dixon’s club came unexpectedly on the market and I decided to get a head start on my goals by acquiring the lease and the equipment,” said Edwin.

Asked about the future of professional boxing in the Maltese Islands, Edwin replied; “When the Malta Boxing Commission became affiliated with the European Boxing Union in June of this year, I saw this as a great opportunity for serious local boxers and clubs to enter the international boxing scene,

the Malta Commission is an important platform for building a future for local boxing prospects in the Maltese Islands. Boxway is proud to call it self home to Malta’s first officially registered professional boxers, with internationally recognised sanctioning bodies .”

Commenting about the future of ‘Boxway’ as a boxing club and fitness centre, Edwin said; “The future looks great, membership has more than doubled since we reopened and thanks to contacts provided by our boxing commission we have now started a training and co-operation program with a number of UK professional boxing clubs. This year in August (2011) we had TRAD TKO Trainer Barry Smith, than we had Paul Graham of the Scottish based ‘BOXING PROSPECTS’, and we had one of our local pros Clayton Vella, going over to train at the TKO in London.

Early in 2012 we hope bring over Irish Boxing Coach, Joe Gallagher in co-operation with the local boxing commission and a number of sparring partners from Scotland.

Edwin explained that the gym is open six days a week (closing Sunday) and will be offering training to local male and female professional boxers, special classes for amateur boxers at fixed hours and box-fit sessions. Children will get the opportunity to learn boxing basics, by experienced and qualified coaches.

For more information on membership and classes call Edwin Micallef on 99461751

Photos:

Boxway Logo - Irish Coach, Joe Gallagher - Training at the Boxway Gym, Malta

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Photos and Report by Gianluca (Rio) Di Caro

Frank Warren knows a thing or two about putting on a top class fight night and boy has he put some great shows on over the years. Usually his real all action extravaganzas are reserved for the bigger venues around the country, places like the O2, Excel, M.E.N., Echo Arena etc. however last night the King of British Boxing pulled out all the stops for a small hall show at the York Hall in Bethnal Green.

Heading up the classy lineup was Lee Selby’s first defense of the British and Commonwealth Featherweight straps he won back in September, with a fantastic eight round stoppage of Liverpool’s Stephen Smith.

Right from the off Selby went on the offensive, effectively using his jab to keep the super tough, and former holder of both titles, Simpson at bay. Each time the Scot made any move forward the Champ just stood his ground before throwing out a series of stiff jabs to push him back. Nice nonstop action opening round that was easy to score in Selby’s favour.

Second round was even livelier, Simpson just kept going forward, but as before Selby just resorted to his jab for the early part to thwart every move Simpson made. Frustration was already starting to settle in and by the end of the second minute Simpson started to throw some wild shots, problem was he left himself open to be picked off by some nice double handed counters. Another excellent round for the Champion.

More of the same in the third, Simpson’s shots were getting even wilder and again were leaving him open for Selby to counter, which he did with more force than in the earlier rounds.

Simpson’s trainer, Billy Nelson, obviously gave him a good talking to between the rounds as he came out and took the fight to Selby in a much more controlled fashion, so much so that he was actually getting some good success, landing some big shots. Selby responded in similar fashion and this lead to some great exchanges. Much closer round, but I still felt it was Selby’s round - just.

It was more of the same in the fifth, but as before it was Selby that seemed to be getting the better of each exchange. The round was a real firecracker that had the fans on the feet from almost the opening bell right through to the second minute mark, when Selby let rip with a peach of a left hook to the body that sent the Scottish challenger to his knees.

Simpson made it to his feet to take the count, but referee Marcus McDonnell could see that he was in no fit state to continue and waved the fight off on the 2 minute 2 second mark.

In doing so handed Simpson his first stoppage loss in his illustrious career. Selby, now with five stoppages in six outings, proved without doubt he’s the best domestic Featherweight and ready for a shot at the European crown.

As with virtually every Frank Warren Promotions show supporting the main event is another title fight of similar stature, last night’s was no exception. West Drayton’s Steve O’Meara stepped in to defend the Southern Area Light Middleweight belt he won back in September, with a sensational first round knockout of then champion Ryan Toms.

O’Meara’s opponent, Thamesmead’s super slick ‘Sugar’ Nathan Weise, bought to the table a 7-1-2 record that included a recent draw over previous champ Toms.

