By Gav Duthie: Many have said there piece on Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora but Frank Warren has put on a pretty decent undercard as he continues to promote his Boxnation TV network and competes with Eddie Hearn. Warren has joined forces with Mick Hennessey (providing Tyson Fury and Chris Eubank Jnr) to entertain the fans. This post focuses on the undercard including predictions.
Terry Flanagan 24-0 (8) v Martin Gethin 24-5-1 (11)
The forgotten prospect
Britain has more fighters than anyone else in the top 10-30 region of the lightweight division. After Burns there’s both Kevin Mitchell and Anthony Crolla chasing world titles, Derry Matthews, Tommy Coyle, Scott Harrison, John Murray, Stephen Ormand, Martin Gethin, Liam Walsh and Stephen Foster Jnr who are all competitive At British level. Possibly the best of these but the least well known is Terry Flanagan. In 2012 he was victorious in one of the strongest prizefighter lineups to date when he beat former British champions Derry Matthews and Gary Sykes. He also has a win over former world champion Nate Campbell via 4th round stoppage.
Due to promotional issues he wasn’t getting the big fights. He has been mandatory for the British title for a couple of months now and signed with Frank Warren in late 2013 so should be looking to get in amongst the world scene soon.
Last chance Martin
Derry Matthews 36-9-2 (19) has vacated the British title with an eye injury so Gethin gets another shot after narrowly losing out to Matthews via split decision last time out. After being stopped by Ammeth Diaz in his previous bout a win is essential here. Gethin was looking to go on to bigger things when he stopped Carl Johanneson but if he doesn’t win against Flanagan he is finished even at top level.
The most expected outcome is a Flanagan points victory and if this i the case he will be looking for a 12 round rematch with Derry Matthews before he likely moves onto European and World title ambitions.
Flanagan UD 12
Billie Joe Saunders 19-0 (10) v Emanuele Blandamura 22-0 (5)
He turned pro after going out 13-6 in the 2nd round of the 2008 Beijing Olympics to eventual silver medalist Cuban Carlos Banteaux Suarez. Despite this he has only fought 19 times in 6 years. His best win is a 2nd round TKO over Jarrod Fletcher 18-1 (10) who actually surpasses Saunders by fighting for the WBA title next month.
Tricky Opponent
This is a step up though and Warren always likes to go for the European title before world honors. Opponent Emanuele Blandamura’s best win came last time out against Austrian Marcos Nader 18-1-1 (3).
Prediction
With Blandamura’s lack of power and Saunders constant aggression and pressure to the body I expect Billy to win by a wide unanimous decision and hopefully setting up a fight with Eubank Jnr later in the year.
Saunders UD 12
Chris Eubank Jnr 16-0 (11) v Ivan Jukic 19-2 (12)
At 16-0 Eubank Jnr has made it perfectly clear he is no rush to step up his class of opponent. The obvious strategy between the Warren-Hennessey collaboration is to pit Eubank Jnr against Billy Joe Saunders. I can’t see this happening anytime soon with the likes of Ivan Jukic as his opponent. His record looks ok but he has been stopped in both of his previous losses and thats only at third class level.
Eubank certainly looks to have improved. At the halfway mark of his career to date he was 8-0 (3). In his last 8 fights he has stopped all of his opponents. He has added a bit more of a killer instinct to his style but is still overdoing it with his showmanship at times.
If he decides against the likes of Saunders that he is going to stand at the same spot the entire round then he’s going to get hit a lot.
Eubank KO 4
Liam Smith 16-0-1 (6) v Jason Wellborn 15-2 (6) – 2
Liam one of the four talented Smith brothers makes his second British title defence against Jason Wellborn. The Smith brothers all want to win the Lonsdale belt outright before stepping up to world honours. Liam Smith shouldn’t have any problems with this defence.
Wellborn has been stopped in both of his defeats. Once to British welterweight champion Frankie Gavin and the other to decent journeyman Tyan Booth.
Smith UD 12
Eddie Chambers 39-4 (21) v Marcelo Luiz Nascimento 17-6 (15) – 4
Fast Eddie continues to take it easy on his comeback trail after his disastrous foray into the cruiserweight division. He has moved back to the heavyweight division and is now permanently based in the UK with ‘Camp Fury’.
Nascimento has an impressive 15 knockouts from his 17 wins but has lost 4 from his last 6 and has also been stopped 4 times. He was stopped by Tyson Fury in 5 rounds a couple of years back and most recently to New Zealand prospect Joseph Parker.
Audley Harrison has expressed an interest in fighting Chambers. I suppose this would be a bit of a step up from his last few fights but nowhere near where he was mixing a few years back.
Chambers TKO 8
Also on the card we see competitive action in the light welterweight division between Jack Catterall 8-0 (4) and Nathan Brough 11-0 (2) for the central area title. Another undefeated lightweight prospect Liam Walsh 15-0 (10) looks to build on his win over Scott Harrison as he entertains Kevin Hooper 15-2 (3). Light welterweight prospects Bradley Saunders 10-0 (8) faces an un yet opponent and Thomas Stalker 8-0 (2) faces Ben Wager 9-5-1 (3). Super bantamweight Michael Gomez Jnr (son of Michael Gomez who knocked out Alex Arthur) faces Darren Pryce 0-6-2 and featherweight Yusuf Safa 1-0 (1) faces Qasim Hussain 1-15-2. Both opponents have only been stopped once each so both prospects should get the 4 rounds. Super featherweight Adrian Gonzalez 9-1 (1) takes Mark Evans 9-2-1 (1) in a feather fisted 8 rounder and Welterweight Macaulay McGowan 1-0 fights Matt Seawright 5-95-5.
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