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| Godding is technically very sound |
Two North West fighters to look out for at Bowler's in Manchester Friday night, both of them unbeaten welterweights. The first is Bolton man Rick Godding (14-0, 1 KO) who takes on the very experienced and tough Dee Mitchell (9-18-1, 2 KO's). Godding is being moved along at a decent pace, and although is far from being fast-tracked, has come through some good fighters of late. I watched him box incredibly well to a 59-59 points win over Scott Haywood in July 2010, and although was out for a while after that, has won two afterwards v some good operators in Barrie Jones and Vinny Woolford. This is a very hot division in Britain and the lack of power does worry me, but technically this kid is very solid and is the type of fighter who will get better and better.
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| Heffron steps up in class on Friday night |
The other North West welterweight on show is Ronnie Heffron (8-0, 4 KO's) from Oldham, who at 21 looks a little bit green, but from what I've seen is a very talented fighter. Here he's chief support and is being pushed on by Frank Warren on Box Nation, with his last two fights screened live on the channel. The first one I watched on the undercard of Cleverly v Bellew, he struggled to impress against Welshman Tony Pace, and it wasn't the best of performances from him. However it was a much more impressive performance last time out at Bowler's as he stopped Lithuanian Arvydas Trizno in four, a good performance considering Trizno had gone the distance with Junior Witter a month previous, and had been stopped just twice in 25 fights. He has a tricky opponent here in Romanian Ionut Ilie (14-11-1, 2 KO's), who's based in France and mixed at a decent level on the continent. The benchmark is the four rounds which Lukas Konecny, a very good Czech light middleweight, stopped him when they fought in July 2010.
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| Abdusalamov is making a name for himself Stateside |
Good bill on ESPN Friday Night Fights this weekend, headlined by a Boxrec four star clash between Isaac Chilemba and big puncher Edison Miranda, but my eyes will be on a very exciting heavyweight called Magomed Abdusalamov (12-0, 12 KO's). Based in Oxnard (the hotbed of Boxing in the USA at the moment) where he trains alongside Sergio Martinez, this Russian is making waves in the USA and returns to the Texas Station Casino where he had his last fight. He is 30 years old and needs to get moving quickly, and this 6ft3 southpaw turned pro after he failed to qualify for the Olympics, where he lost to no other than Britain's David Price. Like many Russians he's very technically gifted and has been banging some good guys over in the States, including Rich Power (TKO3) in his last fight, a man who's only other previous defeat was to a then 11-0 Tyson Fury in September 2010. A lot of the guy's he's beaten have been ones on the way down, and this is an intriguing fight as he comes up against Cuba's Pedro Rodriguez (8-0, 6 KO's), who's a pretty lean fighter and had a stunning 1st round KO of Francisco Alvarez in October, which makes him a danger. Both come from nations with great amateur backgrounds and looking at their records in the pro's, both can definitely punch. Abdusalamov has to be given the edge, but it looks a good fight on paper.
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| Askin should remain unbeaten this weekend |
Saturday night Hatton Promotions take over the Reebok Stadium as one of their star assets Scott Quigg headlines in a first British title defence v Welshman Jamie Arthur. On the undercard there's a good mix of youth and experience with Rendall Munroe and Stephen Foster Jr returning to action, as well as the likes of Joe Murray and Craig Lyon. One of the two guys I'm focusing on is cruiserweight Matty Askin (12-0, 8 KO's), who in my opinion should be fighting for the British title in his 14th pro fight. He is two or three levels above current champion Shane McPhilbin already, but this weekend faces Hungarian puncher Attila Palko (12-1, 10 KO's). Askin is trained by a guy I really like in Bob Shannon, which if you don't know Bob means Askin will be as fit as the proverbial Butcher's Dog for this, and any future fight. He's stopped his last four opponents, including last time out v Roman Kracik, who on paper was a tough man and had mixed at a decent enough level, but Askin
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| "Jazza" is very slick |
Super bantamweight James "Jazza" Dickens (7-0, 2 KO's) is the other prospect I'll be tracking, and he's a great guy, so first of all I suggest you follow him on Twitter @JazzaDickens10. The Liverpool slickster is a very talented boxer and has been coming along nicely without making too much noise as a pro, which I kind of think is a good thing for him. He's yet to lose a round as a pro fighter, which says a lot about his workrate and skillset, because when you're not a massive puncher, you have to rely on slick work on the outside and I've seen a fair bit of that from him. His best career win came in November when he forced the very tough Scot James Ancliff into a 2nd round retirement, and when you consider Joe Murray had to go 12 rounds with this kid and Lee Selby took six rounds to get him out, it says plenty about Dickens' talent. He has a late change of opponent for this 6x3 clash and faces Nottingham's Barrington Brown (5-6-3, 2 KO's) stopped only by Joe Murray in his pro career and a pretty awkward looking opponent for Dickens at 5ft7.
Finally in Frankfurt, Germany on Saturday night a cruiserweight title fight is the headliner, but there's a very talented fighter in the same division who many might not see. David Graf (5-0, 5 KO's) is a 6ft3 23 year old, who has knocked all but one of his opponents out in the first round and looks very strong for this division. I've said a lot of times already in this blog that getting some rounds under your belt is crucial for a prospect, but this kid is beating up what's being put in front of him and is doing very well. Facing him this weekend is an Englishman called Paul Morris (4-5-2, 2 KO's), who's been stopped only by Tom Dallas and is more of a heavyweight. He'll probably be the strongest guy Graf has faced, but the German looks a cut above.
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