Greetings again my WCB friends and I trust all is well with you. I will start this off by announcing my appointment of work at my local hospital (security job) as well as working as security at the Anthony Joshua-Joseph Parker scrap this weekend, which ain’t half bad work when it means getting people in the stadium and watching the punch up for free too! Result!

Now then, I’m going to talk about the recent O2 event that happened just this weekend gone with Dillian Whyte and Lucas Browne and a few other bouts that took place that Saturday. I’ll start with the undercard bouts that were televised and worthy of mention, one which was not.

Anthony Fowler was a 2016 Olympian and is not scared to have a scrap, take a punch and just show you what he’s made of. He was up against Kalilou Dembele, a French-Cameroonian and someone not just to make up the numbers. The talking heads that make up Sky Sports boxing commentary team know their stuff and noted upon Fowler’s performance. Whereas you Amerikaners might get Jim Lampley and Max Kellerman who’ve never boxed in their lives and the closest they’ve boxed is eggs, Sky have Carl Froch, Johnny Nelson, Paul Smith Jr., and Spencer Oliver. All ex-world champions or contenders. As well as Adam Smith who is the head honcho of the Sky Boxing team and yeah, he ain’t boxed but certainly is very knowledgable on the game, having studied it since he was a kid and practised being a commentator at the same age too. Anorak!! By the way, who the fuck is that American bloke your side who tries to sound like Howard Cosell? The point I’m making, is that they noticed that Fowler was taking too many unnecessary shots despite his dominance in the contest. The thing is, the aim of the game is to hit and not get hit, so why think it’s fun to take shots which will be detrimental to your health? Particularly when you have the skills to pay the bills and when you’ve made a ton of money, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to count it?  Dave Coldwell, Fowler’s trainer was said after that this foolhardy practise will stop and this kid will keep his hands up in future. The result was a KO in the 5^th of 6 to which Dembele protested the count out, but seeing the ref’s point of view were Kalilou once dropped and had been in the 2^nd, him laying flat out with his hands like in the crucifix position, it’s easy to see why.

Dereck Chisora in case you didn’t know had an absolute war with Dillian Whyte last December and was in an 8 rounder with some stiff called Zakaria Azzouzi, probably Italian, Gawd knows anyway and he banged him out in 2. Azzouzi, dropped his hands when up against the ropes and ‘Del Boy’ went whallop on his chin and it was a case of Good night Irene. Afterwards, David Haye, who fancies himself as a promoter with Richard Schaeffer these days, tried to offer Dereck some money with his budding prospect Joe Joyce, the Olympic silver medallist from Rio 2016 at super-heavyweight. Now according to my source who is managed by the same manager as Chisora, Dereck was offered peanuts. According to the Hayemaker, he offered him more than what he got for fighting Vitali Klitschko but my source told me that was bullshit. Apparently the final offer, was 200 grand against a 3 bout novice. Saying that, Joe Joyce is a bit special but at the end of the day money talks.

Next up was Frank Buglioni, yep, you guessed it, of Italian extract, aka ‘Wiseguy’. Frank is a big ticket seller in that London and his British light heavy title was on the line against Commonwealth champion Callum Johnson. This was expected to be a cagey affair but Frank was blown away in a round! Callum Johnson has had injuries and the passing of his father that messed up his head too. You could tell as soon as he hit the ‘Wiseguy’ he was not showing any sort of mafia respect and after 2 knockdowns it was curtains for Francesco. Despite Buglioni getting up from the 2^nd knockdown he had legs like this old drunken sailor after a heavy session. I’m sure a rematch is in the offing, but we will have to wait and see on that. Johnson dedicated the fight to his late father.

The next contest of note was Lewis Ritson of Newcastle against Scott Cardle. Lewis came into the contest as the defending British lightweight champ and this kid can bang. Scott Cardle is a former holder of said belt and his gameplan was to go in there and bang like an outside shithouse door in the wind as he did in the first round. Ritson, however, kept his composure, held his hands up and fired back too. I’d have given that a 10-9 round to Cardle but Ritson was not bothered by that and went back into round 2 fighting fire with fire and dropped Scott once and then again and the towel came in from cornerman Joe Gallagher as well as the ref jumping in simultaneously to stop the bout. I suggest you look Ritson up on YouTube. If you can catch an interview with him you Amerikaners might need subtitles (I understand you struggle with broad English dialects anyway!) but Lewis speaks another language, known as Geordie. Geordie is the dialect of people from Newcastle or as the locals call is ‘Noocassel’ and a typical Geordie phrase such as “Had’away and shite man, ya divvent knaa wot ya taakin’ aboot” would translate as “I say there, fellow, you are somewhat incorrect in your assumption”. You get the idea.

To the main event which was broadcast on HBO, dunno if you saw the aforementioned bouts but the chat from the team was “this was being broadcast Stateside, live”, and into the ring for the WBC (We’re Being Conned) silver heavyweight championship was from Australia but managed by Ricky Hatton, Lucas Browne. Browne is a former WBA heavyweight champ and to be honest I liked the guy beforehand but seeing him at the weigh in at 264lbs and his belly seeping over his trunks made me think he hasn’t prepared properly. Dillian came in at 254lbs but certainly had a gameplan. Whyte boxed smart, using his long arms to good effect but Browne had nothing tucked away (certainly not his stomach) apart from his big right hand. To be honest I think I saw him catch Whyte 3 times, if that with his right hand, he was pathetic. In the end Whyte caught him with a crashing left hook in the 6^th and Lucas went face first on the floor. There was concern as it was a heavy KO and despite Whyte’s euphoria as he saw the payday with Deontay Wilder coming right up and seeing the £££ signs, he had to be calmed down as Browne looked quite dodgy on the deck. He eventually sat up and was stretchered out and to hospital as a precaution. Whyte was ecstatic in his post-fight interview and screamed blue murder at the camera calling Wilder out. I seriously think Wilder best grow some muscles on his chin after how he looked dodgy against Ortiz in his previous punch up. I noticed on Browne’s Instagram he mentioned he had shit prep, poor camp, all sorts of excuses but they don’t wash on this scribe. You come to fight and you come prepared when you’re getting big bucks.

