By Lee Collier
The past month or so has been a difficult time for Bobby Rimmer and his boxing academy. Since late November there have been no fights for his stable of boxers and there have been some unfortunate incidents for the trainer.
Olympic bronze medallist Tony Jeffries withdrew from a fight earlier in the year after suffering a hand injury, which was followed by some bad news for Brian Rose. Rose had a title fight scheduled in his home town of Blackpool that was postponed a week after a mix up with some scan results. Rose then came down with a sudden illness forcing the cancellation of the card, which left a sour taste for Rimmer and the gym.
The gym of prospects returned to action on Sunday at Bolton with two of Rimmer’s boys taking to the ring in Jon Kays and Warren Tansey. Boxingscene.com spent some time with the camp prior to the fights and whilst the mood was jovial there was some apprehension from the fighters, who were both fighting boxers a lot heavier than their usual weight categories.
The day could not have gone much better after both Kays [5th round] and Tansey [3rd round] won via stoppages leaving head trainer Bobby Rimmer in a fine jovial mood. “It’s been absolutely great today,” beamed Rimmer.
“Before we go any further I’d like to say what a great job Pat Warde and Darren McCarrick have done with Warren Tansey. When things got tough for me the other week Pat and Darren took over with Warren and everything that Tansey did in the ring today was down to them.”
“Both Jonny Kays and Warren had to fight heavier opponents and we came away with two knockouts,” stated Rimmer. “It has been a disappointing couple of months with none of the lads boxing since October and then the Blackpool show fell through but we’re back on track and we’re all over the moon.”
Helping out former pro Rimmer in the gym are Pat Ward and Darren McCarrick. Both have been heavily involved in coaching on the amateur scene before turning to the pro game with Rimmer. McCarrick had a brief stint as a pro in the 90’s, ending with a record of 3-0 before a brain scan put an end to a promising career. The pair worked with Tansey for the Bolton fight and both were quite rightly pleased after Middleton based Tansey put on a good performance.
“We need to get Warren to relax when he gets in the ring as he is wild and wants to knock them over,” said a delighted McCarrick. “There is a lot more to Warren, he can jab and move, he can take his time and we’ll get it right in the end.”
“He knocked out someone two weight categories above him which proves he can punch. Once he has strung 10 wins together he will be ready for Central Area level and we are looking at next year for that,” revealed McCarrick. “He has the skills, he has a good amateur pedigree and we just need him to get regular fights.”
The last word went to Pat Ward, “Warren give almost a stone away today, he walks around at 11st 10lbs and he is ideally a middleweight. When he gets to title level he could make light-middleweight but today we had to bulk him up to super-middleweight as he was fighting a light-heavyweight so we are pleased with the win and stoppage.”
Kays, now 11-1 (3), weighed in at a career heaviest 137lbs. The 26-year-old, who is a super-featherweight, was facing a novice welterweight in Dale Hutchinson. Hutchinson put pressure on Kays early on before running out of gas allowing Kays to stop a game opponent in the fifth round leaving the Ashton fighter happy to be back in action.
“I am happy with the stoppage but I am not happy with the performance,” revealed Kays. “I have been working on planting my feet in the gym and landing spiteful punches, I think I hurt him early on and got carried away when I should have stuck to boxing.
“It was a good learning fight and I showed today that I can punch by knocking out a welterweight but I should have mixed my shots more. When I box well and throw shots like today I think I’m at British title level. In a few fights I should be fighting the guys in the top 10 at British level.”
Middleton’s Tansey, now 2-1 (2), used some excellent body shots to stop light-heavyweight Lee Nicholson in the third round of the encounter. Tansey also had his opponent down in the first round and still feels there is room for improvement.
“I am chuffed with getting the win,” beamed a jovial Tansey. “I was a bit reckless and I need to calm down but I’ll slowly get there. When he had hold of me I could feel the weight difference and he was trying to drain me so I just had to get him away from me.”
Early on, Tansey landed some spiteful body shots that had his opponent in trouble. “When I caught him with the first left hook to the body I knew I’d hurt him. He seemed to come in with his head down trying to keep me from targeting his body. I am chuffed with the stoppage and who wouldn’t be so I’m buzzing at the minute,” he declared.
Two fights and two wins is just the start Rimmer would have wanted for his gym after a slow start to the year. Next up for the gym should be the return of Tony Jeffries who fights on the undercard of Rendall Munroe’s world title eliminator in April. Rimmer will also be looking to get Rose back to action soon, hopefully with the rescheduling of his International Masters title shot.
