Prospects - Denton Vassell
By Andrew Wake: Manchester prospect Denton Vassell is the hardest punching welterweight in Britain. Or at least that’s the view of respected trainer Bob Shannon.
24-year-old Denton, who is a relative of Manchester City footballer Darius Vassell, has posted seven knockouts in his unblemished 11 win ledger but it’s the people he’s halted rather than the amount that makes people take notice.
Making his pro debut on the undercard of the third world title clash between Clinton Woods and Glencoffe Johnson in September 2006, Vassell picked apart awkward veteran Ernie Smith before stopping him in the third round.
Given that Smith, a gypsy from Stourport, had tasted defeat 102 times previously, the stoppage may not sound very impressive but anyone who knows British boxing well will tell you that Smith is as tough as the proverbial old boot and had previously gone the distance with Kell Brook, Nathan Cleverly and Michael Jennings.
“I’d heard that he [Smith] had had over 100 fights so I thought I’d beat easily, I thought I’d knock him out,” Vassell recalls.” But he is tough. I know he’s not the best journeyman but he’s a survivor. To stop someone like that give me credit.”
But before Vassell could deal with Smith he had to overcome something far more daunting. He had to defeat the nerves that threaten to destroy the first outing of any young fighter.
“I was a nervous wreck,” He admits. “It felt like I was having my first fight for my amateur club, Fox ABC, all over again. Not wearing a headguard and not wearing a vest on my body felt strange. I felt like I was missing something. It takes its toll and you think ‘bloody hell I’m a professional here and I’m on telly’ but as soon as that bell went and the first dig was thrown it went out of my head and I felt more comfortable.”
Vassell, who hails from Manchester’s Miles Platting estate and works in a branch of banking giants HSBC by day, took up boxing at age 14 as an add on to the workouts he already did in his local gym. For the teenage Mancunian it was a way to learn new things and also toughen himself up for the fights he was getting into outside of the ropes.
“I was doing weight training and at the time I was also getting into a few fights so I tried a bit of boxing training just to sort of loosen up. I did alright. I ended up having my first fight in the gym that same day and I done really well. I enjoyed the training because it was different.”
Vassell ascended through the amateur ranks in double quick time and after just 19 contests in the vest and headguard he won the 2006 senior ABA title at 69kg with 17 points to 14 win over the more experienced Brett Flournoy.
“[As an amateur] I was fighting people who’d had like 200 and odd fights so that was a good win for me. I couldn’t believe it to be honest but from then on I just knew that it doesn’t go on how many fights you’ve had, it goes on how bad you want it and how hard you train.
“To be honest I found the amateurs harder than I have the pros. I just didn’t think the amateurs was me. Body shots count in the pro game but in the amateurs they don’t really count body shots unless it’s a blatant dig. That annoyed me.
“I’d heard you could turn pro and if you had four fights or less you could turn back to amateur so I thought ‘why not try pro four times and see if you like it’. Everyone was saying my style was suited to the pros, I didn’t realise myself, but I tried it and it just fit like a glove. I’d never really felt more at home in fighting”
Vassell’s best victory to date, on paper at least, came in his latest outing when he halted fellow unbeaten prospect Eddie Corcoran in the sixth round at the MEN Arena in Manchester last month.
“It was my first eight rounder and he [Corcoran] was a Frank Warren [promoted] fighter as well and he was undefeated. I knew that he’s a traveller and those travellers like fighting. All these little things were going through my head but I just put it to the side because I knew I had to go into the ring in the right frame of mind.
“It was a top win and it gives me confidence but his style was pretty much to box and run so I wouldn’t say he was my toughest opponent. I’d say that was [Yassine] El Maachi. He’s good him. He’s dangerous. I didn’t have any info on him at all and didn’t know he was a southpaw. It said on his record that he’d had like four fights but when I spoke to him after he’s had like 16 fights where he lived and I came weighing in as a light-welterweight but I still took the fight because I’d not fought for a bit before.
“I beat him and ended up turning southpaw myself ‘cause that’s another thing I can do. I can hit hard with either hand so it worked out for me well but I didn’t expect him to be that good. Because I keep coming at you throwing punches from both sides, he tired at the end of the second round.”
To prove how good El Maachi really is you only have to consider the fact that the Finsbury Park-based Moroccan has snapped the undefeated records of three British prospects and floored former European champ and current WBC number four contender Jackson Osei Bonsu twice in only his third paid outing.
