Undercard From Tower Ballroom

The main event on the Warrior Promotions (Jon Pegg) and First Team (PJ Rowson and Errol Johnson)-promoted Sunday afternoon card in the Second City saw undefeated super-middleweight Eddie McIntosh, from nearby Bartley Green, sweep all six rounds against tall, lean Newark southpaw Jamie Norkett.


Popular McIntosh, 26 and who has yet to drop a single round in 34 scheduled sessions, destroyed Lee Nicholson inside two rounds in his first six-threes in April but never really looked as if he would put defensive-minded Norkett, three inches taller, away before the final bell tolled.


Now unbeaten in nine (two quick wins), Richie Woodhall-trained ‘Braveheart’ has been told that a crack at a belt, likely to be the Midland Area 12st strap held by Stourbridge crowdpleaser Sam Horton, is in the offing before the end of the year. There is also an outside chance that the Scottish and Irish-rooted boxer could get a shot at the Celtic title.


Whatever the belt on the line, McIntosh looks ready.


The bull-strong Brummie dominated durable Norkett (12st 3lbs 2oz) throughout with an assortment of accurate and fast-handed blows to both head and body. The Carl Greaves-handled East Midlander, now with three wins in 13, was content to spend 18 minutes on the back foot, never presenting McIntosh (12st 2lb 3oz) with a stationary target for more than a few seconds.


Eddie significantly stepped up the pace in the final six minutes and his hard hooks left the 32-year-old with blood leaking from his nose and hanging on for survival as the entertaining bout reached its conclusion. John Keane officiated.


Another solid prospect from Birmingham, 20-year-old light-middleweight Nasser Al Harbi, extended his unbeaten run to eight (all on points) with a close, hard but deserved four-threes points nod over Cleator Moor’s tall Martyn King (11st 5lbs 5oz), who had Huddersfield trainer Chris Aston in his corner and put in a good showing.


Al Harbi (11st 8lbs) hooked well, pot-shotted as his foe came in but his low hands and casual manner saw him ship plenty of long leads from the 24-year-old Cumbrian, now 2-4. Most of the four-rounder was scrappy and King, though game and willing, went down 40-38 on my scorecard. Mr Chalmers scored 39-38.


Sculpted Black Country light-heavyweight Quinton ‘Brown Bomber’ Hillocks (12st 6lbs 5oz) took one or two solid-looking punches along the way but eventually outpointed rough, tough but limited Cross Hands brawler Adam Wilcox (12st 6lbs 9oz) over a scrappy four-twos.


Mr Chalmers scored 40-37 to the man from Dudley. Hillocks, now 3-0, had a reputation as a one-punch concusive puncher in the amateurs but has yet to register a stoppage in the paid ranks. Still, he rattled Wilcox, who smashed former Irish title challenger Jonjo Finnegan to a three-round defeat on his last trip to the Midlands, on a couple of occasions.


The Errol Johnson-trained fighter had the seven-fight Welshman hanging on with a huge right in the third and was pleased enough with his afternoon’s work to leave the ring in the same manner as he entered it – over the top rope.


Stourbridge’s Richie Wyatt (10st 7oz) improved his professional stats to 2-0 with a 40-36 four-twos shut-out nod over winless but willing Welshman Craig Dyer (10st 3lbs 7oz), who has yet to get off the mark in 12 outings. Mr Keane had little to do as tall, lean Len Woodhall-trained Wyatt, who edged past Johnny Greaves on his debut in April, speared stocky, well-muscled Dyer, 22, with a long jab and then whipped up a sharp right uppercut from the waist as he marched in. Light-welterweight Wyatt looks as if he could be a decent little fighter.

Birmingham's Andrew Patterson kicked the show off with a three-twos exhibition with durable Secondy City trier Jason Nesbitt, who celebrated 100 professional fights the week before. As expected with an exhibition, shots were pulled but both landed with solid jabs and meaty hooks to the body.

