By Gianluca Di Caro: It’s been rather lean times for boxing in the Capital so far this year, which in turn has meant that local fighters, especially those from the TRAD TKO Boxing Gym in Canning Town deep in the heart of London’s East End, have barely been in action.
Last year it seemed to be barely a week between some major news on one of the many star fighters based at this legendary fight factory.
You had Kevin Mitchell utterly destroying John Murray, which was followed by speculation on World title fights against the likes of Ricky Burns or Brandon Rios, Leon ‘Solid’ Williams wrestled the British Cruiserweight title from Rob Norton’s iron grip, Colin Lynes reemerged to outshine ‘Lights Out’ Lee Purdy to grab the British Welterweight crown, Ben Murphy was sensational on both his Southern Area Lightweight title defense, against Tony Owen, and then two weeks later challenging Ashley Theophane for his British Light Welter strap. Former Olympian Billy Joe Saunders got in on the act and snatched the Southern Area Middleweight belt from Gary Boulden’s hands.
Not just that but every week at least one of the crew were in action somewhere or another and it seemed that every Prizefighter had at least one TRAD TKO representative on the show.
Other than Erick ‘The Eagle’ Ochieng’s magnificent lifting of the English Light Middleweight title, so far 2012 has produced very few highlights for the Canning Town stars and a major low, when Leon Williams, who was defending his title for the first time against Shane McPhilbin, got stopped in the twelfth.
Leon was just 2 minutes away from certain victory – he had sent McPhilbin to the canvas twice and was eleven rounds up going into the final round – when McPhilbin caught him with a clubbing punch to the back of the head, which sent the Champ to the canvas. Unfortunately Williams was still disoriented when the fight was restarted and McPhilbin took full advantage to claim a ‘Rocky’ style against the odds victory.
There were a few minor outings for the likes of Billy Joe and Kevin, but it has been the youngsters, such as George Jupp, Frankie Buglioni, Wadi Camacho, Billy Morgan, Charlie Hoy etc. that have kept the TRAD TKO banner flying so far this year.
However this past weekend that all changed, with a bang, with no less than five fighters in action, four at the Royal Albert Hall and Ben Murphy defending his Southern Area title at the Camden Centre in Kings Cross.
Jimmy and Mark Tibbs oversee the proceedings at The Royal Albert Hall, as it was four of their charges in action. Headlining the show was Billy Joe Saunders, who took on Tony Hill for the vacant Commonwealth Middleweight title, with support from the sensational Frankie Buglioni, Freddie Turner and ‘Irish Lightning’ Dean Byrne.
I’m not going to go too much into this show now as Part 2 will feature Jimmy Tibbs and his view on this historic event, all I will say is that as I am sure you know Billy Joe is the new Commonwealth Champ, Frankie got his third first round stoppage win in four outings, Freddie Turner cruised to a points victory and Dean lost a very close fight to Terry Holmes.
Whilst Jimmy and Mark hand their hands full at The Royal Albert Hall, TRAD TKO head honcho Johnny Eames and his talented sidekick Barry Smith were at the Camden Centre in Kings Cross, where Ben Murphy was defending his Southern Area strap against Phil Gill.
Whilst all the press coverage seems to have focused on Billy Joe’s magnificent victory, Ben’s victory, which was wrongly overlooked by the media, was equally sensational.
Ben dominated the proceedings right from the opening bell, after just one minute Phil Gill was backed onto the ropes, Ben let rip with a vicious right that shook the Waltham Abbey man to the core, Phil grabbed hold to try and tie up Ben, big mistake as all this did was step back and fire off a battery of big left and right hands.
Phil was reeling from the attack and it looked like a knockout finish was on the cards, that was until the referee Jeff Hinds decided enough was enough and stepped in to stop the fight after just two minutes and thirty five seconds of the first round.
Earlier today I spoke with Ben’s coach the ever entertaining Johnny Eames to get his views on the excellent performances of the squad last weekend, amongst other things.
“First of all I want to congratulate Billy Joe Saunders on his magnificent win, for winning the Commonwealth title. I actually spoke to Billy yesterday and he was very congratulatory on Ben Murphy as well, which is nice as it shows comradeship as well.
Getting on to Ben Murphy, yeah I mean it’s as if he was wanted to get beaten, he was on his own promoter and manager’s show, who coincidentally manages the other guy. Ben’s the Champion yet we were in the room with all the losers, we was in the away corner, with all the losers, the only difference is we came out the winner.
Fair play to Phil Gill for taking the fight, I mean once again it was like a man against a boy, I mean after the first three punches Phil Gill nearly went, and Ben just pressed it on.
The most pleasing thing about Ben’s win is Barry Smith and myself have been working on a few things in the gym, on getting his distance right, and this is the first fight he has had his distance right from bell one as the result shows for itself.
I don’t think Phil landed one punch, well probably did land one, but when he did Ben just laughed and walked right through it and did what he does, only better than he normally does it. You know the accuracy was fine, if you see Phil Gill after the fight he looked like he’d been in ten rounds, not one.