No surprise that the Mark Tibbs trained Weise went straight on the attack forcing O’Meara onto the back foot. O’Meara remained calm as he looked for an opening, he didn’t have to wait too long though, as around the fifty second mark Weise stepped in to let off yet another jab O’Meara released a wickedly fast left jab-right hook combination that sent Weise crashing to the deck in an instance.

A hush fell across York Hall as referee Ken Curtis instantly waved the fight off and the ringside doctor and paramedics rushed in to assist the prone Weise. It was a good few minutes before Weise was raised to a stool - the crowd responded with a standing ovation - but it was clear that Weise still wasn’t one hundred percent, the paramedics kept administering oxygen for a few more minutes before leading him from the ring to the waiting ambulance.

It has to be one of the worse knockouts I have seen in a long, long time but I can assure everyone that Nathan is one hundred percent OK, he turned up at the TRAD TKO Gym, to let his manager Johnny Eames, myself and all the fighters here know that he is OK literally as I was writing this report.

One of Frank Warren Promotions brightest stars, former Olympian and Nathan Weise’s gym mate Billy Joe Saunders, was drafted in at the last minute to face Belfast’s Tommy Tolan following Gym mate Ediz Hussein’s fight being called off, due to his coming down with the flu.

Slick southpaw Saunders went straight on the offensive and landed a massive left that shook Tolan to the core. In an instant Saunders stepped up the attack and literally chased Tolan from one corner to the next and beyond before landing another powerful left. Tolan legs had gone but he managed to stay on his feet, but referee Jeff Hinds had seen enough and just as Saunders was about to let rip with another shot stepped in and stopped the fight on the one minute and seven second mark.

Unbeaten in twelve, with five stoppages out of his last six outings and the Southern Area title already firmly in his grip, it’s clear that Saunders is ready to step up for a shot at either Nick Blackwell (English title) or Martin Murray (British title) for their crowns in the New Year, either of which would be a mouthwatering prospect.

Prior to Saunders-Tolan see unbeaten Welterweight George Michael Carman in action against the ubiquitous ‘Rockin’ Robin Deakin.

Now I hate writing negatives on any fighter, I know how much hard work precedes a fight and it takes serious guts to step into the ring, but having seen Carman in action twice now, the first when he managed to receive a highly dubious ‘draw’ result against Tom Bowen at Wembley in November - back then I, and it seems most of those present, felt Carman lost every single round by a country mile - I really can’t see why he is being so protected.

I mean Deakin is a Super Featherweight, Lightweight at best, with a negative 1-41 record, yet Carman couldn’t even handle him - in my between round notes I said that I wasn’t sure if this was boxing or handbags at fifty paces and that it is hard to think that there is only one journeyman in the ring, sorry but yes it was that bad.

The first three rounds were scrappy to put it mildly, with Deakin keeping the Slough man on the back foot for most of the time. It was only in the fourth that Carman actually started to get the better of the much lighter Deakin.

I have to admit that when he did get ‘fighty’ he was quite slick, but in all honesty it was still totally ineffective work. Deakin was deducted a point in the final round, not sure what for as I didn’t see any wrong doing from where I was. Anyway that aside at the end of the fourth referee Jeff Hinds scorecard read 40-35 in favour of Carman.

Canning Town’s Freddie Turner must have been a little surprised that it was the original opponent Kevin McCauley, and not stated replacement Michael Frontin, that he faced on the night. No matter either way to the Jimmy and Mark Tibbs trained fighter, he was just happy to get a decent opponent for him to showcase his sublime talents.

Round one was a bit of a cagey affair, as both fighters took their time to suss the others tactics. Whilst neither were in the zone yet Turner worked the hardest and landed the most meaningful shots to take the round in my book.

The second however was a much livelier affair, Turner was on the offensive in the early part and landed a couple of big scoring shots. As the round progressed McCauley started to push forward and managed to back Turner onto the ropes before letting rip with double handed flurries. Turner, taking a leaf from fellow TRAD TKO gym mate Kevin Mitchell’s book, just dipped and swayed to avoid every single shot. Another easy round to call, it was Turner’s all the way.

More of the same in the third, including Turner, back to the ropes, luring McCauley in and after a little dipping and swaying effectively countering with stiff jabs and big lefts. The lack of effect really started to get to McCauley, who started to resort to some dirty tactics, including late on in the round backing Turner up before blatantly head butting, which opened up a nasty gash over Turner’s right eye.

