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.