The bout I mentioned that was not worthy of a tv broadcast, was just that, so will not be mentioned! Anyway, thanks for reading and by all means send me your feedback, hate filled comments, praise or whatever, I have broad shoulders and you’re all keyboard warriors as I might be! Hahahaha! Take care and be lucky.

3/10/2018- San Antonio- Riverside’s unbeaten Mikey Garcia, (37-0-30K) collects titles the way some folks collect trading cards. In a heated contest for the IBF Jr. Welterweight title against the forever dangerous champion, Sergey  Lipinets (13-0-10K), Garcia had to stay on his p’s and q’s.  Lipinets has a somewhat awkward style that prevented Garcia from becoming overly aggressive. Constantly dipping to his right to avoid Mikey’s big shots, Lipinets was able to nail Garcia often with sneaky shots. I read in some quarters, that Garcia was a 20 to one favorite. Those odds  were obviously set by someone that doesn’t know sht about tha’ game. The champ landed enough sneaky shots, that he was able to bust up Mikey’s nose as early as the second round. This was one of those bouts that had you expecting a bomb to explode any minute.

The struggle went back and forth with each guy ‘gettin’ his. Mikey was able to start getting to the champ in the second, landing several one two sets. But he was always mindful of the impending danger. On several occasions, Mikey had his head snapped back from jarring shots from Sergey. This was a good fight to cap off the weekend, where it seemed like EVERY fight consisted of Jr. welters.  In the seventh, both guys traded left hooks but Garcia’s was on the chin, dropping Lipinets for the first time in his career. He was able to beat the count and was right back in the rumble. The champ, with only 13 fights on his slate was a very dangerous and formidable foe, but the ability to adjust was missing. The contest went the distance with Garcia capturing a unanimous decision (116-11/117-110/117-110) which was about right. Afterwards,  Mikey called out everybody except  Deontay Wilder. After the fight, Garcia announced he was going to Belize (?) to build some houses. Uh, Mikey, there are PLENTY of places to build houses for poor people in Cali.. When he made the announcement, camera hunter, Sam Watson wanted to know if they had cameras in Belize. I’m serious, this dude can find that camera no matter WHERE they put them. He ALWAYS makes a point to stand right over the ring announcer’s shoulder, where he KNOWS that’s where the Red light is aimed.

In the semi, for the vacant (what else) WBA Jr. welterweight title, Long and lanky Rance Barthelemy (26-0-1ND-13K) found a perfect spot to learn a lot of his shots, under Kiryl Relikh’s testacles. At one point Rance bent his knees and fired a straight right DIRECTLY at Relikh’s cajones, making NO attempt to act as if it was an oops moment. For the most fight Relikh (21-2-19K) gave Rance a thorough boxing lesson. Kiryl forced the action and was declared the winner, there were no knockdowns and the final tally was (117-110/118-109/118-109.

3/9/2018-Aside from those two sluggish, lumbering heavyweights, plodding about the ring with the speed of a duck billed platypus, on Showtime, most of the action was pretty entertaining. Hell, even the female fight on ESPN were better than those behemoths. So, let’s get the big boys outta’ the way first.

In Deadwood, South Dakota, a fitting place for these two slugs. Junior Fa (13-0-8K) whom the networks seem to be promoting as a future star, from New Zealand  like he’s the second coming of Jimmy Thunder. I’d seen Fa before against a guy that looked like he’d just HEARD about boxing and didn’t know it required training. The worse aspect of it, was they did this for EIGHT rounds, with Fa awarded a majority decision. How the judges remained awake long enough to score it was a mystery to me.

In a grueling, hard fought junior welterweight eliminator, short, stocky, hard punching Ivan Baranchyk  (16-0-10K), landed enough looping power shots on the body (everywhere) of game but outgunned  Petr Petrov  (38-5-20-18K) for the better part of eight rounds in a Jr. welterweight eliminator. This was an entertaining affair with Petrov wanting to work from distance, something , something the bomb throwing Baranchyk wasn’t even REMOTELY interested OR concerned with. Round after round, Ivan would wade, in hurling looping lefts and rights at the game Petrov, with absolutely no regard for where they landed. Poor Petr was so overwhelmed, it didn’t matter HOW game he was. A stiff jab knocked Petrov off his feet in the opening seconds which was a bad omen. Over the course of eight rounds, Petr was dropped a total of four times, each seemingly coming from a different assault. Many of those hard shots landed behind Petrov’s head which I’m SURE didn’t feel good. Baranchyk’s attack was especially dangerous given his disregard for the ultimate locations of his shots. There were multiple times this carnage could’ve been called off but Petrov had a really BRAVE corner. Finally, after being battered along the ropes and dropped for the fourth time, this beating was interrupted by the ref. Petrov indeed, had his moments, landing big shots and often backing up the shorter Baranchyk, but he was in with a guy possessed tonight. The stoppage came at 1:12. The short flame thrower will prove to be no walk in the park for ANY ’40 pounder. I knew Ivan was tough when they announced he was born in New York but moved to Russia, who DOES that?