With his crouching style and two fisted attacks to the head and torso, Vassell has drawn comparisons to a young version of a certain Brownsville, New York native that struck fear into all that stood before him in the mid to late 1980s.
“Everyone says I’m like Mike Tyson with how I move my head, catch people with big shots and throw a lot of punches,” Says Vassell. “I watch my own fights and I can honestly say that it does look that way.
“I’ve watched a load of Mike Tyson films and studied how he boxed. He was the smallest in his weight and I’m really small for my weight. My height kind of knocked my confidence and I thought I’d be fighting some big monsters in the ring. But when I watched Tyson and he was knocking people for six who look twice his size, I thought ‘If he can do it, then I can do it’. Obviously he didn’t have a boxers style where he could jab, jab, he had that peek-a-boo style where you roll under and when I tried it out for the first time in sparring I ended up knocking my mate out.”
So with the Mike Tyson style to a tee and with his trainer believing that he whacks harder than anyone else out their domestically, where does the likeable but self assured prospect see his career heading?
“My ambition is to be undefeated, undisputed, pound for pound champion,” he says without a hint of doubt in his voice. “What I really want, if I could have the chance, is to fight the world champion for the WBC now. Even if it was for nothing [pay wise] then I’d do it. I’ve got loads of believe I can do it. I train like a world champion. When I was fighting four-rounders I was training like I had a 12 round title shot coming up.”
But before he can think of world glory, he’d like to get his hands on some of the less prestigious but no less important baubles available.
“I’d like a British or Commonwealth title or even both because I know I’ll win ‘em. Then you’ve got the European.
“There’s tough fighters all over the show, but I know in my weight I’m one of the best and one of the toughest. The fighters out there I give respect to but I don’t think they are as fit as me or hit as hard or as fast as me.
“I’m not one of them that is all talk. I like to do the action in the ring. I’m one of them that just wants people to watch me and let me know what they think.”
Thus far the people that have seen Vassell box have left the arena thinking good things and that trend shows no signs of changing.
http://www.secondsout.com/interviews/in ... on-vassell
By Andrew Wake: Manchester prospect Denton Vassell is the hardest punching welterweight in Britain. Or at least that’s the view of respected trainer Bob Shannon.
24-year-old Denton, who is a relative of Manchester City footballer Darius Vassell, has posted seven knockouts in his unblemished 11 win ledger but it’s the people he’s halted rather than the amount that makes people take notice.
Making his pro debut on the undercard of the third world title clash between Clinton Woods and Glencoffe Johnson in September 2006, Vassell picked apart awkward veteran Ernie Smith before stopping him in the third round.
Given that Smith, a gypsy from Stourport, had tasted defeat 102 times previously, the stoppage may not sound very impressive but anyone who knows British boxing well will tell you that Smith is as tough as the proverbial old boot and had previously gone the distance with Kell Brook, Nathan Cleverly and Michael Jennings.
“I’d heard that he [Smith] had had over 100 fights so I thought I’d beat easily, I thought I’d knock him out,” Vassell recalls.” But he is tough. I know he’s not the best journeyman but he’s a survivor. To stop someone like that give me credit.”
But before Vassell could deal with Smith he had to overcome something far more daunting. He had to defeat the nerves that threaten to destroy the first outing of any young fighter.
“I was a nervous wreck,” He admits. “It felt like I was having my first fight for my amateur club, Fox ABC, all over again. Not wearing a headguard and not wearing a vest on my body felt strange. I felt like I was missing something. It takes its toll and you think ‘bloody hell I’m a professional here and I’m on telly’ but as soon as that bell went and the first dig was thrown it went out of my head and I felt more comfortable.”
Vassell, who hails from Manchester’s Miles Platting estate and works in a branch of banking giants HSBC by day, took up boxing at age 14 as an add on to the workouts he already did in his local gym. For the teenage Mancunian it was a way to learn new things and also toughen himself up for the fights he was getting into outside of the ropes.
“I was doing weight training and at the time I was also getting into a few fights so I tried a bit of boxing training just to sort of loosen up. I did alright. I ended up having my first fight in the gym that same day and I done really well. I enjoyed the training because it was different.”
