By Terence Dooley
Prince Arron won the Prizefighter: Light-middleweights title on Friday night by defeating George Hillyard, Bradley Pryce, and the then-undefeated Brett Flournoy; the Droylsden-based, 22-year-old boxer can now use the win to catapult himself into big fights.
Indeed, Anthony Small, who defeated Arron in two rounds back in 2006, hinted to viewers watching on Sky Sports that a rematch with Arron could be on the cards should Prince win the tournament. Arron travelled down to London at short-notice to face Small and was out of his depth on that occasion; he also lost an away day fight when falling in two to John Duddy in 2007.
However, Prince recently hooked up with trainer Bob Shannon and credits the veteran coach with reinvigorating his career. Another local trainer, Joe Gallagher, has joined in the chorus of praise for Arron. Gallagher has advised the pipe-thin, 6’ 3’’ fighter to take a leaf from Thomas Hearns’s boxing book.
‘Prizefighter has become the FA Cup of boxing. It's set up for giant-killings and that's exactly what Prince Arron did. Few would have given him a chance of overcoming a quality field, so after beating George Hillyard, Bradley Pryce and Brett Flournoy it could be the start of something big for him. But he has to transfer that success to the big stage. It is one thing winning three, three-round contests, but it is completely different making the step up to 10 and 12 rounders,’ declared Gallagher in his Manchester Evening News column.
He continued: ‘That's why you see so many Olympians struggling to make the grade in the pro ranks - it is a completely different proposition. If I was in Prince Arron's camp, I'd be studying old tapes of Tommy Hearns. He has a similar lanky build and he would do well to see how the Hitman held himself in the ring.’
Arron was originally trained and managed by Wayne Barker, who fought Fully Obel in 1981 [Writer’s note: Fulgencio Obelmejias was one of Marvin Hagler’s world title victims, as was Thomas Hearns], only for to be left in limbo when Barker retired from the sport. Shannon stepped in, they netted some good wins, and when the call came for Prizefighter there was no doubt in Arron’s mind that his style presented him with a good chance.
A rematch with Small would be a marketable fight, lets face it, it cannot be any worse than Anthony’s recent ‘fight’ with Thomas McDonagh. First, though, Small must overcome Sam Webb, who tackles Small in Brentwood, Essex on the 26th of this month.
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