By James Slater: Being moved quite fast at pro level, 32-year-old British heavyweight hope Richard Towers will fight for his first title on June 16th. The 6’8” “Inferno” will face fellow unbeaten Michael Wallisch of Germany on the Scott Quigg-Rendall Munroe super-bantamweight showdown in Manchester (a bout that will be for the interim WBA title according to Boxrec).
The Hatton-promoted giant who has worked with legendary trainer Brendan Ingle, is just 13-0(10) yet at age 32 he must be moved a little quicker than most up-and-comers. Possibly the sleeper of the British heavyweight division, Towers has not had anywhere near the hype guys like Tyson Fury and David Price have enjoyed, yet the man born Richard Hayles could be as good as both names.
Physically blessed as well as athletic, with good speed and power, Towers, from Sheffield, is coming off a decent stoppage win over American import Harold Sconiers. Against 26-year-old Wallisch, a man with an 8-0(5) pro ledger, Towers will be facing a fighter who has never previously boxed outside of his homeland. Managed and trained by former world champ Oktay Urkal, the 6’5” approx 228-pound German has faced no obvious names thus far, yet he does hold a win over a guy who had a shiny 27-0 record when coming in (fellow German Yakup Saglam, who lost a ten-round decision to Wallisch last April, in a fight that contested the German International title).
An intriguing fight, seeing as both men are unbeaten, this one prove interesting on the night. Not much is known about Wallisch. The 26-year-old had around 30 amateur fights and he boxes very much in the traditional European style. As with any young, unbeaten fighter – Towers included – we don’t know anything about Wallisch’s chin.
Credit must go to both men and their teams for agreeing to a risky fight such as this. Someone’s “0” must go on June 16th! Not having seen too much of the visiting fighter (just a few bits on You Tube and on a couple of other web sites), it’s hard to make an accurate prediction. Towers, at this relatively early stage, looks to be the real deal, however.
If Towers can bang out an impressive stoppage win he will be one step closer to challenging for a major belt.