In the main event, rampaging Jr. Welter, unbeaten, Regis Prograis (20-0-17K) showed a TOTAL lack of respect for his elder as he went up one side and down the other on the veteran Julius Indongu. Last time I saw Indongu (22-1-12K), he was ko’d, courtesy of a debilitating body shot from superstar, Terrance Crawford, which should be nothing to be ashamed of. Crawford stopped him in three rounds and the cocky Regis wanted to play ‘ I can do it better’. Prograis, seems to be a combination of Errol Spence and Gervonte  Davis. Ironically, they’re all Black and lefthanded  AND relentless. He’s cocky and talkative, like Davis and a relentless body puncher ala Spence. Indongo looks really weak and seems like any decent shot causes him to unravel, which put him in a dangerous place tonight. Skittering around the ring, landing occasional flurries, it was obvious, this was not gonna’ end well for him. Nearly every time the stalking Regis put his hands on him, Indongo  seemed ready to vacate the premises. Prograis realized early (maybe at contract signing) that he had nothing to worry about and bit down on his mouthpiece and just unloaded on poor Indongo, dropping him four times in two rounds. Body shots, straight lefts, right hooks, I can’t recall anything he DIDN’T hurt Indongo with. Seems  like he was down more than up. Afterwards, Regis went into Davis mode, yelling “can’t nobody fk wit me, I’m the best at this shit”. He called out everybody and let it be known he wanted to stop Indongo quicker than Crawford, which he did. This dude is a problem. He’s strong, tough and seems to have that much needed nasty streak. He complained that his fights don’t last long enough to display all his talents.He should wear his new strap with pride.

At Costa Mesa, on the Golden Boy Card, this was a mixed bag of emotions. In the opener, fast rising, talented, Alex Rocha of Santa Ana (TKO Boxing Club, showed why he’s a fighter to keep your eyes on. Rocha (10-0-7K) is the brother of Ronny Rios, also of Santa Ana. and are extremely tight. Given the fact he seems to have all the tools, there was NO real reason for him to be fighting the guy he fought  tonight. This guy, one Miguel Dumas (10-1-7K) looked like he camps out along the Santa Ana River. He entered the ring as if he’d just been aroused from a good night’s sleep. And soon, he was BACK to sleep. I mean, I like Rocha but give me a BREAK. In just 1:49 seconds, Rocha had destroyed this guy and I DO mean, DESTROYED. After scoping his prey out for a few seconds (maybe 10), the hard hitting sharpshooter landed a sizzling set topped off by a devastating left uppercut to Dumas’ chin dropping him. Upon getting up, he was hit with THREE straight right hands allowing him to resume his siesta’. Rocha probably gets more resistance from shadow boxing. The announcer said, DeLaHoya “expected some rounds” from Dumas, yeah, rounds of  DRINKS, maybe.

I wanna’ start on the main event  by saying this. Ronny Rios (29-2-13K) is as tough and game as they come but I’m starting to worry about him. I was at his fight with Ray Vargas and he (imo) took a bad beating, DESPITE the ranting and raving of his coach. Vargas’ style was a big issue for Rios, because he’s tall, rangy and fights well inside and out. It seems Rios had no SHOT in that fight. In tonight’s fight against Hard core Armenian, Azat Hovhannisyan (13-2-10K), it seemed Rios took even a worse beating. Freddie Roach said before the fight “if Rios tries to ko Azat, he’s gonna’ end up on his ass” and THIS time Roach was right. In the runup, Rios said “I’ve been starting too slow but I won’t, tonight”. Well, maybe he SHOULD have because for every (there were many) assault he launched in front of his fanatical home fans, he was matched by the fiery WBC (Continental Americas version) champ’s two fisted response. There was action from the start and at first it seemed like the quick starting Rios was on point. Digging hard downstairs, Rios had the champ retreating. Azat started taunting Rios with his hands down and paid for it by getting punched in his mouth, TWICE.

Things took a wrong turn for Rios in the third when Azat found his range and unloaded a huge two fisted attack, startling the crowd and nearly dropping their homie. This was a devastating round for Ronny as he needed a GPS to find his corner. It was an emotional scene as his brother was seen praying hard at ringside. It seemed like Ronny never fully recovered from this assault. His corner berated him, swearing at him reminding me of his fight with Vargas. Rios was taking some serious shots and he needed encouragement, not a cussing out. I have trained many fighters and sure, sometimes they need a kick in the ass but when he’s getting beaten up they Ronny was, I don’t see how that helps and it DIDN’T.  In the fourth, a head butt (which there many) caused a HUGE (Rachman like) knot near Rios’ right temple. This seemed to be cause for concern and Rios was obviously bothered by it. Each time they clashed Rios would walk away, causing ref Jack Reiss to say, “Ronny, don’t turn your back, you ok”? This was getting bad and Azat was starting to talk shit to Rios while battering him. The fifth was a ‘breather’ round for both guys but the beating resumed in the sixth as Azat was in full killer mode, rocking Rios with a savage two fisted attack. This fight could’ve been stopped then, as Rios seemed to be losing confidence. He was blasted to the canvas by a big right hand, AGAIN time for a “that’s it” which didn’t come. Rios was on his feet but out of the fight. Another huge right hand sent Rios down and badly beaten and FINALLY Reiss stepped in. If that were MY guy, I would’ve been concerned about the knot on his temple as well as the ferocious beating he was taking. I sure as hell wouldn’t be yelling in his face, “ how bad do you want this”? This was a BAD beating, the SECOND one over a short span and good guy Rios’s peeps need to set him down for a long rest before signing another contract. I think he’s a good fighter, talented but THOSE kinds of beatings normally don’t come with a happy ending. Please Hector, WATCH ya’ boy. I felt kinda bad for Azat in a way. After his startling and convincing win, he was in center ring for nearly a minute before his peeps came to celebrate with him. He came to hostile turf and handled his business in a huge way. Big props to the champ.

