UK News: Etches-Khomitsky; Taylor; Lewis; Baugh

Unbeaten light-middleweight Chris ‘The Bull’ Baugh moved up to 3(2)-0 after destroying Bulgarian Georgi Valevski in three rounds at the Camden Centre in Kings Cross on March 7th, just one month after his previous outing.

The aggressive power-puncher continued his unbeaten streak along with four other unbeaten prospects in Tony Milch, Mat Butler, Graham Tirrell and Junior Saaed on the Hellraiser Promotions show titled ‘Seize the Hour’.

The London-based boxer commented on his performance, “I was happy with the knockout on Saturday, it was good to get the stoppage but also good to get a few rounds in the ring.”

A university graduate from the London School of Economics, Baugh has now stopped his last two opponents in February and March, kicking off his 2015 campaign in spectacular fashion.

“It’s been a good start and that’s all it is – a start,” said the 26-year-old. “I’m not getting ahead of myself, I’ve been boxing regularly but I’m still developing and improving, I’m happy with that.”

His latest victim usually operates at light-heavyweight and had a clear size advantage going into the contest, however this did not seem to faze the home fighter either before or during the contest, stating, “To be fair, Valevski was the biggest and strongest guy I have fought so far, and he could take it to the body.

“All I knew about him beforehand was that he was big. I wasn't able to find any footage of him ahead of the fight so I had no idea about his build or style, I went in blind but that was a good learning experience for me. He was a strong guy, so I had to be switched on, I felt the size difference but at the same time I was comfortable dealing with his shots, I walked him down and I felt comfortable in there.”

Throughout the fight, Baugh once again displayed the aggression and power that had earned him his alias. The onslaught began from the opening bell and the difference between this latest fight and his previous two was the quality of each punch thrown with such dangerous intent.

Credit must go to the Bulgarian counterpart for his stubbornness, the offending punch that initially dumped him to the canvas was a shot that few would recover from.
 
Baugh explained, “The punch that led to the stoppage was a crunching straight right. It was a good shot and caught him right on the chin. He did well to get up but it was clear he hadn't recovered and as soon as the count ended he tried to hold on to me. I finished him off with a left hook, a right hook and he was already wobbling when another right saw him buckle over.”

The light-middleweight prospect has fought twice in only eight weeks and is already eyeing his next fight in April.

“I’m taking another fight now on April 18th so it’s a little bit more of a gap which is nice really. The truth is, I still went for a run the day after my fight so I find it hard to switch off, but probably after the next one I’ll take a little time off fighting and just focus on improving in the gym.

“Sometimes it’s good to be relaxed but to still be in the gym working and developing with your coach without having the clock ticking down towards the next fight date,” stated the busy boxer.

“It’s about striking a balance, obviously early on in your career you want to fight as much as possible and meet as many different fighters and styles to learn your trade but, at the same time, you want to have time to improve your weaknesses in the gym and step up the sparring. I don’t take time off between fights, I’m in the gym straight after so I’m always going to improve but I am really happy with how it’s going so far.”

Baugh is trained by respected coaches Bevis Allen and Roy Callaghan out of the renowned Rooney’s Gym in London, “My coaches were happy with the performance. I didn’t start looking for power punches straight away and I spent the first couple of rounds working to the body while I was finding my range.

“In between the second and third rounds they told me what I needed to do to land the big shot and I came out 20 seconds later and did it. I’m really enjoying working with both Bevis and Roy, I’m just happy that I’m listening in the corner and able to execute their instructions in the fight.

“The right hand that caused the first knock down was really satisfying. Last fight, I dominated but that was what was missing for me – that single, clean, perfectly balanced punch,” Baugh concluded.

Looking back on his first three outings, the 26-year-old Islington boxer secured a shut-out points win over Harjinder Gill in his pro bow in November last year; despite being hurt enough to go to the wrong corner at the end of the third round, Gill managed to survive until the final bell.

On February 7th, he doubled his win tally and scored his first career stoppage in a blistering first round attack against the tough Hungarian Laszlo Jambrik.

Baugh trains with another heavy-handed light-middleweight, Aaron Morgan 6(5)-0 and seems to be displaying the same power and assiduousness as his teammate, his being the only fight on the night to end early.

The rest of the bill’s unbeaten prospects Tony Milch 7-0, Mat Butler 3-0, Graham Tirrell 5-0 and Junior Saaed 4-0 all continued their unbeaten runs with points wins.

Minster cruiserweight Dan Woodgate 12-2-0 defeated journeyman Mitch Mitchell 5-33-1 by winning all four rounds on points.

Exciting welterweight talent Steven Lewis has signed a new long term promotional agreement with promoter Frank Warren.

The 22-year-old from Liverpool took his record to eight unbeaten with three knockouts when he halted Kevin Hanks in two rounds in an eye-catching, career best performance last Friday night at the Echo Arena.

All-action Lewis trains at the talent packed Everton Red Triangle Gym, alongside European Flyweight Champion and world title contender Kevin Satchell; new British Super-Bantamweight Champion Jazza Dickens and English Bantamweight Champion Ryan Farrag.

He will next feature on the undercard of the huge Echo Arena show on Saturday 18th April when fellow Merseysider Derry Mathews challenges for the WBA World Lightweight Championship against champion Richar Abril.