All I can say now is, any lightweight in Britain, and I mean any lightweight in Britain Ben will fight. It’s not up to me to press for fights that’s the job of his manager, I’d like to think he will.
We had a couple of stern words after the fight, myself and his manager, and I told him what I felt as that’s the type of person I am. I feel for my fighters, I live for my fighters and Ben is one of my fighters. If you ain’t treating him right you get told you ain’t treating him right, simple as that.
Derry Matthews is a friend of mine, and he’s a really nice guy, but I do believe that Ben will beat him, without a shadow of a doubt. Again I say any lightweight in Britain Ben will fight and I hope his manager presses those claims.”
Johnny then went on to praise the three further TRAD TKO based boxers that fought on the undercard of Billy Joe’s Commonwealth title fight at The Royal Albert Hall.
“Obviously I didn’t get to see the show, as I was with Ben in Kings Cross, but well done to Mark and Jimmy (Tibbs) for the performances of their boys, Freddie Turner and Frankie Buglioni at the weekend and commiseration to Dean Byrne, who was in a fight that I believe he should have won, could have won, but they say ‘should have, could have, would have’ don’t count. He was in the away corner, unfortunately sometimes that goes against you, you know you’ve just got to get over these things and press on.”
With a busy month or so ahead for the TRAD TKO team Johnny then turned his attention to upcoming fights featuring their boxers, “This Thursday Mark and Jimmy (Tibbs) have Charlie (Hoy), Tom (Baker) and Gary (Corcoran) out at Francis and George Warren’s BoxAcademy show at the Troxy.
**STOP PRESS** Just as this article was being sent out news arrived that the BoxAcademy event at the Troxy this Thursday has been cancelled.
Colin Lynes is next out, on the 12th May in Sheffield. He’ll be defending his title against Junior Witter. It’s not an easy fight but am sure Colin will win it.
Then we have Danny Connor in his first ten rounder, at York Hall on Miranda Carter’s May 20th show. He’ll be in a rematch with Tyler Goodjohn.
I’m sure he will perform how he normally performs. Danny’s really
improving under the watchful eye of Alec (Wilkey).
We’ve got a few fighters on that show. Del’s (Derek Grainger) doing a great job with Menay (Edwards) and Eric (Mokonzo) and obviously Barry (Smith) and myself are really happy that Leon (Williams) will be out again.
Sorry I forgot Areti (Mastrodovka), another of Alec’s fighters on the show, I’m not a great lover of Women’s boxing but am certain that she can go on to be a star in Women’s boxing.
A week later, on the 26th, Erick’s (Ochieng) got a big night in Nottingham. Erick’ll be defending his English title against Andrew Lowe. Brian (Lawrence) has done a great job with Erick, Andrew’s a battler but really can’t see anything but a win for Erick.
Getting back, it’s nice to be busy, then again we’ve been quiet for a period, there haven’t been that many shows to get our boys out on.
I also forgot to mention we have Mitchell (Balker) and George (Jupp) on Spencer Fearon’s June 2nd show at the ExCel, just two weeks after Miranda Carter’s show.
So yes it’s a busy time at the TRAD TKO gym and hopefully we can come through with all wins.”
Whilst Johnny and the boys from the gym may have had a quiet start to the year it seems that the coming months will be anything but quiet, which isn’t just good for them but also us – the boxing fans.
Watch out for Good Weekend for the East Enders – part two, which has Jimmy Tibbs giving his inside view on the excellent Frank Warren show at The Royal Albert Hall.
STAR BOXING SET FOR SOLD OUT VIP BOXING III
BRONX, NY (May 1, 2012) Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing has announced that all tickets have been sold for VIP BOXING III, set for Tomorrow Night, May 2nd, at Russo’s On The Bay in Howard Beach, New York.
The full service VIP event will kick off at 7pm with an hour long cocktail reception followed by a four course elegant dinner and the first bout starting at 8pm. An open bar will run for the course of the dinner and evening’s bouts.
Headlining VIP BOXING III is the return of longtime heavyweight contender and fan favorite Vinny Maddalone of nearby Flushing, Queens, in a scheduled ten round bout against tough Youngstown, Ohio veteran Chris Koval.
Sporting a record of 34-7-0 with 25 knockouts, Maddalone looks to continue his momentum following a first round knockout of Mike Sheppard on October 22nd in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The 29-year-old Koval enters the clash with a record of 25-8-0 with 18 stoppages including battles with notable names Shannon Briggs, Alexander Dimitrenko, Travis Kaufman and Tye Fields.
The co-main event at VIP BOXING III features an eight round junior welterweight tilt between former world title challenger “Mighty” Mike Arnaoutis of Astoria, New York and Albany’s Broderick Antoine.
A native of Athens, Greece, Arnaoutis, 23-7-0 (10KO’s), kicked off his 2012 campaign with a shutout unanimous decision over Shakha Moore on February 10th at the Mohegan Sun Casino.
Over the course of his ten year professional career, Arnaoutis has battled with numerous champions and contenders including Delvin Rodriguez, Victor Ortiz, Kendall Holt, Ricardo Torres, Juan Urango and Demetrius Hopkins.