Oops, in between, there was a female hookup with Lisa Garland (15-9-8K) ran up on Mariela Cornajo and in a fine performance, made her quit against the ropes following a battering. Things ended in the third round.

3/3/2018- MSG, NY-In the titanic heavyweight battle between WBC champ, Deontay Wilder and unbeaten Cuban strong man, Luis (the Real King Kong) Ortiz, the jury was out right up until the ko. In the Garden, there was never a doubt. What I saw was two, continuous, consistent, ongoing, sustained ass kickings. Were it not for the bloodied face of Igor  Mikhalkin (21-1-9K) who made me think I was watching the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the long drawn out dominance by Dimitry Bivol (12-0-10K) over Sullivan Barrera, I don’t know who suffered the most.

Former light heavyweight champ Sergey (Krusher) Kovalev put the hurt on his ‘friend,’ Mikhalkin, who was somehow, the IBO champ. This was one sided the minute the contracts were signed. Except for a couple of mid rounds, Igor had as much business in there as I would. He should ONLY be in the same arena as Krusher,  if he paid for his ticket. Kovalev looked pretty sharp, all things considered but I DID hear his corner ask him “are you tired”? This was after the SECOND round. How is THAT possible for a former champion? He complained about being over trained with John David Jackson, his old trainer. Seems like the Krusher  has an  unlimited array of excuses. This thing was like a bad sparring session. By the sixth, Igor was a total mess, courtesy of his ‘friend’. Just think if Kovalev  DIDN’T like him so much. This guy looked like Chuck Wepner,  after an outing with Smokin’ Joe Frazier. After a visit from the doctor, who SHOULD’ve had an IV with him, the carnage was stopped. This guy had cuts ON his cuts. The time of the stoppage was 2:25 seconds of the seventh round.

Dimitry Bivol , touted as the latest Russian strongman has only a dozen pro fights and already owns the WBA belt. He’s a well trained, disciplined fighter with a stiff jab and a big right hand. Berrera, who is not without talent has looked better in recent outings but should have stayed home and watched the Wilder fight tonight. The only thing he proved was he could take a protracted ass whippin’ He was beaten up from the start to the finish, which came in the twelfth round. He was dropped by a hard right and and was unsteady when he arose. The end came at 1:41 of the last round. He would’ve been better served if he’d just pulled an Andre Dirrell and waved the White flag. Though this was a romp, Bivol didn’t come out looking pretty, either. His right eye was cut from a clash of heads and he had several noticeable lumps on his face and head. I think Bivol’s peeps need to get him some more polish before he just challenges anybody, but hey, he’s the WBA champ and a champ should take on all comers, that’s how they USED to do it. After just 12 fights, one can only have SO much experience. There’s talk of him facing Kovalev and if he put his hands on Serg as often as the limited Igor did and Serge is out of petro after three rounds, well who knows WHAT might happen?

3/3/2018-New York- I confess to being one of those that was always criticizing WBC champ Deontay Wilder (40-0-39K) as amateurish, wild, no REAL skills, only that freight train of a right hand. “He’ll get ko’d the first time he fights somebody decent”. Well, that was damn near 40 ko’s ago, so it’s time I sing a different tune. He’s an ugly finisher, I said but the key word was ‘finisher’ and that’s what he always does. The record books say w-ko, not w ugly ko. But will he beat Joahua, I wouldn’t bet oon that. Wilder is the type that glues you to the tv, waiting for something big or crazy to happen which normally DOES.

Tonight in his seventh defense of his WBC strap, he faced his most formidable foe, the one his doubters have been waiting for, THIS, they said, is the one to finally expose the ‘wild man from Bama’. The big Cuban,  unbeaten Luis (the Real King Kong) 28-0-24K-2 ND. Ortiz came in brimming with confidence, an outstanding amateur and questions about where his REAL birth certificate was, was he REALLY born in Cuba, lol? He even looks old in the mug. The lefty Ortiz was by far the most skilled guy Wilder had faced, however.

Coming in at a surprisingly light 214, it seemed like Wilder was preparing for a long fight. Ortiz was 241. Ortiz got off to a good start, catching the retreating champ with a few decent left hands. Wilder spent the better part of four rounds in reverse as Ortiz lumbered forward. Missing was the usually lethal right hand of the champ. He rarely threw it and missed when he did. In some ways, Wilder looked sloppier than usual, when he started getting involved. His punches were sloppy as hell and that piston jab must’ve been back in Tuscaloosa or SOMEPLACE. The crowd was booing the lack of action in the fifth when a short right dropped Ortiz. Oh shit I thought, here come the windmills. Wilder rushed in but Ortiz fought back, sometimes with wild swings of his own, HOWEVER, he wasn’t  gonna’ out wild, Wilder.

Ortiz had a great shot at making history in the seventh when he hurt the champ with solid head shots causing Wilder to hold on for dear life. This was early and the attack continued with the champ getting drilled with a two-handed body attack along the ropes. Those shots drained an already light champion on his spindly legs. Wilder lied when he said he wasn’t hurt, his ass was one shot away from saying, “it happens to the best of them”. This was getting fast and furious as Wilder’s mandible withstood the attack, ANOTHER question we all had. This was as exciting as it was sloppy.

