Matthew Hall has a new trainer - and now he wants some new titles as well.
The Manchester man lost his Commonwealth light-middleweight crown to Anthony Small last year, but it prompted him to join up with Anthony Farnell's growing stable, which includes
Britain's hottest talent Tony Bellew, Frankie Gavin and Ronnie Heffron.
And the 25-year-old believes the switch is paying dividends.
"I haven't felt this great in years," said Hall, who features next at the Preston Guild Hall on Saturday 3rd July.
"Brian Hughes was a great trainer, but a change is as good as a rest, and I've felt that with Arnie since I pitched up at his gym.
"We go back years because he boxed out of Brian's gym when I was a youngster learning the ropes.
"I was very down after the Small defeat, but Farnell has got me buzzing again, and now I want some titles.
"I'll fight anyone in Britain, especially if the British or Commonwealth titles are on the line.
"British champion Sam Webb is a decent fighter, but I'd knock him out if we ever met.
"I leave arranging the fights to my promoter Frank Warren, but if he wants someone to fight for a title, then I am his man."
Tickets for 3 Lions are priced at £30, £50, £75 and £100 and are available from:
The Preston Guild Hall Box Office
01772 258858
www.prestonguildhall.com
Ticketmaster
0844 844 0444
www.ticketmaster.co.uk
See Tickets
0871 220 0260
www.seetickets.com
Following some rather swift last minute negotiations, with promoter Steve Goodwin, Hackney’s Lightweight contender Mark ‘The Flash’ Alexander is set to face Sid Razak on Goodwin’s “Summer Fight Night Explosion” on Saturday 19th June at York Hall in Bethnal Green, London.
Last month, following his magnificent demolition of rising star Michael ‘Simply’ Devine, Alexander went on BBC London Boxing Hour, presented by Steve Bunce, and called out former English Champion Ryan Barrett. He got his wish, but not for right away, and will face Barrett as the headline on Steve Goodwin’s “It’s Personal” event on September 11th.
With the British boxing season rapidly coming to a close Alexander, who wanted to keep the momentum going, started looking for a June or July fight. With time running out Steve Goodwin stepped in to save the day, by adding Alexander vs. Razak to the stacked “Summer Fight Night Explosion” card.
Following an intense sparring session with the pitbull better known as Southern Area Lightweight Champion Ben Murphy at the Ultrachem TKO Gym in Canning Town, London, ‘The Flash’ spoke about the upcoming fight with Sid Razak, “I can’t thank Steve Goodwin enough for putting me on the June 19th show. It’s going to be a great show, I mean he has twelve quality fights on the card.
It’s important for me to keep active, I don’t want to be just sitting around. I’m in great form, the fight with Michael Devine showed that.
I mean he was being touted as the new Ricky Hatton. He’d stopped all his previous opponents. I was too elusive for him, he couldn’t land anything on me. Everyone was shocked when I put him down. I wasn’t - we’d been working on it. The only thing that surprised me was that the fight wasn’t stopped after I put him down for the second time.
He showed great determination by getting up each time. He fought hard even after the third knockdown, but I knew it was just a matter of time before I knocked him out rather than just down.
Since then Barry (trainer Barry Smith) and I have been working hard on things in the gym. I want to take it to another level, to do that I need to fight again soon.
That’s why I’m really looking forward to the fight with Sid Razak. He’s been in with Ryan Barrett so it makes a lot of sense to fight him.
That was a good win over Michael Devine but I’m going to make it great wins over Sid Razak and Ryan Barrett. Believe me ‘The Flash’ is back...big time.”
Mark ‘The Flash’ Alexander versus Sid Razak will be on the Steve Goodwin promoted “Summer Fight Night Explosion” at York Hall in Bethnal Green, London.
The stacked TWELVE fight card for “Summer Fight Night Explosion” includes the return of, International Masters Champion, Yassine El Maachi against Dee Mitchell.
El Maachi, who won the International Masters Light Middleweight Title back in April with a superb points victory over France’s Bertrand Aloa.
The card also features Daryl Setterfield, who recently knocked out the highly rated Darren Hamilton, against the experienced Matt Scriven.
Also a late addition to the card will be Alexander’s September 11th opponent Former English Champion Ryan Barrett, against a yet to be named opponent.