Vassell ascended through the amateur ranks in double quick time and after just 19 contests in the vest and headguard he won the 2006 senior ABA title at 69kg with 17 points to 14 win over the more experienced Brett Flournoy.
“[As an amateur] I was fighting people who’d had like 200 and odd fights so that was a good win for me. I couldn’t believe it to be honest but from then on I just knew that it doesn’t go on how many fights you’ve had, it goes on how bad you want it and how hard you train.
“To be honest I found the amateurs harder than I have the pros. I just didn’t think the amateurs was me. Body shots count in the pro game but in the amateurs they don’t really count body shots unless it’s a blatant dig. That annoyed me.
“I’d heard you could turn pro and if you had four fights or less you could turn back to amateur so I thought ‘why not try pro four times and see if you like it’. Everyone was saying my style was suited to the pros, I didn’t realise myself, but I tried it and it just fit like a glove. I’d never really felt more at home in fighting”
Vassell’s best victory to date, on paper at least, came in his latest outing when he halted fellow unbeaten prospect Eddie Corcoran in the sixth round at the MEN Arena in Manchester last month.
“It was my first eight rounder and he [Corcoran] was a Frank Warren [promoted] fighter as well and he was undefeated. I knew that he’s a traveller and those travellers like fighting. All these little things were going through my head but I just put it to the side because I knew I had to go into the ring in the right frame of mind.
“It was a top win and it gives me confidence but his style was pretty much to box and run so I wouldn’t say he was my toughest opponent. I’d say that was [Yassine] El Maachi. He’s good him. He’s dangerous. I didn’t have any info on him at all and didn’t know he was a southpaw. It said on his record that he’d had like four fights but when I spoke to him after he’s had like 16 fights where he lived and I came weighing in as a light-welterweight but I still took the fight because I’d not fought for a bit before.
“I beat him and ended up turning southpaw myself ‘cause that’s another thing I can do. I can hit hard with either hand so it worked out for me well but I didn’t expect him to be that good. Because I keep coming at you throwing punches from both sides, he tired at the end of the second round.”
To prove how good El Maachi really is you only have to consider the fact that the Finsbury Park-based Moroccan has snapped the undefeated records of three British prospects and floored former European champ and current WBC number four contender Jackson Osei Bonsu twice in only his third paid outing.
With his crouching style and two fisted attacks to the head and torso, Vassell has drawn comparisons to a young version of a certain Brownsville, New York native that struck fear into all that stood before him in the mid to late 1980s.
“Everyone says I’m like Mike Tyson with how I move my head, catch people with big shots and throw a lot of punches,” Says Vassell. “I watch my own fights and I can honestly say that it does look that way.
“I’ve watched a load of Mike Tyson films and studied how he boxed. He was the smallest in his weight and I’m really small for my weight. My height kind of knocked my confidence and I thought I’d be fighting some big monsters in the ring. But when I watched Tyson and he was knocking people for six who look twice his size, I thought ‘If he can do it, then I can do it’. Obviously he didn’t have a boxers style where he could jab, jab, he had that peek-a-boo style where you roll under and when I tried it out for the first time in sparring I ended up knocking my mate out.”
So with the Mike Tyson style to a tee and with his trainer believing that he whacks harder than anyone else out their domestically, where does the likeable but self assured prospect see his career heading?
“My ambition is to be undefeated, undisputed, pound for pound champion,” he says without a hint of doubt in his voice. “What I really want, if I could have the chance, is to fight the world champion for the WBC now. Even if it was for nothing [pay wise] then I’d do it. I’ve got loads of believe I can do it. I train like a world champion. When I was fighting four-rounders I was training like I had a 12 round title shot coming up.”
But before he can think of world glory, he’d like to get his hands on some of the less prestigious but no less important baubles available.
“I’d like a British or Commonwealth title or even both because I know I’ll win ‘em. Then you’ve got the European.
“There’s tough fighters all over the show, but I know in my weight I’m one of the best and one of the toughest. The fighters out there I give respect to but I don’t think they are as fit as me or hit as hard or as fast as me.
“I’m not one of them that is all talk. I like to do the action in the ring. I’m one of them that just wants people to watch me and let me know what they think.”
Thus far the people that have seen Vassell box have left the arena thinking good things and that trend shows no signs of changing.
http://www.secondsout.com/interviews/in ... on-vassell
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