Curtis Valentine has pulled out of the planned rematch with sensational Light Middleweight prospect Erick ‘The Eagle’ Ochieng on Saturday’s ‘True British Fighters’, double title event, headlined by Sam Webb vs Martin Concepcion British Light Middleweight title fight, at The Troxy, London E1.
Valentine’s withdrawal has firmly shut the door on the mouthwatering prospect of an early repeat of their full scale war, back in may, in a bout billed as ‘The Battle Of The Undefeated’. On that occasion the stylish Ochieng emerged victorious over the heavy hitting Valentine by a tidy 39-37 points margin.
With Valentine out of the frame promoter Frank Maloney has drafted in Tony ‘TNT’ Randell, an experienced domestic championship campaigner, having previously held both the British Masters Middleweight title and the BBBofC Midlands Area Middleweight title, which he lost to Matt Hainy on his third defense just ten days ago.
Following a training session, at the Ultrachem TKO Boxing Gym in Canning Town, the ever smiling Ochieng gave his view on Valentine’s withdrawing, “It doesn’t matter, There’s another opponent already arranged. He pulled out of the fight, I don’t know why, but he was gonna lose anyway. I mean I’m in top condition and I’ve improved a lot from my last fight.
I put on a good performance against Alex Spitko (Editors note: 4th round stoppage and voted Fight of the Night) You know, everyone liked the fight and you know what not a lot of people want to fight me now.
So I say it’s all good, although the next fight is just a four rounder not the six I had planned for.
I don’t know much about Tony Randell, but that doesn’t matter I’m prepared. I leave no stone unturned. I’m ready, I’m ready. The Eagle is ready.
I’m gonna win it, if I stop him it’s additional credit, if I put him away I put him away. I don’t get paid for extra time. If he goes before four rounds so be it. Either way it’s gonna be a win and I’m gonna make sure my supporters get their money’s worth.
The Eagle is rising and I’m coming to rule.”
Ochieng's manager/coach Brian Lawrence then added, “Yeah, they said it’s because of work commitments.
I watched the fight again on DVD I thought he wouldn’t be up for this fight. It’s a hard match for him. I just couldn’t see him taking Erick on in a six rounder.
Now we’ve got Tony Randell, you know he’s a durable Middleweight. We’re fighting at Light Middle. He’s a good opponent for Erick and I’m expecting a good fight.
The downside is that it’ll be four threes, whereas we wanted to push him up to six threes. On the night though we’ll just take care of the business.”
Erick ‘The Eagle’ Ochieng versus Tony ‘TNT’ Randell will be on the under card of the Frank Maloney promoted ‘True British Fighters’ double title show headlined by Sam Webb’s defense of his British Light Middleweight title against Martin Concepcion.
Co-feature on the October 16th at The Troxy, Commercial Road, London E1, show is Jamie Arthur and Kris Matthew Hughes who will be battling for the vacant Commonwealth Super Bantamweight title.
The loaded undercard features, in addition to Erick ‘The Eagle’ Ochieng versus Tony Rendell, a heavyweight triple bill starring David Price, Tom Dallas and Damian Campbell plus Joe Hughes, Shane Enright, Lewis Pettitt, Ashley Sexton and Martin Welsh all against yet to be named opponents. The ‘True British Fighters’ card also features a Middleweight clash between Tony Hill and Kevin Concepcion.
Tickets for ‘True British Fighters’ at The Troxy, 490 Commercial Road, Limehouse, London E1 on Saturday 16th October 2010 are priced £35 (Unreserved) or £85 (Ringside).
For tickets call: 07960 850645, book on-line at www.tkoboxoffice.com or in person at The Ultrachem TKO Gym, Gillian House, Stephenson Street, Canning Town, London E16 4SA.
The Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABAE) has announced five ‘box-offs’ to identify the boxers that will represent England in the forthcoming GB Amateur Boxing Championship, on 12th and 13th November 2010, in Liverpool.
The ‘box-offs’ will be held on Saturday 16 October 2010 at Dagenham Park Leisure Centre , Old Community Hall, School Road, Dagenham, RM10 9HQ. People can pay on the day, £10 for adults and £5 for under-16s. Boxing will start at 8.00pm.
The GB Amateur Boxing Championship is a new competition established by the British Amateur Boxing Association (BABA) to identify the best male and female amateur boxers in Great Britain. It will pit the best amateur from Scotland, England and Wales against current members of the GB Boxing Olympic Squad and create an opportunity for those that are not currently in the squad to force their way into contention for 2012.