Former Olympic Bronze Medalist Boris Georgiev (Bobby George) will be looking to build on his excellent pro-debut win. As will the highly exciting Michael Norgrove when he faces the experienced Ryan Clark.
Rising stars Tony Owen, Joe St John and Bradley Evans will all be looking to increase their unbeaten records, whilst Welterweights John Brennan (opponent TBA) and Adam Battle, who will face Danny Dontchev, will be looking to impress on their pro-debuts.
Finally, Light Heavyweight Marco Stevenson will battle it out with Matt Jack.
What a great lineup, don’t forget “Summer Fight Night Explosion”, featuring Mark ‘The Flash’ Alexander versus Sid Razak is on Saturday 19th June at York Hall in Bethnal Green, London,
Ticket Priced (Unreserved) £35.00
For tickets: Call Mark on 07944 187153 or Rio on 07960 850645
A quarter of a century on from winning his World title Irish boxing legend Barry McGuigan believes he has unearthed a new star in the shape of Belfast's Carl Frampton. The unbeaten Super Bantamweight has won all 5 of his pro fights to date and will fight in his hometown for the first time as a professional this Friday night at The King's Hall on the Yanjing Beer Fight Night 25 years to the week of McGuigan's famous World Featherweight title win over Eusebio Pedroza.
Paul McCloskey's first defence of his European Light Welterweight title against mandatory challenger Giuseppe Lauri tops the bill at The King's Hall and McGuigan believes it won't be too long more before Frampton is headlining at the famous old venue himself.
McGuigan manages the 23-year-old and he believes he can follow in his footsteps by enjoying some big nights at The King's Hall starting with this Friday night when he takes on Londoner Ian Bailey. “Walking into The King's Hall will bring back an awful lot of happy memories for me and it will fill me with excitement for the future too and the possibilities for Carl,” said McGuigan. “This is a great opportunity for Carl to fight in front of his own fans and show the Belfast people what he's capable of on his King's Hall debut,” said McGuigan.
“Bailey is a tough guy, he's aggressive and comes to fight. He handed the Ingle's prospect Steve Barnes his first defeat recently so Carl's won't be taking anything for granted. Bailey likes to stand in front of a guy and trade so I think the two styles are really going to gel and it could be a very exciting fight for as long as it lasts.”
McGuigan believes that Friday could be the first of a series of exciting nights for Belfast fight fans as Frampton looks to replicate the “Clones Cyclone's” meteoric rise through the boxing world in the mid 80's.
“There is no doubt in my mind that Carl can go the whole way,” asserted McGuigan. “He has all the potential in the world and when I compare him to where I was at the same stage of my pro career it frightens me just how good he is. Irish boxing is blessed at the moment to have some very good fighters but I believe that Carl will prove to be the pick of the bunch. He has the X-factor that you need to succeed at the highest level.
He's just spent 10 days over with me in England sparring with the likes of Ian Napa, Choi Tseveenpurev and Bradley Evans and it was excellent work for him and that kind of sparring is vital to any young professionals progression.
“He's an old head on young shoulders, he's very cool and composed in the ring and he's confident and assured without being arrogant. He can hit with either hand and although he's very aggressive he can box off the back foot as well if needs be.”
The main event at the King's Hall sees Paul McCloskey making the first defence of his European Light Welterweight title against Giuseppe Lauri while Stephen Haughian clashes with Kevin McIntyre for the Celtic Welterweight title in a second title fight on the bill. Cavan's Andy Murray also features as the undefeated European number 3 looks to take another step close to a European title fight with namesake, John Murray.
Another exciting new talent out to extend his unbeaten record at the King's Hall will be flyweight Jamie Conlan while Cuban sensation Alexei Acosta will also feature as he looks to continue a incredible knockout streak that has seen him stop all 10 of his professional opponents to date. Acosta, a World Junior Champion in the amateur ranks is now based in Cork having turned professional in 2008. Local middleweight duo Joe Rea and Ciaran Healy have also been added to the card with the pair looking to end the unbeaten records of Kris Carslaw and Harry Matthews respectively.
The Yanjing Beer Fight Night will be live on Sky Sports and tickets priced ￡30, ￡60 and ￡90 are available from Ticketmaster and all usual outlets. Contact Ticketmaster 0844 8472455 (0818 719300 from ROI), Box Office 01277 359900, Julie 07745698372, Francie 07803282224