D Gets 'Sweet' Concepcion Revenge

When dangerous East Midlands puncher Martin Concepcion fought Birmingham’s ‘Sweet’ D Mitchell last year, at the impressive surroundings of the National Indoor Arena (NIA), the Leicester man emerged from a heart-stopping four-rounder with his hand raised, his career intact and his 13th professional victory in the bag.

Fast-forward 13 months and the pair met in Birmingham again, although at a different venue – Edgbaston’s Tower Ballroom – and over four rounds again. The only thing different about this 12-minute bout was that local stylist Mitchell had his glove lofted skywards at the end.

Swadlincote’s Rob Chalmers awarded the stocky Erdington-based light-middleweight a 39-37 decision, a verdict which infuriated Concepcion and was met with loud roars of disapproval from his large band of supporters, including brother Kevin, who’d made the trip from Leicester. For what it’s worth, I had Mitchell winning by the same two-point margin (giving him the first three stanzas).

And like their unforgettable first fight in June of last year, on the undercard of Amir Khan’s successful defence of his Commonwealth lightweight title against Michael Gomez, they served up four rounds of pulsating action that saw Concepcion’s heavier-hitting against Mitchell’s sharper boxing and better movement.

As well as the give-and-take action, their first fight saw the former Commonwealth 11st title challenger rattle Mitchell in the opening two rounds before finding himself starting up at the lights in the final three minutes, albeit from a shot that looked to have caught him off balance. He got up, won by a 39-38 margin, but had been inactive since.

There was talk of another crack at the Commonwealth crown if he managed to repeat his win over the 32-year-old Brummie. Concepcion swatted aside the current Commonwealth light-middleweight boss, Manchester’s Matthew Hall, inside a round in 2007 and Hall recently spoke of his need to avenge that defeat.

His conqueror’s loss to Mitchell, who didn’t take up boxing until he was in his mid-twenties, will have put those ambitions firmly to bed. But the Richie Woodhall-trained fighter’s ninth win in 13 pro outings (two via stoppage) could see him land a shot at a title of some description.

Other than the loss to Concepcion, now 13-6, his blemishes had come on injury to Gatis Skuja (avenged), a close six-rounder to Prince Arron (a fighter Mitchell was controlling until he faded in the last two rounds) and tall, long-armed Jack Arnfield (whose height and reach caused problems).

But his tactics in the rematch with the Leicester banger were bang on. He never gave Concepcion (11st 2lbs 7oz) any room to land with the type of punches that had left nine men with stoppage defeats on their ledgers, kept a high guard, used good head movement and landed a steady stream of solid leads and countering hooks.

Concepcion, 27, threw plenty of leather but most of it landed on the gloves and forearms of his pumped-up opponent. If boxing was scored on the amount of punches thrown during a fight, he would have probably chalked win 14 on his resume. But Mitchell, who holds a win over reigning Midland Area middleweight boss Tony Randell, may have thrown less but landed with more.

The second and third rounds of the contest saw Mitchell (11st 3lbs 3oz) at his best. Rolling under his harder-hitting opponent’s punches, D parried punches coming his way and cracked home hard counters that had Concepcion, trained by Jezz Brogan, backing off towards the ropes. Martin had a better final three minutes but it was too little too late.

A rubber match would be more than welcome.

Another Commonwealth Crack For Concepcion?

Martin Concepcion could challenge for the Commonwealth light-middleweight title - if he wins his comeback fight this weekend.

The Leicester puncher returns to action for the first time in 13 months on a Warrior Promotions and First Team-promoted show at Birmingham's Tower Ballroom on Sunday afternoon and takes on a man he knows well, Erdington switch-hitter 'Sweet' D Mitchell.

The crowdpleasing Midlands pair battled over four heart-stopping rounds on the undercard of Amir Khan's Commonwealth lightweight title defence against Michael Gomez at the N.I.A last June, with Concepcion emerging a one-point victor in a tense battle that had the crowd on their feet throughout.