Ortiz had shot his load though and for the next couple of rounds, he did very little and Wilder wasn’t  raisin’ any he’ll ether. In a furious finish to the ninth round, both tiring giants landed hard shots at the bell. Wilder seemed the fresher (by now, Ortiz was looking like he was about seventy) starting the tenth and started backing Ortiz up and dropping him with a flurry early in the round. This time the windmill WAS unpacked. Running after his faded foe, Deontay unloaded the kitchen sink on Ortiz, finally folding him up with a vicious right uppercut. Fight over. Ortiz was on all fours like a Texas bullfrog as the ref waved it off, mid count.

So now, where ARE we with the still unbeaten champion? Will people say, oh, Ortiz was too old, Wilder got a fake t. o. when the doc came in, he’ll never beat Anthony Joshua looking like THIS, blah blah blah Well, guess what, we’ll all be tuning in, because if nothing else, it will be vedddddddy  interesting and I can’t wait.

In the co main, big- shit talking Andre Dirrell (26-2-16K) and his thug coach didn’t have room to complain or sucker punch anybody as Dirrell got his ass kicked in, in his rematch with Jose Uzcategui (26-2-22K). Cleressa Shield wasn’t in attendance tonight, either so this was a bad night for Flint Mi. Dirrell, while talented, has had a strange career. One has to question his heart a bit, when shit gets a little hot in the ring, he has NO problems finding an early exit. Tonight, he had the Fight Whisperer, Virgil Hunter, in his corner. Hunter did wonders with the questionably ‘retired’ former champ Andre Ward but hasn’t really done shit with anybody else otherwise. He’s pretty much a one trick pony, same as Floyd Mayweather Sr. In a spirited (while it lasted) Jose kept his promise of pressuring Dirrell from the gate. He drilled Dirrell with clean shots throughout, reducing Dirrell to only fighting to keep Jose off his ass. He never initiated anything and was behind in the fight. Before the start of the eighth round, the ‘odd’ Dirrell showed up. He OBVIOUSLY didn’t wanna’ play anymore DESPITE the screaming from  his thug coach AND Hunter. He turned to the crowd despite the ref telling him to face the ring.

Maybe he’d seen as much as he cared to, of Uzcategui. Hunter screamed, “I’m giving you one more round Dirrell, if you don’t fight, I’m stopping the fight”. This was one of those, ‘you can’t fire me, I already quit’ deals. When the ref signaled the fight over, Andre went into that fake-ass, ‘why you stoppin’ the fight’ act. It was laughable. I wonder why thug coach didn’t jump in and swing on Jose like he did before. I doubt he would’ve gotten away clean THIS time. So what’s next for Dirrell, maybe he answered already, when he quit tonight.

Greetings again WCB’ers and thanks for reading. Today I am going to give you an insight into a good friend of mine and local professional, Darren Townley. Darren has been a professional now for about 2 years, making his debut at the famous York Hall, in Bethnal Green in THAT London, on September 19^th 2015.

I have known Darren for many years now, when he was an amateur and used to come and spar with some of my lads at my old club, Saltash ABC. Darren will be the first to tell you his amateur career finishing up with a record of 13-10, but always saw a positive in a negative by learning lessons from his defeats. However, Darren is always keen to learn and even took himself over the pond to Temecula in California to learn and get some quality sparring in as well as a change of scenery. Such was the quality of sparring he even managed to get a few rounds in with Mauricio Herrera, the former WBC super-lightweight champ of the whole planet earth.

I caught up with him after his latest bout which was an 8 round title fight for the International Challenge Super Lightweight belt which he won against a lad from across country called Dylan Draper. Darren won this strap by the referee’s score of 79-74, which was from this observer’s view, a diligent and determined effort from Darren, who worked hard for his victory. I asked him how he felt going into that contest, “I felt supremely confident and in great condition. I had some great sparring in the gym with some tough lads in there, one being Christian Hoskins Gomez, who despite being a journeyman is as hard as nails and never takes a backwards step, along with an amateur called Nick Miller.”

If you look at Darren’s record on Boxrec (8-2), you’ll notice ‘Daz’ has had a couple of defeats. I asked, what happened there and why do you think you lost? “My first defeat was to Henry Janes (who beat local hope Des Newton the other week-Rab) and when I looked at a couple of videos of him I thought he should be easy enough to beat, he didn’t look anything special. How wrong I was! Talk about never underestimating your opponent, I’m afraid I did just that! I just didn’t turn up that night, it was a bad night.” I can confer with that as having been to all of Darren’s bouts and can see when he looks in form or not. “My second defeat was to Ibrar Riyaz and my training camp wasn’t great, couldn’t get enough decent sparring, I had injury niggles, that sort of thing and I was retired on my stool by my corner. After that I had for various reasons, a change of training team, albeit we parted amicably, and am now with Carl Robson after having a look around the gyms for some decent training partners too. I feel everything gels well there and I enjoy my training more. It should be noted that Ibrar was very experienced and my management might have overestimated him too.” I guess you live and learn, such is the professional game.

