By Lee Collier
Danny Randall, (2-0, 0 early), is the latest fighter to come out of Joe Gallagher’s Denton-based gym. Randall made his debut back in October on the undercard of good friend John Murray’s British title fight with Jon Thaxton. Randall opened the show by beating Coventry’s Abul Taher on points over four rounds in what was undoubtedly one of the best opening fights in Britain last year.
Since then Randall has been inactive before returning to the ring on the Gary Sykes-Andy Morris undercard where he extended his unbeaten start as a professional to two wins. This time out, Randall boxed Carl Allen, a veteran of over 100 fights, and was awarded the fight by 39-37 on Phil Edwards’s scorecard, who scored the fight with trialist referee Mark Lyson in control of the action.
Whilst Randall made it two out of two the youngster was not happy with his performance on the night. “I was happy I got the win and I felt I deserved it but I wasn’t really happy with the performance,” stated Randall when looking back on his performance.
“I think it affected me only having three week’s notice and the fight had a weird start. I had sold 100 tickets and the coach I had turned up half way through the fight so it threw me at the start of the fight having no fans but it is a good learning experience.”
Randall also believes that as a young pro lacking experience that inactivity and facing a wily old pro may have made things difficult on the night for him. “I have not been busy since my debut and Carl Allen is your typical journeyman who spoils the work you are doing,” explained Randall.
“I just needed some more experience and he used every trick in the book to throw me and I should have just used my boxing that I worked on in training. Instead, I ended up getting into a war with him and it was a tough learning fight.”
Another thing that the honest Randall is not yet happy with is the weight he is fighting at. The first two fights of his career have been at welterweight and Randall feels that his true weight will push him to the same lightweight division that friend and stable mate John Murray competes in.
“My debut was at 147lbs and this fight was too but I am really a lightweight like John Murray,” opined Randall. “Carl Allen has boxed at 11st in the past so I was boxing out of my weight. I need to work on keeping my weight down all the time and my next fight is at 10st so I’ll be feeling much stronger as it’s nearer my true weight.”
Randall is looking to keep busy and returns to action on the biggest card in Britain in 2010 thus far. Randall is due to fight a four rounder on the undercard of the David Haye-John Ruiz heavyweight world title fight in his home city of Manchester.
“I should be fighting Daniel Thorpe at the MEN Arena. I used the Allen fight as a good spar for my next fight, which is what Joe Gallagher told me. He said use it as experience and take it into the MEN fight which is a bigger fight,” explained Randall.
“This fight is a massive thing for me and it’s probably the biggest thing I’ve ever had to do.”
Randall faces another experienced operator in Daniel Thorpe and is looking forward to the evening. “I know Thorpey’s had a lot of fights and has boxed a lot of guys in our gym. I know I can beat him and all I’m looking for is getting out of the ring knowing I have boxed my best. I got out of the ring on Friday and knew that I hadn’t boxed my best,” revealed Randall.
“What I want to do is use the experience I learned last Friday when I fight Thorpey. I will be in the best shape of my life and will be on the ball with everything and then I’ll be happy knowing I did my best.”