Needless to say this fired Turner up when he came out in the fourth, the Canning Town youngster went hard on the offensive, in response McCauley decided to stand and trade - which suited Turner fine, but not Jimmy and Mark Tibbs, who could be heard shouting at their charge to keep calm and just box McCauley.

With four rounds firmly in Turner’s favour McCauley decided he needed to step things up and started targeting the cut, albeit to no avail as Turner’s defensive skills are second to none. McCauley frustrations were clear for all to see as he started throwing wild shots in the hope that something will actually land. Turner responded with some cracking counters that clearly were hurting McCauley, both physically and mentally.

McCauley comes out hard and fast for the final round and tries to plain bully Turner, big mistake as this just allowed Turner to showcase his excellent ringcraft to even more effect as he see his way to a shutout 60-54 points victory.

Turner-McCauley was a seriously cracking fight, as was the fight that preceded it - when Cranham’s Lee Markham took on fellow Essex boy Danny Brown.

The first round was a close fought affair, with both determined to win the battle of the Essex boys, however Markham’s was just a little more effective and took the round in my book.

Markham stepped it up more in the second and landed a wicked shot to the body that caused Brown to take one knee. Brown made the count and continued, however deciding not to take too many chances overly protected his body which allowed Markham to land some big shots to the head.

Still protecting the body Brown came out on the offensive in the third and took the fight to Markham. For three minutes the pair exchanged punches in equal measure. However, as Brown was still wary of being on the receiving end of another big left to the body kept leaving his head unprotected, which made easy pickings for the Cranham boy big right hand.

More of the same in the fourth and final round, both letting rip with big shots as they again went to war for the full three minutes, much to the crowd’s delight. At the end of four excellent rounds no one was surprised that referee Ken Curtis scored the bout 39-36 in favour of Markham.

The opening bout of the night was an all action cracker too, between nineteen year old Alfie Smith and Jason Nesbitt.

Smith showed his intentions right from the start, attacking the body of Nesbitt with big left and right hands. The highly experienced Nesbitt tried to cover up to negate the onslaughts, which only encourage the teenager to play upstairs before returning to the body in style.

More of the same tactics, in the second, from Smith which was really beginning to take a toll on Nesbitt, who was huffing and puffing before the midway point. I had a good long hard look at Nesbitt between rounds and he really looked down hearted and honestly didn’t expect him to stay the course, but I was wrong.

For the final couple of rounds Smith continued his all out assault on Nesbitt’s body. The Brummy battler tried his hardest to take a part of the fight but each time he did the Rottweiler like Smith let rip with big left and rights to push him back. I would think Nesbitt was very happy to hear the final bell, although not as happy as young Smith who has the second win under his belt, and by a tidy shutout 40-36 points margin.

I have to say that as the final major fight show of the year Frank Warren did us all proud, it was a great show which had it all, drama, excitement and three stoppage victories. I know that after such I for one can head into the Christmas break happy in the knowledge that my appetite for boxing is well and truly sated and will see me through to the first big show of the New Year, Leon ‘Solid’ Williams’ first defense of his British Cruiserweight title at York Hall on Friday 13th January.

• Photos Description

1. Lee Selby lets rip with a big left against John Simpson
2. Steve O’Meara lets rip with a left jab-right hook against Nathan Weise
3. Billy Joe Saunders victorious
4. George Michael Carman and Robin Deakin in action
5. Freddie Turner throws yet another big left at Kevin McCauley
6. Lee Markham and Danny Brown in action
7. Alfie Smith lands yet another shot to Jason Nesbitt’s body
8. Lee Selby celebrates retaining the British and Commonwealth straps
9. Lee Selby stands over John Simpson
10. Nathan Weise face down on the canvas as Steve O’Meara goes to neutral corner

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

By Gianluca (Rio) Di Caro

On Saturday night British Light Welterweight Champ Ashley ‘Treasure’ Theophane defended his coveted Lonsdale belt against late replacement Ben Murphy.

Whilst Theophane did manage to retain his title, it was far from a convincing win, and it was the challenger who received all the plaudits, probably because he dominated the fight and all ringside judges had Hove’s Murphy firmly ahead on points at the start of the eleventh.

No surprise then that most of the media reports make a big point that Theophane was very, very lucky to get the win in the end, as well as lavish praise on Murphy for his magnificent performance. Something I readily agree with especially knowing the circumstances surrounding the fight - Murphy took the fight at just a couple of days notice, fought at a higher weight division than he normally does and more importantly had been cut during the successful defense of his Southern Area Lightweight title just two weeks earlier.

