Purdy to be the top boy in Essex

Tonight at the home of British Boxing, York Hall, Lee Purdy (16-2-1, 9 KO's) makes the second defence of his title against fellow Essex boy, Colin Lynes (35-9, 12 KO's).

Purdy and Lynes at the weigh in

Purdy comes into this fight on the back of two great stoppages of Craig Watson, both times in the 5^th round, and both times as an away fighter in Manchester and Oldham. This guy has always been known to have a great workrate, shown by his fight with Denton Vassell, which was amazing, but clearly he's really upped his power now and is hitting very hard. People can look at his record and say he has been beaten twice by Peter McDonagh and Vassell, but this kid is one of the most improved fighters in the game and the Lonsdale belt has really helped him bring that maybe 10% extra to his camp and the fight itself. Only Kell Brook is ranked above him in the British welterweight rankings and he's now at #21 in the world with boxrec, which is massively impressive in probably the hottest division in world Boxing.

Lynes is very experienced, he's been IBO, British and European champion at light welterweight and has also boxed abroad in France and Italy, showing that he's a true warrior. He himself is ranked #51 in the world with boxrec, showing that this is a really quality fight on paper, but you have to say he has very much had the best days of his career. His last outing was in the Prizefighter, where he lost to the eventual winner El Maachi in the semis, with the Moroccan's style not at all helping Lynes, but to be fair it was pretty clear to me that he was the better over three rounds. His last title fight was in April of last year and he was massively disappointing in losing to Ajose Olusegun in eight, and the reason for that was he just couldnt make the weight. For him to go eight rounds with a guy now the WBC's #1 contender, dead at the weight, shows what a solid chin he has got.

Lynes definitely looks more comfortable at welterweight and being with Team Tibbs his confidence does look up. Purdy however really is the man to beat at the moment, he's really bucked up his ideas and is giving this a real go. Two guys now very comfortable at the weight, I do fancy Purdy, but I was reading Ed Robinson's Sky Sports column today and he said that Purdy is learning on the job having had “limited amateur experience”, Lynes' experience should see him take this 12 rounds, but I think Purdy will do enough to nick what could be a great fight.