Upset minded Antoine looks to even his record of 11-12-1 (5KO’s), entering the ring against Arnaoutis. Included among the notable contenders and prospects he has clashed with over his five year career are Sharif Bogere, Danny O’Connor, Angelo Santana and Felix Diaz.
In an additional eight round junior welterweight battle, highly regarded prospect Issouf Kinda of New York City will battle Newburgh, New York’s Luis Rodriguez.
The 24-year-old Kinda, 12-0-0 (5KO’s), a native of Burkina Faso, has turned heads and impressed with each outing over the last four years while fighting in the New York City area. In his last start on January 28th, Kinda won an eight round decision over the very tough Puerto Rican veteran Angel Rios at The Paramount in Huntington, Long Island.
Also 24 years old, Rodriguez, 6-4-1 (1KO), a native of Puerto Rico, has won three of his last four including three in a row in New York State.
Rounding out the card at VIP BOXING III, heavyweights will see action in a scheduled four rounder as Boston’s Nate James, 5-1-0 (2KO’s) challenges Kevin Howard of Montgomery, Alabama.
Russo’s On The Bay is located at 162-45 Cross Bay Boulevard in Howard Beach. For more information please visit their website at www.russosonthebay.com
Champions to Collide June 23rd as Tori Nelson Defends WIBA World Title Against Maria Lindberg at Patriot Center
Todd Wilson Goes for 14th Straight Win Against Winston Mathis on
Jimmy Lange Boxing Card
Fairfax, VA (May 1, 2012) – In a battle of world champions, undefeated Tori “Sho Nuff” Nelson (6-0-1) of Ashburn, VA will defend her Women’s International Boxing Association (WIBA) Middleweight Title against Maria Lindberg (6-1-2) of Malmo, Sweden as the 10-round Co-Main Event on the Jimmy Lange Boxing card set for Saturday, June 23 at the Patriot Center. Presented by Valcourt Building Services, the card will also feature undefeated Fairfax, VA junior welterweight Todd “White Lightning” Wilson (13-0, 4 KOs) going for his 14th straight victory with an eight-round contest against Winston Mathis (7-5-1, 2 KOs) of Atlanta, GA.
Nelson captured the WIBA Championship with an impressive win over Vashon Living last February in Fairfax. Her biggest win to date came on July 29, 2011 in Trinidad and Tobago with a victory over Lorissa Rivas for the World Boxing Council (WBC) Middleweight Belt. A single mother of two teenagers who juggles jobs as a bus driver and cafeteria worker at Loudoun County’s Broad Run High School and waitressing at IHOP, Nelson has made a strong connection with her fans, both inside and outside of the ring.
Lindberg, the WIBA’s Light Middleweight Champion, defeated Diana Kiss in a non-title fight in her last bout held February 11, 2012 in Hamburg, Germany. Prior to that she lost a decision to Christina Hammer for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) and World Boxing Federation Middleweight Championships on May 27, 2011.
Wilson, a former collegiate boxing champion and Virginia Military Institute graduate, has fought six times in front of hometown fans at the Patriot Center with victories against former world champion Eric “Mighty Mouse” Aiken and tough veteran Dean “Pitt Bull” White. Wilson defeated Eric Burke by fourth-round TKO in his most recent fight held February 25, 2012 in Charlotte, NC. Mathis is looking to bounce back after dropping his last fight to undefeated Chris Algieri on March 31, 2012 in Huntington, NY.
Fan favorite Jimmy Lange (38-4-2) of Great Falls, VA is headlining his 15th show at the Fairfax venue, and will face Tony “Mo Better” Jeter (13-3-1, 9 KOs) of Stevensville, MD in a 10-round bout. Officials also announced that popular LA Boxing instructor Lawrence Jones (4-6-2, 1 KO) of Reston, VA and Gundrick King (16-8, 11 KOs) of Tuscaloosa, AL will fight in a six-round junior middleweight contest. Jones served as a last-minute replacement in his last fight, a loss to Harry Joe Yorgey at the Patriot Center three months ago. King last fought on March 17, 2012, losing to Charlie Ota. In a four-round heavyweight showdown, unbeaten Duane Mobley (2-0, 1 KO) of Upper Marlboro, MD will be matched against Michael DeSantos, an LA Boxing trainer from Ashburn, VA who is making his professional debut. Mobley scored a first-round knockdown over Francois Russell last month in Indiana and won his first fight last February at the Patriot Center.
Doors will open at 6:00 pm, with the first fight scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm. All bouts are subject to change. Jackie “First Lady of Boxing” Kallen is the promoter with matchmaking handled by JD Brown.
Tickets, priced at $35, $50, $75, $125, $200, $300 and $500 (plus applicable service charges), can be purchased through all Ticketmaster outlets including the Patriot Center box office, online at www.ticketmaster.com/ and via Phonecharge at 1-800-745-3000.
Information:
www.Facebook.com/JimmyLangeBoxing
Follow the Fighters:
Jimmy Lange – Twitter.com/boxerjimmylange
Tony Jeter Facebook
Tori Nelson Facebook
Maria Lindberg Facebook
Todd Wilson Facebook, Twitter.com/TWhiteLightning