As such I really wanted to get an inside track on this mighty warrior, as well as the fight itself, so rather than talk with Murphy so soon after the fight Instead I spoke with his coach Johnny Eames at his famous fight factory The TRAD TKO Boxing Gym in Canning Town.

However before we get onto the interview with the esteemed Mr Eames I thought it sensible to give a very brief rundown on the fight for those that hadn’t been lucky enough to watch Murphy’s magnificent performance.

Murphy completed dominated the first half of the fight, he took the fight to the bigger man, pinning Theophane on the ropes and letting rip with nonstop venomous salvos, to win the first five rounds easily. Theophane had a little more success in the sixth, but still not enough I felt to win the round - mainly because it was clear that it was Murphy that was still in full control.

Round seven see the Tasmanian Devil Dog like Murphy completely tie up the champ, as in the early rounds, to secure the round, even though Theophane had managed to tear a nasty gash over Murphy’s right eye - On this point some reports say was the result of a left uppercut, whilst various of those present ringside, including his coach Johnny Eames, claim this was due to the dubious use of the elbow.

Either way at the end of the day Murphy was badly cut, something that clearly affected him, as such initially he seemed wary to go full pelt as previously, which allowed Theophane to actually gain some semblance of success for the next couple of rounds.

Round eleven sees Murphy fly out the traps and again take the fight to the Champ and keeps the pressure up for a minute or so. As soon as the major assault subsides Theophane starts one of his own. Theophane steps up the pace and continues to do so until the referee Howard Foster steps in and stops the fight on the 2 minute 33 second mark.

Interestingly many pundits disagreed with the ref stepping in and stopping the fight at this point, including myself, but it was surprisingly refreshing that Johnny Eames didn’t, something he explains during the following interview.

Rio -First question I have to ask is just how did this fight actually come about?

Johnny- Frank Maloney called me on Tuesday evening and asked me if Michael Grant wanted to fight Ashley Theophane for the British title as Nigel Wright unfortunately had a problem with his brain scan - obviously my sympathies go out to Nigel Wright, who’s a good friend of mine. I spoke to him up there and hopefully all will be all right once they get the second opinion - I said Michael wasn’t available and maybe he should try Peter McDonagh, who trains here in the gym.

Obviously the answer was that he couldn’t do it, so I said look I’ve got another guy here, who I don’t actually manage, but train and I’ll have a word with him, Ben Murphy, I said the only problem is he only fought two weeks ago and in that fight he got cut, so it was a big if Ben would be willing to take the fight.

That was a stupid question really, because I phoned Ben, maybe I should have rang his manager first but I always have a sort of special relationship with my fighters and I rang Ben he answered immediately I said do you want to fight for the British title Saturday, bearing in mind this was Tuesday and the answer was yes. He didn’t ask who, where, how much, what weight, nothing!

Obviously it was a step up in weight, which was a gamble, but I worked with Ashley (Theophane) for two or three years and I know Ashley quite well. I knew that Ben was the kind of fighter that Ashley really didn’t like fighting. The big question mark over the fight was it was two weeks since he fought and had been back in the gym once, all right he did a couple of runs and he always keeps himself fit.

We hadn’t prepared for it, but that’s all right because Ashley hadn’t prepared for us - then again how can you prepare for Ben Murphy - you know he was prepared to fight Nigel Wright, a southpaw, and now he’s got a little bull like animal who wants to rip his head off with every punch he throws.

Rio - You touched on my next question, normally Ben fights at Super Featherweight and Lightweight, didn’t you worry about him stepping up to Light Welter so quickly.

Johnny- If it had been any other Light Welterweight in the Country I might have been a bit concerned, but I know Ashley quite well, he aint what you call a big puncher, he’s quite accurate but not a big puncher so I knew Ben would be able to deal with the power.

Ben walks around at 10st 4lbs, 10st 5lbs and he makes Lightweight quite comfortably and he did make Super Featherweight for Prizefighter, so he’s pretty flexible. He’s a good liver so he can keep the weight on or take it off as it makes no difference for him, so we virtually fought at walking around weight.

Ben’s a different animal, yeah it was a gamble, but a calculated gamble.

Rio- Ben’s only been with you around six weeks or so, so I assume a lot of what we see was his normal fight style and not that you have bought much on board yet.