Darren is managed by up and coming promoter Steve Goodwin, who said recently in the British Boxing News aka ‘the trade paper’ that he doesn’t need the money and does the promoting for the ‘love of the sport’. Only last week and on one day’s notice, Darren was offered a very sizeable sum of money to box for the English lightweight title on David Haye’s Ringstar promotion (and on television too) as a replacement opponent. “The weight cut of 5kg would’ve been too much, and I’d have ended up with serious health implications also. The money on offer was nice, but not worth the risk.” Darren is under no illusion as to how far he can go in the game, “A Southern Area title or maybe English title would be nice, but even at 30 years of age, I’m still learning.” I wouldn’t be so cautious myself, I remember Sam Eggington when he asked his management to go pro and just fancied being a journeyman, has since gone onto contest for the European title as well win the British and Commonwealth titles, so you never know. He recently beat Paulie Mallignaggi, who then announced his retirement.

What I like about Darren is that he is a nice, humble bloke, no airs and graces and helpful to those in the gym and gives his time to everybody. He has good family support from his Mum, Dad and brother and his lovely girlfriend Georgina, as well as the support of sponsors who he is keen to thank. They being D&N Diving Services, Total Rebuild (conditioning), Plymouth Life Centre (for the use of the gym, Kyle Simpson Sports Therapy and Dartmoor Specialist Building Services. Darren would also like to thank all his supporters who’ve been there since day one and everyone who buys a ticket to the shows. One of the hardest things of being a professional is selling tickets and getting people to come and watch you. One last thing, I should mention Darren’s beloved cat, Jaspercat, who he’s had since he was a kitten!!!

Thanks very much Darren for your time and I’ll see you soon. Cheers pal.

Back again WCB’ers from Blighty and hoping all’s well with you all and thank you for reading again. Before I start, please give me your feedback and if you have any constructive criticism then by all means, let me know.

January is generally a quiet month in the UK with everyone getting back into the swing of things after the festivities of Christmas and New Year, the first big show came from Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom promotion on February 3, with what was billed “British Beef”. This was a headline clash between two London boys who put their undefeated records on the line at an early stage of their careers, Lawrence Okolie from Hackney, East London against Isaac Chamberlain from Brixton, South London. These two lads were 8-0 and 9-0 respectively. The fact that these two had been calling each other out since their amateur days and the fact that they managed to nearly sell out the 02 arena in that there London (anyone whose not from that London sneeringly refers to it as THAT London, flash gits, think they’re the top dogs, etc.) is nothing short of remarkable. When you consider that Anthony Joshua calls the O2 as his second home, him being from Watford, north London and sells that out, it was anticipated that the fight would live up to the hype. Unfortunately, it didn’t. Apart from the first round were Lawrence dropped Chamberlain, the rest of the affair was like a wrestling match and in the 2^nd the ref docked off Isaac a point and in the 9^th Okolie was docked a point as well. It was pretty tedious to watch and when I’m watching my boxing on the box, if I’m fiddling about with my phone then I know it’s a shit match. For what it was worth anyway, they were contesting the WBA cruiserweight intercontinental strap. Talk about a Mickey Mouse bauble, hardly “intercontinental” when the two participants are from 20 miles apart from each other. Go figure. I won’t bore you with the scorecards as it was that dire. The winner was by submission, probably.  Okolie actually won it, if you care to give a shit.

The undercard provided some interesting bouts with the chief support being Ted “The Big Cheese” Cheeseman up against American gatekeeper Carson Jones. Some of you may recall Jones giving Kell Brook a hell of a test before he contested for world honours and also upset former world title challenger Brian Rose over here in one round. Albeit that was controversial in it being a stoppage, it sure was funny seeing Rose trying to get the referee to explain himself and referee Ian John-Lewis who was a former pro fighter himself, having to hide in his locker room until Rose had cooled off! Cheeseman was 11-0 going into the contest and was expected to get a good workout and a good workout he did. Another inter-two bob title was on the line and Jones was 4 pounds over the 154 limit. That tells you his ambition in the sport, saying that, he’s had 56 bouts with 40 wins, 13 losses and 3 draws, it’s fair to say he is winding down on his career. Mind you, if he’s getting a good wage for coming over here, he won’t complain. Ted bossed the fight for the most part, occasionally Jones had little success and that was reflected in the scores of 99-91 twice, and 100-98.

Another kid worth looking out for is Reece Bellotti, who had another contestant failing to weigh in, (a pound over) in Ben Jones. Reece is from Crawley which for any of you Amerikaners have flown into that London Gatwick airport, it’s down that way. Which isn’t too far from where my brother lives which is Horley and quite well to do, no peasants allowed! Not saying my brother is a posh git but he’s earning more than me!! Bellotti didn’t have much to worry about in what was for the Commonwealth title. The ‘Commonwealth’, is what used to be the British Empire, which we don’t have anymore, in case you were wondering. Bellotti did the job just 19 seconds into the 6^th, this kid has a very bright future.

Another bright hope from our Olympians in 2016 and light heavy bronze medallist, was Joshua Buatsi from Croydon, south London who blasted out Jordan Joseph in 2 rounds. You might recall back in Rio in the Games he was blasting everyone out until he met the Cuban (I think) who was a bit too savvy and experienced but nevertheless getting to the semi-final he displayed his punching prowess.

