IAN NAPA insists he has nothing to fear when he risks his career against Jamie McDonnell at Brentwood Centre on Friday (22/1) night. Napa (19-7) defends his British bantamweight title against his Doncaster challenger and if successful faces Jerome Arnould for the European crown in France on March 6. Defeat against McDonnell (12-2-1) would ruin Napa’s chances of regaining his old crown, but the Londoner’s confidence is sky high after regaining the British crown from Gary Davies last year..
He said: “It does not matter to me; I can fight on the ropes or in the centre of the ring.
“I don’t have to go crazy and throw wild punches, it does not matter to me if I have home advantage or not, a ring is just a ring and there are just two boxers in it.”
Napa, 31, lost the European title to another Frenchman Malik Bouziane last year and his manager/trainer Brian Lawrence added: “I have drilled it in to Ian to forget about the March date.
“We are looking at McDonnell as the toughest fight of his career and I know Ian is in for a hard night, but I am confident his class and experience will tell.”
A fantastic vacant English flyweight title sees Cheshunt’s Ashley Sexton (8-0) meet Derby’s former British and Commonwealth title challenger Usman Ahmed.
Knockout artists Larry Olubamiwo (6-1) and Scott Belshaw (10-3) clash in a mouth-watering crossroads heavyweight clash
Tickets for this top class show, priced £80 and £35 are available on line www.frankmaloney.com or 0871 226 1508
Murphy Says “I’m Ready To Go To War With Cooky“
Lightweight Ben Murphy (6(KO 3)-2-1) faces the toughest fight of his professional career when he challenges, BBBofC Southern Area Lightweight champion, Lee ‘Cooky’ Cook (12(KO 3)-1(KO 1)-1) for his title at the Brentwood Centre, Brentwood, Essex on Friday 22nd January.
Murphy is clearly determined to take advantage, of the opportunity in front of him, and for the past month or so has been traveling to London, from his home in Hove, Sussex, on a daily basis to train with Brian Lawrence at Rooney’s Boxing Gym in Southwark, South London.
Even the notoriously bad weather that has covered the British Isles over the past month only managed to stop the determined Murphy from making his daily trek just the once as he explained. “I’m totally focused on winning on Friday. The weather has been a pain but this is important to me. I lost one day last week, I just couldn’t get to London as all the trains were canceled.
Training has been going very well. I know everyone says training is going well regardless of if it is or not. I have been working hard and I’ll prove the point in the ring.”
As part of his preparations for his title challenge, Murphy enlisted fellow Rooney’s gym mates; British Bantamweight Champion Ian ‘Dappa’ Napa, Super Middleweight Erick ‘The Eagle’ Ochieng and Light Middleweight Karol ‘Dr KO’ Ozimkowski, as sparring partners.
Following his final sparring session, with Karol ‘Dr KO’ Ozimkowski, turned to his trainer, Brian Lawrence, and simply said. “I’m ready to go to war with Cooky”. A smiling Lawrence replied “I know”.
Lee Cook vs Ben Murphy is on the undercard of Ian ‘Dappa’ Napa’s British title defense, against Jamie McDonnell at the Brentwood Centre, Brentwood, Essex on Friday the 22nd January 2010.
Tickets for this top class show, priced £80 and £35 are available on line www.frankmaloney.com or 0871 226 1508
COOK: LARRY HITS AS HARD AS BRUNO
LARRY OLUBAMIWO’S power has been compared with British heavyweight great Frank Bruno.
‘The War Machine’ (6-1) is hoping for another explosive display when he faces fellow banger Scott Belshaw (10-3) at Brentwood Centre on Friday (22/1).
Trainer James Cook said: “Larry is getting better all the time and after watching him spar I can say that he has definitely improved. He has pleased me of late and you won’t hear me say that too often.
“I’m going to be honest and say that I have not seen anyone punch as hard as Larry since Frank Bruno and I believe he can go so far in the game.
Olubamiwo, 31, has scored five of his wins inside two rounds and a quick fight is expected against Irish hope Belshaw.
Cook added: “He needs to punch harder when sparring and really let go a bit more, so he gets used to that kind of intensity in the ring.
“He needs to let go more, because he has such power and that is down to confidence. He does not have as much faith in his defence but that will improve and it is getting better all the time.
“He is on a good deal with Frank Maloney and in three or four fights he should be ready for a title shot, which we will hope will be early next year. I trust Frank though and I’ll leave it up to him as he is a very good promoter.”
Topping the Brentwood bill is Ian Napa’s (19-7) British bantamweight title defence against Yorkshireman Jamie McDonnell.
A fantastic vacant English flyweight title sees Cheshunt’s Ashley Sexton (8-0) meet Derby’s former British and Commonwealth title challenger Usman Ahmed.
Tickets for this top class show, priced £80 and £35 are available on line www.frankmaloney.com or 0871 226 1508