The ABAE, has selected five boxers to represent England and five ‘box-offs’ to identify the five remaining places. The boxers selected to represent England are:
52kg – Adam Whitfield (Army)
56kg – Luke Campbell (St Paul’s, Hull)
69kg – Anthony Fowler (Golden Gloves, Liverpool)
81kg – Lawrence Osueke (Newcastle College, Newcastle)
91+kg – Anthony Joshua (Finchley, London)
The box-offs are between:
48kg – Ben Fowl (Hoddesdon BA, Hoddesdon) vs Sam Smith (Kings Heath, Northampton)
60kg – Martin Ward (Repton, Bethnal Green) vs Martin Stead (Army)
64kg – Scott Cardle (Kirkham, Lytham) vs Liam Taylor (Middleton Select, Manchester)
75kg – Hosea Burton (Jimmy Egans, Manchester) vs Frank Buglioni (Repton, Bethnal Green)
91kg – Danny Price (Westway, Scarborough) vs Warren Baister (Sunderland)
“We have a real depth of talent in English amateur boxing and felt this was the best and fairest way to proceed with selection,” explained the Chief Executive of the ABAE, Paul King.
“We have a number of English boxers in the number two positions in the GB Olympic squad, however we think it is only fair to give an opportunity to those that performed well in this year’s senior ABAs so decided a series of ‘box-offs‘ was the best solution in some weight categories. It should be a very exciting night and great opportunity for a number of boxers to state their case for inclusion in the GB Boxing Olympic squad.”
Derek Mapp, Executive Chairman of BABA, which is organising the GB Boxing Championship added: “The GB Amateur Boxing Championship will be the biggest amateur boxing event to be staged in Great Britain for over a decade. It will be a high quality competition that will provide a real test for the existing GB boxers and have an influence on the make-up of the Olympic squad as we move into 2011. It is an opportunity for all of the competitors to showcase their skills and stake a claim to be part of the team for 2012.”
6,000 tickets will be made available for the finals and semi-finals of the Championship which will be held at the Echo Arena Liverpool on Friday 12th and Saturday 13th November 2010. Tickets for the event are priced from £10 to £30 and will be subject to a booking and handling fee. Tickets will go on sale from 0900 on Friday 6th August 2010. They can be purchased in person from the Echo Arena Liverpool box office, online at www.echoarena.com or by calling 0844 8000 400.
The news that Paul Hyland has been installed as the number 1 challenger for the European Super Bantamweight title has added extra spice to the Hunky Dorys Fight Night: Big Bang Theory at the University Arena, Limerick on Saturday, November 6th. Hyland features on the undercard to Kiko “La Sensación” Martinez's European title defence against Limerick's own Willie “Big Bang” Casey with the Dubliner secure in the knowledge that he is guaranteed first crack at the winner of the Martinez – Casey clash.
“It's great news and it's been a long time coming but it means now that my opportunity is just around the corner” said Hyland after confirmation from the European Boxing Union that he is now the mandatory challenger. “This just makes my fight on November 6th even more important now so it's important I don't look beyond that.”
Hyland's opponent should be confirmed in the coming days although the news from the EBU means that he won't now be defending his European Union title as originally planned. “I'm looking forward to putting on a show down in Limerick. I had been hoping to defend my EU title on the card but because I've been made the mandatory for the full European title I've had to vacate that belt so I'm just waiting on confirmation of my opponent now. I'll be looking to up my game because at my best with the ability I have I'll be able to make any fight look easy.”
Although Hyland will be an interested observer at ringside for the main event on November 6th he says he will be ready to challenge whoever emerges with the belt. “It's a tough fight to call, obviously as an Irishman I'll be cheering on Willie but it's billed as Big Bang Theory and I think that's what it's going to come down to and the only thing you can be sure of is that one of them is going to end up on the floor.
“Obviously if Willie wins it would mean two Irish men fighting for the European title for the first time ever and that would be something else so hopefully he does come through but whoever holds the belt when I get my chance I know that I'll box the ears off them. I'm first in line now so they won't be able to avoid me and I know I'll be European Champion because whether it's Kiko or Willie I know that they are just holding the belt for me until I take it off them.”
The Hunky Dorys Fight Night is Limerick on November 6th also features the return of Martin “Iron Man” Rogan. The inaugural Prizefighter Champion and former Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion will step back into the ring a year to the day from his last fight in Belfast having made a successful recovery from a career threatening neck injury.
An Irish title will also be up for grabs when Anthony Fitzgerald and Lee Murtagh finally look to get it on with Fitzgerald's Irish title at stake. The duo were scheduled to clash on 2 previous occasions but both encounters were scrapped after Murtagh was forced to withdraw through injury but he will be hoping it's third time lucky on this occasion.
Cork based Cuban sensation Alexei Collado and Luis Garcia will also be in action as the former World Junior amateur champions look to continue their meteoric rise through the professional ranks. Also featuring on the card is unbeaten Limerick based Galwegian Alan Donnellan and exciting Dublin prospects Brendan Fitzpatrick and Gavin Prunty while in another Ireland V Spain clash on the undercard Galway's Jon Fogg makes his pro debut against unbeaten Spanish cruiserweight and Kiko Martinez training partner Ricky Pow.
Tickets for the Hunky Dorys Fight Night: Big Bang Theory priced from €40 are available from Ticketmaster.ie / 0818 719300 and all usual outlets.