I have to say we have some special lads coming through as well as those at the top of the tree already. I should mention Northern Ireland’s Carl Frampton, former IBF super bantam champ and former WBA featherweight champion is up against Nonito Donaire on the 21^st April over 12 rounds for an intercontinental strap of one of the Alphabet Boys. Regardless, a top scrap is in store and just before I fly away to sunnier climes in the Canary Islands on the 24^th, my better half’s 50^th birthday! My treat to her 😉

Now, if you have been keeping abreast of the World Boxing Super Series and the cruiserweight division and over this side of the pond, where all the top dog cruisers are European (except one!), there were two scraps that were semi-finals between Oleksander Usyk (WBC champ) of the Ukraine and Mairis Breidis (WBO champ) of Latvia. I didn’t see this contest ‘live’ on the gogglebox but did eventually catch up with it on YouTube and I wasn’t disappointed after reading about it. These two went toe to toe for 12 rounds and this was a great example of sportsmanship and respect also. Usyk won on a majority decision and two judges giving it to Usyk with the other a draw. If that wasn’t good enough for you, the other semi-final between Russian Murat Gassiev (IBF champ) and Cuban Yunier Dorticos (WBA champ), then this was virtually non-stop all the way! These two could have fought in a phone booth, it was that intense. Gassiev won by Ko in the 12^th and had Dorticos was down at 1:02 prior to being knocked out the ring when the ref called time. Dorticos fought his heart out and it reflected in the press conference after when he wept unashamedly and again, showing courtesy and sportsmanlike behaviour, Gassiev went over and consoled his foe. Class act. The final is another to watch out for in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia- wot?!! Scheduled for May.

And finally, Roy Jones Jr. has had his last professional contest and hopefully that will be the end of it. Seeing as he won, maybe he can ride off into the sunset. Unlike some column inch hogging pain in the arse called Floyd Mayweather who’s now telling us he’s getting into MMA! Good luck with that, you’ll end up looking silly like James Toney did.

Thanks for reading again, be in touch soon enough.

Rab……………..

1/27/2018- Inglewood, Ca.- In NO way did the fights at the Fab Forum last night elicit memories of bygone years, at LEAST not the aired ones. From what I read though, there were some nice scraps on the undercard. However, from what aired on HBO, the main event,  featuring Argentinean Lucas Matthysee (38-4-1NC-35 kos) and Thailand’s Tiwa Kiram (38-0-28K) was a REAL snoozer for the better part of eight rounds, even drawing boos from a crowd that figured, given the ko percentages of these two, there would be some serious leather flying. Matthysee, once one of the most feared bangers at ’40 didn’t look like much as he stalked the bigger man around the ring but not landing much. He looked slow and not even close to the guy he once was. Perhaps ’47 is too big for him. This was for the vacant WBA welterweight strap. My advice to Lucas is to go BACK to ’40 because I don’t see him being competitive with the top guys at welter. How the hell Kiram ko’d  28 ANYTHING,  is a puzzle to me. He seemed to outweigh Lucas by at least ten ponds but sure didn’t seem to punch very hard. The only drama came between rounds five and six when Kiram’s corner man was trying to feed him some brown stuff from a little cup. Shades of Panama (“no, the one I mixed”) Brown. I don’t know what that crap was but it wasn’t doing Kiram any justice, ANYWAY. This was about the same time the boos started. Basically, this fight sucked.  Suddenly in the eighth round, after realizing he was pretty much shadow boxing,  Matthysee decided to pick up his attack, dropping Kiram with what appeared to be a so-so right hand. Upon rising, , another so-so shot from the left side landed on the Thai’s jaw and after a few seconds of contemplation, he dropped as if he’d been shot. Lucas called out all the top guns but I’m sure wiser minds will prevail, belt or NO belt, he‘s too small for the top ‘47’s. Ref Raul Caeiz warned Kiram often for holding but apparently missed all the rabbit punches Lucas landed.

In the co feature, the talented Jorge Linares (43-3-27) didn’t have too much to deal with in Mercito Gesta in a battle for the WBA and RING belts. Yeah, Gesta  (31-1-2D-17K) was there all night and was in good shape but a threat, he was NOT. He was pretty elusive for the most part and made Linares miss a lotta’ shots. His counters were nothing to cause concern for Linares. There were no drops in the bout in which the scores read 118-110/118-110/117-111 all in favor of Linares, who wants Mikey Garcia and Vasyl Lomachenko  badly.

1/20/2018-New York- After witnessing the annihilation, the thorough, no further questions, your honor, ass whippin’ that IBF undefeated welterweight champion Earl Spence administered to his ‘friend Lamont Peterson, I really see the ‘other’ champion Keith (One Time ) Thurman putting even more distance between himself and Spence. In past interviews, Thurman has let it be known in NO uncertain terms that he wants absolutely NADA  to do with the brutal, destructive, heavy handed Texan. Spence, now 23-0-20k has been calling Thurman’s digits for a minute now. In this game, there is often speculation about whether or not there’s some ‘ducking’ going on but with One Time, he’s letting us KNOW what time it is. This guy wishes the boxing folk would just stop mentioning Earl’s name to him at ALL. And all the while, Mr. sleepy eyes  is just saying to Thurman, “c’mon man”.

Last night at Barkley Center, Spence was a brutal, single minded wrecking machine. He speared Peterson with sapping shots to the body (and sometimes, beyond) and bounced mind numbing bombs off his noggin. Now, this is a man that Spence considers a ‘friend’, so imagine what’s on the menu for the petrified Thurman. Thurman figures there are WAY better things for HIM to do than become a piñata for the heavy handed Spence. The fight started slowly, for Lamont, that is, not so much for the southpaw champion. He was punishing Peterson (now 35-4-1-17K) as soon as the ref gave his instruction. This was pretty sad, actually. Peterson, as game as they come seemed to get old in a hurry and found out early, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even when he tired of Spence’s two fisted attack and launched his own vicious body shots, this only revved Spence up even more, leading to further problems. In the fifth round, after another two fisted assault from Spence, Peterson was dropped, courtesy of a finishing left hand to the temple seemed all but done. Actually he was THAT way as early as the fourth round. Eyes swollen  and his left eye cut, Peterson’s corner showed THEIR bravery by sending their warrior back into the wood chipper. At one point, Lamont was engaged in a long conversation with his trainer, saying, “I’m losing every round”. His trainer then said, “don’t give me a reason” ( to stop it) I was like, ‘what the HELL’, Spence was giving you all the reasons you NEEDED The announcers were all saying Lamont wanted to continue, BULLSHIT, he wanted  Earl to leave HIS ass the hell alone. After being played with and battered around the ring in the seventh, Lamont’s corner arrived at their senses and told ref Harvey Dock to stop it. MUCH to the relief of the  man from DC. Spence scored his 11^th straight ko.

