By Terence Dooley
Olympic Super heavyweight gold medalist Anthony Joshua MBE makes his professional debut at London’s O2 on October 5th and the Eddie Hearn-promoted bill is starting to take shape, although Hearn has told BoxingScene that a few of the fights listed online are still in the negotiating stages.
Kevin Mitchell, 34-2 (24), versus Gary Sykes is one of them. Sykes, 24-3 (5), is the former British Super featherweight champion and is in line for a crack at the winner of Gary Buckland’s fight with Stephen Smith on a Frank Warren-promoted bill at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena on August 17th — Buckland’s third defence of the title he took from Sykes in September 2011. The Dewsbury-based boxer is the current English titlist at 130lbs, but he may be tempted by the opportunity to meet Mitchell on the O2 bill.
“I would quite like that fight, it’s a good fight and I’ve sent an offer to Steve Woods [who represents Sykes], but it’s not done,” said Hearn when speaking to BoxingScene. “I think there’s a good chance it happens. Obviously Sykes has to fight the winner of [Gary] Buckland and [Stephen] Smith — I don’t think a loss to Mitchell at lightweight would cause a problem with that. I don’t think Sykes has been flooded with offers, so it will be a good payday for him. Plus Kevin’s still getting sharp and Sykes can fight. That’s where we’re at.”
A couple of other fights have come through as the bill starts to take shape. Hearn said: “[Cruiserweight Prizefighter winner] Wadi Camacho [10-1 (6)] against [former Southern Arean titlist] Tony Conquest [10-1 (4)] is pretty much agreed. We’re working on Mitchell against Sykes and [Prizefighter: The Light-Middleweights winner] Larry Ekundayo [6-0 (2)] against [Prizefighter: The Welterweights champion] Glenn Foot [11-0 (6)] is done.”
Lee Selby, 16-1 (6), will also feature; he defends his British and Commonwealth featherweight titles against Ryan Walsh, 16-0-1 (8), after Hearn won the purse bid to stage the contest.
Kell Brook, 30-0 (20), has also received news of his next opponent. He takes on Ukraine’s Vyacheslav Senchenko on October 26 at Sheffield’s Motorpoint Arena. Senchenko is coming off a big ninth-round KO win over Ricky Hatton in November; the 36-year-old former WBA welterweight title holder lost his belt to Paulie Malignaggi last May but is now back in the mix at 147.
“Senchenko’s my original choice,” said Hearn when asked about the contest.
Brook stopped Carson Jones courtesy of an eighth-round TKO in Hull earlier this month, the Sheffield-based boxer’s first action since enduring a torrid time over his on/off mandatory challenge to IBF champion Devon Alexander. The 27-year-old contender was promised a big name by Hearn, which led to speculation that he would get a high profile International fighter.
Senchenko may merely be a long, rather than big, name yet he raised his profile with the win over Hatton. Indeed, the fight with Brook will no doubt be built around the fact that the former world title holder is only one of three men to beat “The Hitman” — Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are the other two — so the 33-1 (22) fighter is in good company. Despite the skepticism of hardcore British fans, Senchenko should be a relatively easy sell in the months leading up to the bout.
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