By Rachel Aylett: This Saturday sees the return of Derry Mathews to the ring. He is making the first defence of his Commonwealth title which he won in thrilling fashion in his last fight against brave Tommy Coyle in July. The opponent for Mathews is ex-footballer turned boxer Curtis Woodhouse and the venue is the Olympia, in Mathews’ home town of Liverpool.
Mathews, 33-8-2 (18), has become arguably the most exciting fighter in Britain. He can be compared to the Aussie Michael Katsidis, who was in war after war before retiring last year. Derry’s fight with Coyle was just the latest example of the excitement involved in his fights. He had boxed “absolutely terrible” to use his own words and was being totally outboxed on the night. After nine rounds, he was five points down on the judges’ cards and headed for defeat. In the tenth round, he looked ready to be taken out, but as Coyle went forward looking to secure the stoppage, Derry landed with a crunching left hook out of the blue, which sent Coyle’s senses into orbit. He was unable to recover and Derry was the new champion. It was a thrilling ending to a smashing fight. Prior to this, Mathews had been involved in two memorable wars with old rival Anthony Crolla and also two give and take battles with Gavin Rees.
Woodhouse, 19-5 (13), was initially considered a bit of a freak show. Not many footballers, who are seen as rather pampered, turn their hand to professional boxing. It was thought that he would have a few fights and then pack it in once he realized how tough the boxing game was. Nothing of the sort. Despite setbacks along the way, Woodhouse has reached a very good level in the game, culminating in this shot at the prestigious Commonwealth belt. He has to be admired for what he has achieved. Curtis is not satisfied though and is grimly determined to win the British title. He said after his last fight that he had promised his dad on his deathbed that he would win that belt. A victory on Saturday night and there will be nothing standing in the way of a challenge to British champion Martin Gethin.
Woodhouse has shown more than just determination in his career. The punches with which he beat down his last opponent, Joe Elfidh, were perfectly picked counter shots; one a right hand and the other a left hook. These were very educated punches at any level. For his last two fights he has moved down to lightweight and has scored two impressive stoppages. Asked how he felt at the weight he said that fighting lightweights was “like swatting flies”. Could it be that his extra power at the lighter weight might be too much for Mathews? Derry has taken an awful lot of punishment in his career and could be about to fall apart. He is also notoriously vulnerable to body shots and Woodhouse will know this. For these reasons I think the fight is much closer than it is being perceived and that Woodhouse has a real chance of pulling the upset. However, the pick has to be Mathews, on the strength of his experience if nothing else. Derry is still punching really hard and I think he will get the stoppage in 8-9 rounds.
Next up sees another scheduled 12-rounder for the vacant British light-middleweight title. This pits Liam Smith, 14-0-1 (5), of the famous fighting family from Liverpool against transplanted Kenyan, Erick Ochieng 14-1 (4). This is a great match and, as it is between the second and third best light-middles in the country, deservedly for the British title. The question is who is second and who is third? Though the phrase is well over-used, this really is a 50/50 match-up.
Ochieng has already taken the unbeaten record of prospect Liam Cameron, who was highly regarded at the time. He is a brash, very confident young man. Despite having never boxed over the 12-round distance, his engine seems good. He went nine brutal rounds with Nick Quigley, in January 2012, and still looked strong at the end. I don’t think stamina will be a major factor then. Smith’s best opponent to date has been Steve O’Meara, with whom he was involved in an excellent 12-rounder in December 2012. Liam got out to an early lead but for lengthy periods in the second half of the fight he relinquished control and at one point it seemed as though O’Meara might overhaul his lead. However, he had left his rally too late and Liam held out for the points victory.
It’s possible that Liam will be buoyed by the recent success of his siblings. He will be desperate not to let the side down and is a slight favorite going into the fight. After much deliberation though, I am going with the upset. I see this being a similar battle to Ochieng’s war of attrition with Quigley, when he spent lengthy periods of the fight backed against the ropes as Quigley went on the attack, but frequently lashed back with 3-4 punch combinations. As in that fight, I think Ochieng might be a bit too busy and quick handed for Liam and I take Erick to nab a close points decision. I genuinely think this will be the fight of the weekend in the UK. It should be an absolute classic and this tip is made with no confidence whatsoever.
The youngest of the four fighting Smiths, Callum, 7-0 (5), meets Patrick Mendy, 14-6-1 (1), for the vacant English super-middleweight title. This is another excellent match, full of intrigue. It is a huge step up in class for Callum, who to date has only been scheduled in 4 and 6 rounders. The fact that he has blasted out his last five opponents in the first round means that has has not yet fought past 4 rounds. He is now being thrust into a 10-rounder against a very competent opponent indeed. The fact that Mendy has never been stopped, despite being in with the likes of Travis Dickinson (outweighed by a stone), Kenny Anderson, Patrick Nielsen and Dmitry Chudinov, speaks for his durability. He is also highly competitive. His last two contests in particular, away to Nielsen in Denmark and against hot prospect, Russian Chudinov, showed his level of ability. He sneaked a draw with Chudinov and ran Nielsen very close. The judges had him way behind in Denmark but the truth is he lost a very close fight.
Unfortunately for Mendy, after a successful start to his career during which he won Prizefighter in June 2010, he is now being used as a gatekeeper in the super-middle and middleweight divisions. He still has some drive and will to win, as he showed against Chudinov, but as the losses mount up on his record he will soon be demoted from gatekeeper to journeyman. In fact, his career reminds me of another African fighter, Joey Vegas, who boxed in Britain between 2004-2009. Vegas was an ex-Olympian, but, like Mendy, couldn’t sell a ticket and had no promotional backing. He won his first 10 bouts but was then used as fodder for the up and coming young Brits at the time. Will this be the night when Mendy finally gives up hope of having a successful career and capitulates against Smith? I don’t think he’s quite ready to succumb yet and will fight a determined battle. I do see Callum being taken the 10-round distance and gaining valuable experience on the way to a clear points win.
Rocky Fielding 15-0 (8) is being thrown a nice chewy bone on the show in the form of one Mohammed Akrong, who arrives from Ghana to fight Fielding for the vacant Commonwealth super-middleweight title with a very undistinguished record In fact, that’s an understatement. He comes with figures of 19-5 (15) but what this doesn’t show is that his third loss, as recently as March 2011, was against a fighter with a 2-4 (0) record. He presents no serious challenge to Fielding. Rocky strikes me as lacking in self-confidence. When questioned after his last fight as to what the immediate future might hold for him, he seemed uncertain and looked to his trusted trainer Oliver Harrison. The question had been, would he be challenging Paul Smith for his British title soon. Both Harrison and Rocky’s promoter Eddie Hearn clearly indicated they didn’t feel Rocky was ready for that and suggested they hoped Smigga might vacate the title in order to challenge for European honors. Rocky could then step in. I found it quite worrying that such a lack of confidence was shown by Rocky’s support team, especially considering the pace at which they are moving Callum Smith. In any event, perhaps winning this prestigious title will help provide Rocky with that much-needed confidence boost. Fielding should get his opponent out of there in about five rounds.
This show does not involve any of the usual big stars that we have come to expect from an Eddie Hearn show, but it does feature a cracking main event and two other intriguing fights which should provide a great night’s entertainment. Armchair fans can watch live on Sky Sports in the UK.
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