Johnny- When he came to me he had three weeks ‘til his Southern Area title defense, there’s nothing I can teach in three weeks, not even Superman could teach anyone anything in three weeks, and there’s a lot better trainers than me out there (Rio - I doubt there are many better, with the levels of Championship success Johnny has had over the years) that would tell you that you couldn’t teach anyone anything new in just three weeks, so we just had to make sure he was ready for a ten rounder, which he was.

After the first fight I said we’ll get you in the gym and I’ll start teaching you some of the things you need to know. He was due to be in this Monday to start our coaching for fights after Christmas.

Obviously it’s not how I want him to fight, but for Ashley it’s the way he had to fight. I spoke to him beforehand and said that there’s things I want to teach you to do, but said to him for this fight just go out there and do what you do, because he had to do what he does. It aint pretty but it’s effective.

Rio- Now I’m going to get onto the fight itself - unfortunately I couldn’t get up to Sunderland so I watched it on TV - I thought he did amazingly well and that the stoppage was early, but please tell me how you see that fight.

Johnny- I was amazed at how he could back Ashley up so easily in the first six rounds, I mean at first I thought Ashley was having a look to see what Ben’s got to offer. I knew he hadn’t prepared for Ben, all good fighters can adapt during a fight and Ashley is a good fighter.

As I said I thought Ashley was just having a look, then after the first round went, and then the second and then the third went I realised he couldn’t deal with it.

Ben was very fired up, I was asking Ben not to put power in every shot, unfortunately that side of it we haven’t taught him that yet and he just went round after round.

I had us win the fist six rounds, without a shadow of a doubt. For me personally I had us lose the next four, going into the eleventh I had us two up. I believe, no I know for definite because I spoke with the judges, that one judge had Ben five up going into the eleventh, one had him four up and one had him one round up.

In hindsight if I had known that I would have told Ben to go out there and hang on him for dear life, but not knowing if he’d be able to do that or not, because that’s not his style.

Everybody was in his favour, at the end of the tenth round, I think it was, he came back - he was cut in the second round, it was a cut that he got two weeks before and we knew it would reopen, and then cut again in the seventh round - and he’d started to get beaten up a bit, I’m not someone that I’m not one for letting my fighters get beat up so I said to him unless you win this eleventh round I’m not letting you out for the twelfth.

Obviously partly to fire him up but also to make him aware he was taking too many shots. Unfortunately the referee didn’t let him get back to the corner, but a lot of people who watched it on TV said they didn’t feel the stoppage was justified, from ringside it was and Howard (Foster) did a good job, a very good job.

Ben did everyone of us proud, when we went back to the hotel the officials stood and clapped us in, I’ve never seen that before.

The bottom line is that it could open doors for Ben in his own weight division.

Rio -Again you’ve touched on my next question - what’s next for Ben.

Johnny - Ben is a Lightweight, he really is a Lightweight, he will do Lightweight again and he will be fighting at Lightweight in the next fight.

I’d love to think, and reading the reports and website that everybody thinks that Ben should be mandatory challenger for the British Lightweight title. I’d love to think he would.

Anthony Crolla is a good friend of mine, Joe Gallagher is a good friend of mine, but I’m pretty certain if they was watching that they wont be fancying facing Ben Murphy at Lightweight and I’m pretty certain that he could go and take the title from Anthony.

Rio- So if he does get the shot and wins the title, do see Ben progressing further than that?

Johnny- I never look beyond the British level with one of my fighters until they win it and defend it and then we look to see what’s around. The Lightweight division on the European scene is a very good division.

I’m not saying Ben aint good enough, but let’s see what happens with the British title first and then we’ll see where we go after that.

Rio- You’ve only had five weeks working with Ben, what’s your absolute honest opinion of him.

Johnny- The American trainer that was with Ashley said to me after the fight ‘put that man back in the cage, he should be on chains.’ That’s exactly what he is, he’s a total throwback, he’s not scared of anybody or anything.

When he was up here training with Bryan Lawrence, he’s a Lightweight but he was sparring with Middleweights because the lighter weights didn’t want to spar with him. That’s the kind of kid he is and any fighter that has Ben’s attitude I’ll give them as much time as I can.

As a character and as a person he’s amazing, he’s just amazing you know I’ve never had a fighter with such a positive thinking way of fights. In his mind no one can beat him and he don’t care who he fights.

I just wish there were a lot more fighters like him out there. Fighters these days are picky, want to be guaranteed wins, this kid don’t give a shit, he’ll fight whoever you put in front of him.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark It

Hide Sites