Mitchell, who holds a win over Midland Area middleweight champion Tony Randell, was rattled in the second and third rounds but managed to put the former Commonwealth title challenger on his backside in the last with a cuffing hook. Concepcion looked to be a tad off balance at the time and edged home to register win 13 in 17 (nine via stoppage).

The eagerly-anticipated rematch is set over the same distance and the 27-year-old East Midlander could be in line for another crack at the Commonwealth 11st belt, held by Manchester banger Matthew Hall - who Concepcion blasted out in a round in 2007 - if he can repeat the win over the talented and sharp Richie Woodhall-trained Brummie.

Hall bounced back to flatten Bradley Pryce, a man who knocked out Concepcion, and makes the first defence of his belt against Anthony Small next month. He is intent on destroying Small but told the Manchester Evening News he has his eyes on a revenge mission as well: "I lost my fight, no excuses, the better man won on the night. But I didn't get knocked out. Every time I went down against Concepcion I got back up.

"People say the fight shouldn't have been stopped, but I'm not saying that. I got beat and I've come back.

"One of the reasons I really want to win this next fight is so that I can have a voluntary defence and avenge my defeat."

Booth Retains British Title

Nottingham's former IBO super-flyweight champion Jason Booth made a successful first defence of his British super-bantamweight crown with a landslide points verdict over Thetford's Rocky Dean.

The 31-year-old East Midlander, who also won British and Commonwealth title honours at flyweight, dominated throughout, despite being sliced open in the opening three minutes, and won 119-109 for both Ian John-Lewis and Mark Green, and a even more comprehensive 120-108 shut-out for Dave Parris.

The reigning Commonwealth bantamweight boss, who stepped up a weight and won this title on less than two weeks notice against undefeated Mark Moran in April, got stuck in traffic on his way to the York Hall and didn't arrive until 30 minutes before he was set to fight. It didn't affect his performance one bit.

Slick movement and trademark tremendous workrate bothered crowdpleasing Rocky, 31 and a former Southern Area featherweight champion, who couldn't find a foothold during the 36 minutes of entertaining action. He never stopped trying to find the punches to swing matter in his favour but he was in with a vintage Booth.

And the champion, now 33-5 (13) and looking at a shot at the European title - if his friend and champion, Leicester's Rendall Munroe, moves on to a world title fight - told Sky Sports after the 12-rounder: "I couldn't - and i cracked him with some hard punches - break him down.

"I thought 'I'm not going to win the fight inside, I've just got to keep moving all night'. I didn't throw every power shot but he had a good game plan. He's a tough kid and anyone who fights him knows that they've been in with him."

Dean, who dropped to 14-11-2 (4) and has now lost back-to-back British super-bantamweight title fights, was gracious in defeat: "He was too good for me, too good in every department."

Harrison's Rehab Continues

Wolverhampton's Dean Harrison continues his boxing rehabilitation at Wolverhampton Civic Hall on July 17.

The touted and talented Black Country stylist, 15-2 (4), was crushed in four rounds by Irish southpaw Paul McCloskey in a British 10st title challenge in March but returned to the win column with a routine 60-55 six-round points decision over Devon-based Iranian Ali Wyatt at the Civic Hall in June.

Harrison's call to British title arms came at short notice and the 25-year-old First Team-promoted International Masters welterweight champion will hope he has a lot more time to prepare the next time the Lonsdale Belt is up for grabs.

Also on First Team's Civic bill - which will be the last professional show of the season - are Dudley middleweight Jamie Ball, 6-0 (1), Halesowen's Keith Sheen, 2-0, Tipton's Rob Doodey, 2-0, Cradley's Chris Male, 5-0, Coventry duo Troy James, 2-0-1, and James Mulhern, 2-0, along with the paid debut of former top ten-rated Tipton amateur Lee Glover.

First Team Branch Out

Black Country-based promotional outfit First Team (Paul (PJ) Rowson and Errol Johnson) branched out of the confines of the Midlands over the weekend with two cards in the southern half of the country.