Lewis said, “I’m over the moon to sign with Frank Warren and the Queensberry Promotions team and I’m happy that they have faith in my ability to win domestic titles and beyond.  I’ve got a fantastic team around me and I leave everything outside of the ring to Frank and Neil Marsh, I’m happy just doing my business in the ring and continue winning.”

Warren is excited with Lewis’s potential and believes he can be one of the next generation of Liverpool champions coming through the popular fight city.

He said, “Lewis is an exciting young talent who I believe can go on to achieve big things and I look forward to delivering him the opportunities.  Liverpool is a real big fight city and is buzzing with champions under my guidance like Liam Smith, Mathews, Satchell, Farrag and now Dickens, so I’ve no doubt that Lewis has the talent to join them in due course.  He’s next out on Derry’s World title undercard and it’s another big platform for him to showcase his talent.”

Lewis’s manager Neil Marsh added, “It was a fantastic deal from Frank and more importantly there was a very good plan in place to develop Steven into a top quality fighter which we firmly believe.  I'd like to thank Frank and Queensberry for this and their continued support.” 

Derry Mathews’ challenge for the WBA World Lightweight title against champion Richar Abril on Saturday 18th April headlines a quality-packed card featuring Liverpool stars: undefeated super-talent Joe Selkirk, the former WBO European Light-Middleweight Champion, makes his long awaited return to the ring in an eight round contest; fast rising welterweight prospect Stephen Lewis, who’s unbeaten in eight fights, returns to action in six-rounder; all-action light-middleweight James Metcalf, the mirror image of his father, Liverpool legend Shea “The Shamrock Express” Neary, in the ring looks to continue his unbeaten eight fights; two hot young talents make their professional debuts on the shows: hard-hitting cruiserweight John Gillies and flyweight Andrew Cain.

ADAM ETCHES says he'll do what Martin Murray and Frank Buglioni couldn't and stop Sergey Khomitsky.
 
In a career spanning 16 years, the Belarusian has only failed to hear the final bell three times, with middleweight superstar Gennady Golovkin being the only man to legitimately take him out.
 
Khomitsky's other stoppages come due to a retirement against Avtandil Khurtsidze and a mix up concerning loose tape on his gloves during his fight with former two-time world champion Robert Stieglitz.
 
But Etches believes he has dynamite in his fists and can add to the visitor to his long line of knockout victims.
 
"He's not coming to make the numbers up and just get through the fight, he's coming to win and I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen," Adam, 18-0 (15 KOs), said.
 
"I'm expecting to stop him. A lot of people probably think I'll win on points or there'll be an upset, but I think I hit hard enough to get him out of there eventually.
 
"I never go into a fight expecting to go 12 rounds. I want to take them out as soon as possible and this is no different. Obviously he's not going to keel over easily and I have to be fit enough to go the distance if needed, but I do think I can stop him.
 
"My ultimate goal is to be a world champion and to get there you've got to be beating this kind of opponent.
 
"Everyone knows Khomitsky's tough and he's stopped Buglioni and drew with Nick Blackwell, but I believe I'm better than they are and I'm one of the top middleweights in Britain."
 
Etches v Khomitsky features on a huge night of boxing in Sheffield as Kell Brook defends his IBF welterweight title against Romania's Jo Jo Dan and Gavin McDonnell continues his fairy tale story challenging Ukrainian Oleksander Yegorov for the vacant European super-bantamweight title.
 
Frankie Gavin makes his Sky Sports return as he prepares for his crunch clash with Chris van Heerden on May 9 in Birmingham and former world bantamweight king Anselmo Moreno makes his UK debut against Wales’ Robbie Turley. Kal Yafai continues his march towards a world title and GB Podium squad member Charlie Edwards fights for the second time in the paid ranks on the bill.
 
Tickets are on sale priced £40, £60, £80, £100 and £150 available from the Motorpoint Arena on 0114 2565656 and at www.motorpointarenasheffield.co.uk. VIP tickets at £250 are exclusively available from Matchroom Boxing at www.matchroomboxing.com.

26 year old Ryan “Crash Bang” Taylor is set to explode back into the big time when he faces undefeated Danny Gunn for the vacant International Masters Light-Welterweight title in front of what will be a sold out York Hall crowd on the Olivia Goodwin promoted “Best of Enemies” card on Saturday 21st March.

Talyor who was a highly touted amateur was undefeated in his first 8 fights including capturing the International Masters Lightweight title.

On his 9th fight he fought Liam Shinkwin for the Southern Area Lightweight title at Wembley Arena losing a close points decision.  After reaching the Semi Final of the sky sports Prizefighter competition, Ryan then had his second attempt at the southern Area title in December 2013 at the Excel arena where he was defeated by Floyd Moore.

There was no doubt that the efforts of continuing to drain his body down to the 9 stone 9 lbs limit was draining Ryan. Ryan took a brief break from boxing and then teamed up with trainer Frank Greaves and Manager/Promoter Steve Goodwin.

A decision was made that Ryan needed to step up in weight and campaign in the Light-Welterweight division. Ryan returned to the ring in December 2013 where he was impressive in recording a points win over Vasil Vasilev.

Now it’s the big one. Danny Gunn is an undefeated prospect from Norwich who considers Taylor to be a stepping stone to the big time whilst Ryan knows that a title victory here will open doors to the bigger titles later in the year.

Full credit must be given to Ryan for taking such a hard fight on his second fight at the new weight “I have had incredible support for this fight” said Ryan “I would like to thank everyone who is coming to support me and I have a few tickets left so should anyone want to come please contact me.”