By Ben Walton: British lightweight champion Derry Mathews, ( 32-8-1 ) has suggested that the power in British boxing has shifted from Manchester to Liverpool in recent years, and is willing to back this theory up by beating Anthony Crolla ( 25-4-1 ) for a second time in Betfairs “No Retreat No Surrender” bill on March 30th, at the Echo arena Liverpool.
The first time these two met, Mathews ripped the British lightweight title from Crolla with a sixth round stoppage in the 2012 fight of the year in Oldham. Now the two are ready to go at it again with Liverpudlian Mathews welcoming ” million dollar” Crolla into his backyard to clash for the vacant commonwealth title.
After the defeat to Mathews, Crolla bounced back with a convincing win over Kieran Farrell to claim the English title and is prepared to go into the lions den to avenge his loss to the popular scouser.
One things for sure, if he is to go into Mathews back yard, he needs to be ready to face a hostile environment. Mathews’ fans won’t make it easy for him on the night.
” I would say Liverpool is the city to be fighting from now ” said Mathews ” it goes in circles and I am lucky to have been around long enough for it to come around twice”
In recent years, Manchester has been the epicentre of UK boxing, with names like Ricky Hatton, Anthony Farnell, Michael Gomez, Stevie Bell, Michael Brodie, and Matthew Macklin representing the great city. Now the neighbors of Liverpool, boast names like Tony Bellew, David Price, Tom Stalker, the Smith brothers, and James “jazza” Dickens. Could Mathews be right in saying we are witnessing a power shift in UK boxing?
Mathews v Crolla provide chief support to Tony Bellew’s WBC light heavyweight title eliminator against Isaac Chilemba, while team GB captain Thomas Stalker makes his first outing in front of his home crowd after a debut in London Saturday.
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