Their first, a Friday night show at the Christie Miller Sports Centre in Melksham, Wiltshire, saw sculpted Stourbridge trier Kevin McCauley register a decent-looking four-round draw with Swindon-based Swede Vatche Wartanian, who hadn't fought for three years but had a 9-2-2 (2) ledger entering.

McCauley, now with pro stats that show four wins in 13 (one draw), has scored back-to-back results in a brace of weeks, having outpointed five-fight unbeaten Brock Cato in Bristol on June 13. The West Country is proving to be a happy hunting ground for the Jay Morris-trained 29-year-old.

Trowbridge's Nick 'Bang Bang' Blackwell, who Rowson signed to his promotional stable after an impressive sparring session earlier this year, entered the paid ranks with a three-round stoppage win over Dave Sadler. Blackwell won 16 out of 16 (14 early wins) in the unlicensed arena and dropped the winless man from Nottingham in the second and third before the referee stepped in.

Another former unlicensed fighter from Wiltshire, Melksham super-featherweight Liam Richards, was also successful on his professional bow. Birmingham's former British and Commonwealth title challenger Anthony Hanna has 112 fights to his name and recently held top-rated Daniel Walton to a draw but lost handily over six to Richards.

Other results saw Wolverhampton light-middle Myles Holder extend his unbeaten run to two with a hard-fought six-round points win over durable Bargoed scrapper Gary Cooper, now without a win in four, and Paignton's Kristine Shergold, who gave Wolverhampton's Lyndsey Scragg an excellent ten-round tussle two weeks ago, chalked up her second win in five with a repeat points nod over Lana Cooper.

First Team's second card of the weekend, a Sunday show at Luton's Liquid Envy Nightclub, saw former British and Commonwealth lightweight boss Graham Earl return to winning ways for the first time in three years with a shut-out six-round win over Birmingham's 149-bout veteran Karl Taylor.

Earl, 30, was once good enough to challenge for a recognised world title and beat former European champion Yuri Romanov, who fights for the WBA title soon, but had lost three on the bounce and his last two were back-to-back opening round drubbings, by Amir Khan and Henry Castle. He announced his retirement after the Castle loss in October but was tempted back and dictated the action with the jab to score win 26 from 30 (12 stoppages).

Another lightweight to return to winning ways after three losses on the spin was Walsall's former English champion Martin Gethin, who outpointed Birmingham's durable Jason Nesbitt, celebrating fight 100, over four rounds.

Gethin was once 15-0-1, scoring wins over unbeaten Yorkshire pair Nadeem Siddique and John Fewkes, but then slumped to 15-3-1. He lost his English crown to Scott Lawton, dropped a close nod to unbeaten John Waston and, more shockingly, to Chris Long, who entered with very modest 9-23-4 pro stats, in May. Consensus was the 25-year-old Black Country banger was robbed against Long, but it has harmed his title credentials.

But he boxed well against busy Nesbitt, hammering away at both head and body and running out a 40-36 victor.

Belfast's Luke Wilton had twice beaten Walsall's Delroy Spencer in mounting an impressive-sounding 4-1-1 professional slate but couldn't make it three as the 40-year-old Midlander celebrated his 100th pro outing with his first win in three years.

Wilton, 21, had been lined up to fight Chris Edwards for the British and Commonwealth flyweight titles later on this year but couldn't match the fired-up Spencer, now 11-86-3 (1), and went down on points.

Happy 100th, Delroy.

Other results saw Mansfield's Pavils Senkovs, 1-5 (1), concede a points verdict to first-timer Blaine Courtney, Luton, and another Luton debutant, Michael Devine, edged out Michael Harvey, despite Devine tasting the canvas in the third. Two more first-timers, Bedford's Jamie Boness and Lincoln's Ryan Clark, fought to a well-received draw.

Butler next for McDermott?

