By Terence Dooley
Manchester’s Karl Place has quietly amassed an 8-0 (5 early) slate during his first year-and-a-half as a professional boxer. Place, 21, was impressive in his second round TKO win over Steve Saville back in March. Karl, given the unusual fistic nickname of ‘Bulb Head’ by his friends, believes that he is on a carefully learning curve but is convinced that the L-plates will come off at some point over the coming year.
“Out of seven fights there have only been three that are known survivors, the others have all come to win. [Trainer] Steve [Maylett] has done a lot for me, he’s been there since day one, and now Frank [Maloney] is pushing me so things are going well,” smiled the boxer, who believes in letting his fists do the talking.
“I won’t put any names out there,” he said when asked about potential rivals. “I just fight who I get put in with and will be one hundred percent whoever they want me to fight. I’m tall and lean - I’m weighing ten stone on the day comfortably so with the day before weigh ins I reckon I can do 9st 9lb. I’m a box-fighter, anyone can have a tear up but I work on my skills and use them first before relying on my fighting ability.”
Place is building up a cult audience, a following that was boosted by his ruthlessly efficient dismantling of Saville, though Karl took some return fire in that one he roared back to close the show in round two, which is his lucky round thus far with all of his five stoppages coming in the second stanza. Karl believes that his no-nonsense approach will bring the fans onboard.
“In the amateurs, no one really took any interest in me, even my own family - I’d fight and no one would know about it. My family and friends come to my fights now! They’ve never told me not to do it (box), they know that I know what I’m doing,” he revealed.
“I get a nice crowd of young lads who make some noise, some kids sell three hundred tickets but their fans aren’t half as loud. I’ve had two Sky appearances and got some nice coverage but would like to get a bit more Sky exposure so that people can start to follow me.
“I want to keep on winning, get some TV coverage and see what happens over the next year. More than anything you notice the organisation when you turn over. As an amateur you can turn up for a show not knowing who you are fighting but things run a bit smoother in the pro game.”
However, Place has fallen foul of the perennial bugbear of the fledgling pro having found himself a floater on one or two shows. “The only thing that bothers me is when you are on a bill as a floater [Writer’s note: A floater is given an approximate fight time and this is dependent on the demands of TV or the time taken up by other fights] and are struggling for your fight time, but you expect that when you start and just have to get to the top so you know when, who, and where you are fighting well in advance.”
Place is keen to learn the ropes by stepping between the ropes as often as possible; he also tunes into as many fights as possible in order to learn more about potential rivals and learn a few things from the top boys.
“On a Friday we go to our coach’s house for our tea and watch Friday Fight Night to pick faults in fighters or see things that we can use here and there”, said Place. “Steve told me what I did wrong when we watched my last Sky fight and it felt good to know where I was making mistakes, he’s brought me on so much during the last few years. Steve’s been a trainer, coach, brother, and friend to me.”
Place’s agenda is based on experience, not time, though he admits that it will take time to gain the experience necessary to crack the British light-welterweight division and is ready to ply his trade as an apprentice before mixing it with veterans like Lenny Daws or fellow novice Steve Williams.
“Whatever route is mapped out for me is the one I’ll follow but I want to win the British title, and win it outright. A title will probably come next year, I’ll get the rounds under my belt and once I’m on twelve or fifteen fights I’ll be ready for anyone in Britain,” asserted the 21-year-old fighter.
Steve Maylett balances his role working with children alongside the Sisyphean task of guiding prizefighters, the young Mancunian also trains Terry Flannigan and has forged a strong bond with his two fledgling pros.
“I started out coaching Terry Flannigan and we trained for about two weeks and he asked if his training partner could jump in with us,” answered Maylett when asked about how he first met Place.
“I said he could if the guy trained as hard as everyone else and he came down, I took Karl through his paces, and he saw that I take the game seriously. We are based at the VIP gym in Bolton. We were with Bobby Rimmer, who was a big help at the time, but recently he’s had to close his gym in Stalybridge and move over to Bolton, so it is a bit of travelling but it isn’t that much of a problem.”
Maylett is fiercely driven and believes that, in Place and Flannigan, he has two future British champions under his wing. Indeed, the former fighter would not have taken on the task of working with the youngsters had he doubted their mettle.
“My ambition is to win the British title with both these lads, they are both capable of it. I wouldn’t take any lad on if I didn’t think he could get to that level,” admitted Maylett, who has adopted a ‘have gumshield will spar’ mentality in order to give his charges a rounded ring education.
“We’ve always travelled and have gone out sparring to lots of gyms. I always have a look at what other people are doing and see what I can use. Bob Shannon has been good to us, so has Brian Hughes – we got good sparring there. Karl has sparred Scott Quigg and Andy Morris, who is a brilliant boxer,” enthused Maylett.
Maylett has had an on/off love affair with the sport, only recently returning to the boxing fold in the wake of a recent modern classic. He took up the story. “I’d fallen out of love with boxing and then watched Diego Corrales-Jose Luis Castillo and was hooked again,” he laughed.
“Terry felt that he wasn’t getting anywhere and asked me about getting involved in his training. I had a think about it and then told he I’d be his coach as long as he was up at 5.30am the next morning for a run. He laughed it off but I was at the door that next morning and we went for our run and went from there.
“I was working at Northside with these two and was there helping out for nine months. Joe [Pennington, the head coach of the Northside gym] wasn’t too happy that the lads turned pro with me but Terry might have stopped had he not turned over and would be left at home doing nothing. Joe was a bit upset at first but he understood and we are on good terms. Terry had felt a bit stuck and I don’t know what he’d have been doing had he not turned over, he may have drifted away from boxing.”
Still, Maylett has his work cut out juggling his hobby, coaching, with the rigours of his full-time job. “I’m juggling this with my job but this might as well be full-time also as I don’t cut any hours,” he stressed.
“I work as a project worker with kids who have been expelled from school, it is quite challenging. A few of them come to the gym but a lot of them smoke so I tell them they can only come if they stop smoking. It is a challenging job but the rewards come when they get GCSEs and move onto college.”
Fiercely proud of Place’s early development, Maylett refutes suggestions that Karl has been fed the usual roll call of journeymen and was quick to point out that Place has fought men with winning records in each of his last four fights.
“Some of the opponents Karl has fought have resulted in good wins and people think the guys are bums. On paper they may not look great but they are good potential tests until Karl gets them out. Some of these other guys are taking on men who are overweight and blowing them out in thirty seconds. Karl is getting the right people at the right time,” Maylett asserted.
Please send news and views to neckodeemus@hotmail.co.uk