Brummie veteran Razak to fight for Midlands belt

Not many fighters are handed a crack at a title after 91 fights, 11 years of action and pushing 40.

But durable Brummie Sid Razak's reward for securing three victories in the past 12 months is an opportunity to spoil the maiden defence of Amir Unsworth's Midlands Area lightweight title.

Razak has long been regarded as the toughest journeymen on the circuit but gets the opportunity, like Billy Smith did after a decent run five years ago, to add champion to that tag against a former English 9st 9lbs title challenger who'll fight in front of his home town supporters on May 19.

Carl Greaves promotes at Sleaford's Northgate Sports Hall and it'll be Lincolnshire-based Unsworth's first defence of a belt he won with a three-round smashing of Wolverhampton's always-exciting Steve Saville in late 2010. 

Since then, though, he's scored just a solitary victory in three, including back-to-back reversals to Derry Mathews and William Warburton in the second-half of 2011. Blasted out in eight seconds short of three minutes by Mathews, Amir, 13-5-1 (2), will look to throw himself back into the English title mix with a win over the Second City veteran.

But this isn't likely to be a straight-forward defence. 

The Peter Buckley-handled 39-year-old former British Masters featherweight title challenger has heard the final bell on 85 occasions and his 447 rounds-worth of experience, compiled in nine fights short of a century, will stand him in excellent stead for the 30-minute East vs West Midlands title showdown.

Four of his eight paid wins [three stoppages] have arrived against then-unbeaten prospects expecting another 'W' - and one of his best, a two-round spanking of much-vaunted Irishman Damian Taggart, 5-1, was against a big-punching boxer lined up to challenge for his country's national title. 

Shaven-headed Razak will look to unleash similar form in eight weeks.