Darren McDermott has been ordered to make the first defence of his English middleweight title against touted Bristol stylist Danny Butler.

The 30-year-old Dean Powell-managed fighter, a former Midland Area and British Masters boss, was stopped in four rounds by Darren Barker in a Commonwealth title tilt in May, but a successful defence of his English crown could pave the way to another shot at top-class domestic honours within the next 12 months.

His other crack at a top domestic title also ended in an early defeat, albeit on a cut against Birmingham's then-British middleweight champion Wayne Elcock in June 2008.

But Western Area champion Butler is on the up and has impressed since his move to middleweight last year. Since the move from 11st, he's added the scalps of current Midland Area middleweight champion Tony Randell and former British title challenger Paul Samuels, who he meets again for the vacant British Masters middleweight title in July, to his 18-fight (17 wins,
three early) learning ledger.

The solitary stain on the 21-year-old's professional record came against undefeated St. Helens prospect Martin Murray, dropping a close three-round split decision to the eventual winner in the Prizefighter middleweight semi-final last year.

And Hatton Promotions-handled Butler is confident of victory should he meet popular McDermott, telling the Bristol Evening Post: "I’d love to face McDermott. It would be a good scalp and i'd love for the fight to happen in Bristol."

But champion McDermott, 16-2-1 (9), would enter the ten-rounder as the favourite. He won his English title with a clear ten-round decision over experienced Coventry southpaw Steve Bendall in February and has mixed at a more exalted level.

The British Boxing Board of Control have advised for the fight to take place before the end of November 2009.

Braveheart In Line For Belts

Former pro and Warrior Promotions supremo Jon Pegg has hinted that his undefeated super-middleweight, Bartley Green ticket-seller Eddie McIntosh, could fight for a title before the year is out.

McIntosh, who boxes sturdy Newark light-heavyweight Jamie Norkett in a six-threes bill-topper at Edgbaston's Tower Ballroom on July 5, has earned praise from his trainer, former WBC world super-middleweight champion Richie Woodhall, and many in the trade after racking up eight consecutive wins (two stoppages) since his pro bow in 2007.

And now, with his second six-rounder in a row lined up, the popular Brummie known as "Braveheart" could have his shot at Midland Area, British Masters or even Celtic title honours in the next six months - providing opposition can be found for him and he keeps adding wins to his ledger.

McIntosh, a measured, steady and bull-strong boxer with fast hands, took less than two rounds to blow away Lee Nicholson in his first 18-minute bout in April but looks destined to go the full route this time around. The Carl Greaves-handled Norkett has only been halted once in 12 pro outings, winning three, and has only been shut out once.

"The plan is to get Eddie a full six-rounder under his belt next week and then he'll be in a position to box for a title," said Pegg, who co-promotes the Sunday afternoon show in Birmingham with Black Country-based First Team (PJ Rowson and Errol Johnson).

"Sam Horton is the Midland Area champion and that would be a good Birmingham vs Black Country fight. Eddie also has strong Celtic links (Scottish and Irish-rooted) and that title is another avenue we would like to go down if we can.

"But he has a tricky test against Norkett, who always comes to have a go, to get out of the way first."

Welcome from Tom Podmore.

With BritishBoxing.net, the site i have been a contributing member of for the past four years, currently experiencing technical difficulties that has seen it offline for almost two months, i have decided to set up my own site so i can inform and give my opinions on the latest news on the Midlands boxing scene.

My output has been quiet over the last ten months because i have relocated to West Yorkshire - Huddersfield - due to university. However, with myself back in the Midlands from July to September, i will increase and keep this site as up-to-date as my time permits.

As i have done on BBN over the past four years, i will interview fighters, preview upcoming shows and attend shows i can in the Midlands, starting with the good-looking Warrior Promotions and First Team-promoted Sunday afternoon card at Edgbaston's Tower Ballroom on July 5.

I hope those who take the time to visit the site will enjoy what i write.

Regards

Tom Podmore, 2009.