On a very cold arctic evening at the Camden Centre in Kings Cross, Mickey Helliet’s latest boxing promotion ‘Clash of the Titans’ proved to warm up the appetite for all those in attendance, as the spectators witnessed a selection of great fights.
Possibly the most memorable for me was the bout between Joe McDonald and James Child, in which McDonald floored Child on a number of occasions, but Child just kept on coming back and in the final round landed some haymakers which could have turned the tide in a heartbeat. It was a four rounder that could have easily been part of the Prizefighter, and as with many of Mickey Helliet’s promotions, the fighters are well matched on ability to ensure a cracking fight.
Vinz Kuech won his debut. Perhaps not in the style he wanted, but it was a clinical win, and after being in doubt a few months ago as to whether or not he would be able to fight due to needing eye surgery, it was plain to see how delighted he was at racking up 1-0 in his favour. I wish him the best for his next outing.
The MMA hardman Joe Duffy fought for the third time in only a matter of weeks, and although showing the odd signs of MMA traits such as the occasional slip of facing his opponent with his shoulders square on, and standing in his corner as opposed to sitting between rounds, he displayed with confidence that he is a boxer to take seriously. Moving his record to 3-0 Joe and having sparred with the likes of George Groves, and always keeping himself in immaculate condition, I very much look forward to seeing Joe again in action soon.
Charlie Rice fought an impressive six rounder and won clearly by 59-55 against Paul Haines. A relentless Rice showed grit, determination and boundless energy. He looked like he could have gone on for 15 rounds. This brings his record to 6-0.
Ben Day without a doubt had the biggest following of supporters at The Camden Centre on Saturday. ‘The Entertainer’ lived up to his name, but also showed he had the skills to beat his opponent and extend his unbeaten record to 5-0. I was lucky to catch up with Ben after he beat his opponent and ex champion Marc Callaghan.
PZ: Congratulations on your win Ben. Were you happy with the 37-39 given by the judges?
BD: Cheers Paul. And yes – I’m happy with the result. Marc was a tough and very experienced lad. Although I felt strong in there and caught him with some good shots, his experience really showed and I found him very tricky to box for the whole fight.
Also, I was supposed to be on later in the evening and had only eaten a short while before and kept feeling myself burping throughout the fight!
PZ: The first round you seemed to be learning your opponent. Second round the straight right was landing with confidence and power, and it looked like you could have possibly had a knockdown opportunity. Was this ever part of your gameplan in the last two rounds?
BD: No it wasn’t. I know I hit hard for my weight and I was surprised he took some of those right hands, but I wanted to have some fun in there. I’m 34 years of age and this is a dream come true for me, so I’m just enjoying every little moment. I would prefer to be a bit illusive and entertaining in the ring then just get them out of the way early.
PZ: You really seemed to be enjoying round four. Did you wish it was a six rounder?
BD: I did Paul!! Round four I started smiling and growling at him, and he caught me with a left hook which excited me even more and brought out the A game in me.
PZ: You’ve just come back from the USA where you did a tour of the Mayweather and Freddie Roach Wildcard Gym. What was this like as an experience and how has it inspired you as a boxer?
BD: It was a dream. Mayweather’s gym was quite intimidating. Roger was quite arrogant and rude to me. I was in the ring doing some footwork and a few moves and he must of thought ‘who was that little p*ick in there!
It’s very tough to stay focused in Vegas with all the alcohol and especially when you go over Christmas time. I had to behave myself! I also hired a Ford Mustang and drove across the desert!
Freddie Roach’s gym is very similar to mine (Ringtone Gym). Very friendly and great atmosphere. I struck up a great friendship with Freddie and we’ve exchanged details and he even talked about using my gym into the future. This is a dream come true for somebody who at the age of 27 started boxing and previously I was a p*ss head on a building site! The guy I just fought had 60 amateur fights, whilst I never fought once at amateur level. I had one white collar fight, one unlicensed and a year later turned pro. In terms of boxing history I can’t imagine many people have progressed to pro that quickly before.
PZ: What’s the lessons for the youngsters out there looking to stay off the streets or those needing a focus in theIr life?
BD: They need to get off their arse, get down to the gym and just enjoy it. Boxing comes with a much cleaner lifestyle. It completely saved my life and I wouldn’t be sitting here now if it wasn’t for this sporting discipline. If I can turn pro at 32, anybody can do it.
The main fight was between Wayne Alwan-Arab from Hackney, against Ambrosi Sutidze (from Georgia) for the International Masters Light Middleweight Title. Ambrosi put on a great performance, including flooring Wayne early on. In my own opinion I had the fight a draw, but the judges had it one round ahead for Wayne, and I can’t begrudge him of such a close margin, and would not have if it was one round in favour of Ambrosi either. Overall, a hard fought battle with both fighters leaving it all in the ring in the 10th round, and Wayne extending his boxing record to 16-0.
My favourite fighting prospect for the evening was Charlie Hoy. At 5ft 1” he packs power, angles and excitement into every punch. His opponent Hyusein Hyuseinov was floored a couple of times in the first round by hooks to the body, which looked liked they had been cut and pasted from a Ricky Hatton fight. Hoy possesses a great deal of natural talent and I tip him to be a future champion. I was lucky to catch up with Charlie later that evening:
PZ: Congratulations on a very impressive win. After about 30 seconds you started to unload. Did you know at that point it was going to be a stoppage?
CH: I never go for the knockout. I train as if everybody else is a world champion, and even when I was hurting him I still wanted to make sure it was my boxing skills which won the fight.
I sensed that every time I threw the jab he kept leaning back, so I had to step in and throw the jab. When I stepped in I noticed his elbows were coming in closer, so I started working the hooks to the body and the head on the outside, and success came from there.
I stuck to the same tactics simply because when you go for a knockout that’s when you are most likely to get knocked out yourself.
PZ: What was the training camp like for this fight?
CH: I’ve had a long training camp since December, because I was originally supposed to be fighting in January and have been keeping very fit all through that time. The last four weeks have been very high intensity training.
PZ: When are you hoping to fight next?
CH: Hopefully within two to three months. I want to stay active and not get rusty.
PZ: When would you like to be fighting for a title?
CH: I’ve got plenty of time. I think I have a good fighting brain, but before I fight the big guns I need some more defining fights. I’m not the kind of guy who rushes into fights and starts calling out names. That’s just not me. I’ll be ready when I’m ready
Others fights of the evening included Joe Smyth extending his record to 9-2-0, Lee Owen beating Gareth Piper to make his record 6-0-1, Warren Fenn extending to 4-1-0 and Phil Gill beating Warren Greaves to bring him up to 14-1-2.
Overall, a great night to have been ringside and another excellent production from Mickey Helliet. Looking forward to the next one.