If the 27 year old unbeaten champion is hoping to lure any of the other ‘47’s into the ring, he sure didn’t fight like it last night. Other than Terrence Crawford, who else IS there? And I’d strongly suggest Crawford have a couple fights at welterweight before calling Spence’s number. This is a one man wrecking crew folks and is only getting better and admits he “has a lot to work on”. One thing he needs to work on if he wants further action, is to not be so damn savage in the ring. This is the guy that supposedly messed up Mayweather’s  ribs as a teenager during a sparring session. When asked by the annoying Jim Gray if this was the end, Peterson said, “I just have to think about it”. Don’t worry Lamont, there’s only ONE Earl Spence and he is SPECIAL. I couldn’t help but notice that the Watsons were in fine lens hugging form last night, making sure they were in damn near every shot, They need to do some background work in the movies because they are always visible. Between THEM and that sista’ with the Ronald McDonald wig…..

In the semi on this Showtime card, big talking IBF lightweight champion, Robert (Ebunny) Easter (20-0-14K) struggled to a questionable split decision over the crouching, dirty fighting, Javier Fortuna (33-1-1-23K). They say, ‘styles make fights” and for the most part “styles” tonight, made for an ugly clinched filled 12 rounder. Easter had a five inch height advantage and a much longer reach, but chose to make this an inside scrap. As short as he is, Fortuna still found a way to end up pushing down on the taller man’s neck and in the second round as the champ was leaning through the ropes, landed six (count ‘em) straight rabbit punches. There were a few spirited exchanges along the way but this was more a grappling match than anything else and actually seemed longer than twelve rounds. Memo to Easter, this type of performance won’t even faze Mikey Garcia.

1/12/2018- Verona, N.Y- After whining all last week about the lack of attention and money paid to her, the Big Bad T-Rex, had her hands full with a 41 year old grandmaw last night. Cleressa Shields, (5-0-2K) said given all her accomplishments, she should be “getting paid like Lomachenko”. I’m no huge Vasyl Lomachenko fan but Shields is delusional. You’ve  only had five fights youngsta’ so SLOW ya’ roll. Tori (Sho Nuff) Nelson 17-2-2k ‘showed enough’ to inform Shields, she has work to do. Shields, has two belts already, which shows how weak the 168 lb. Class is for the ladies. Nelson with a very limited offense wasn’t the typical Shields opponent in that she didn’t throw in the towel at the first sign of danger. The bout was rather one-sided and at times, Shields’ trainers were very frustrated with her showing. At times, she looked very ordinary. Never hurting Nelson seriously, Shields had to work the entire 10 rounds. The plodding, limited Nelson was just there to boost Shield’s stats. To be such a thug, Claressa sure complains to the ref a lot. Supposedly Shields is dropping to 165 where there’s supposed to more competition and HOPEFULLY, fewer grannies. Shields is 22, her opponent was 41.

In a rousing semi, Tall, sharpshooter Jesse Hernandez (10-1-ND-7K) administered what to ME, seemed like a pretty convincing ass kickin’ on short, stocky Ernesto Garza over eight rounds in a super bantamweight struggle. Garza (9-2-5K) was able to get under the long armed attack of Hernandez for the most part, even landing a short, crisp hook dropping the eventual winner. Hernandez has an assorted arsenal and was able to drop all sorts of shit on the game Garza. There was action galore in this scrap but Hernandez just had the physical AND skill set  advantage over his shorter opponent. This should’ve been the main event.

In the other aired contest, showboating Pakistani Shonjahon Ergashev  (11-0-11K) got very little resistance from Sonny Fredrickson (18-0-12K). How Frederickson stopped 12 people is a mystery to this writer. He was never in this one-sided rout that only consumed three rounds. Ergashev a bit of a showboat is an ass whippin’ waiting to happen. After getting dropped and not offering up

much resistance the ref saved the reluctant Fredrikson form an extended ass whippin’.

Here we go again. Tired-ass Ghetto Boy Adrien Broner is back with his usual brand of bullshit. Now he’s talking about how he was “rushing my training camp “ for the last few fights. Save it Broner, we’re not interested in your recycled bullshit, at LEAST I’m not. I’m glad they’re making Lamont Peterson get rid of that hobo beard, heading to his inevitable beat down at the hands of Erroll Spence Jr. Next week, Now I see why hot prospect Devon Haney (18-0-12K) isn’t seen much on the tube. The undefeated, talented youngster is self promoted and no longer with TMT. I’m really looking forward to the Brandon (Bam Bam ) Rios (34-3-1-25K) encounter with once beaten Danny Garcia (33-1-19K). Heavyweight boss Deontay Wilder is always talking about other fighters on drugs. Well, he just got popped (“it wasn’t mine”) for weed. Now David Ortiz can get out HIS bowl of shit.