HATTON Promotions heavyweight hell raisers Lucas Browne and Richard Towers have been preparing for their big ‘Road to Glory’ contests by bashing each other!
Australian champ ‘Big Daddy’ Browne and 6ft 8in Towers are in a training camp together at the famed Ingle gym in Sheffield.
Towers who has won all 13 pro fights challenges for his first professional title on the ‘Road to Glory’ bill at Manchester Velodrome on Saturday June 16 when he meets Frenchman Gregory Tony for the vacant EU heavyweight title.
Perth’s Browne who has won all 12 contests, 11 inside the distance expects another big hitting win when he faces tough Hastings Rasani on the big card.
Hatton Promotions CEO Ricky Hatton explained: “Richard and Lucas have been sparring together up in Sheffield for over a week now.
“The feedback I’m getting is that both have loved the experience and feel they have both brought each other along.
“Finding sparring at heavyweight can sometimes prove difficult but this has been great for both as they are highly touted prospects so sparring of this quality doesn’t come along often.”
The unbeaten duo are closing in on some of Britain’s big names like Tyson Fury and British and Commonwealth champion, David Price.
Former two-weight world champion Hatton added: “We could most probably land them big fights right now, but it is about the right fight at the right time.
“When these lads do challenge for major titles, I expect them to win and reign for a fair amount of time.
“It says a lot about them that they are willing to help each other especially when they are both at similar stages in their careers.”
The talent stacked card is Hatton Promotions biggest so far, and there will be even larger events later this year.
Four big fights feature on the bill, including Scott Quigg challenging Rendall Munroe for the vacant interim WBA super-bantamweight crown.
Towers’ fellow Sheffield boxer Ryan Rhodes meets Sergey Rabchenko for the vacant European light-middleweight championship.
In a special attraction unbeaten British middleweight champion Martin Murray faces French title holder Karim Achour.
Other fights: Craig Watson v Tomasz Mazurciewicz, Adam Etches v S/O, Jazza Dickens v Amor Beladj Ali, Scott Jenkins v Kristian Laight, Adam Little v Dee Mitchell and Kallum De’Ath v Anwar Alfadi.
All VIP and ringside tickets have been sold. The remaining tickets are available priced at £55, £35 and £30, but are limited You can purchase tickets by calling Hatton Promotions hotline 01925 755 222/www.ticketmaster.co.uk/0844 847 2500/www.ticketline.co.uk/0844 888 4402/www.hmv.com
For all the latest updates please follow the Twitter account dedicated to fight @quiggvmunroe
IABA UPDATE (ELITE SQUAD ARRIVE IN FRANCE FOR TOURNAMENT)
A nine-man Irish Elite squad arrived in France this morning for a Round Robin tournament with the host nation, Germany, Morocco and Sweden.
The tournament begins in Calais tomorrow.
Irish 2012 Olympians Paddy Barnes, Michael Conlan, John Joe Nevin, Adam Nolan and Darren O’Neill are included in the Irish squad.
Joe Ward, the current European light-heavyweight champion, has also been named in the Irish panel, along with David Oliver Joyce, Ross Hickey and Steven Ward.
The Round Robin will be the final competitive tournament for the Olympic squad before London 2012.
Katie Taylor has also qualified for the 30th Olympiad but is not taking part in the Calais Round Robin.
Taylor won her fourth AIBA World Women’s 60kg title in-a-row in China last month.
Eight boxers, including Taylor, qualified for the London Olympics in the lightweight class in China.
The other four places (invitation places) to make up Taylor’s 12-strong lightweight Division will be distributed by the Tripartite Commission.
The Tripartite Commission are also due to announce their invitation places for male boxers for London 2012.
Irish squad Round Robin Calais France June 7/10th
49kg Paddy Barnes (Holy Family)
52kg Michael Conlan (St John Bosco)
56kg John Joe Nevin (Cavan)
60kg David Oliver Joyce (St Michael’s Athy)
64kg Ross Hickey (Grangecon)
69kg Adam Nolan (Bray)
75kg Darren O’Neill (Paulstown)
81kg Joe Ward (Moate)
91kg Steven Ward (Monkstown)
Team manager: Des Donnelly
Coaches: Billy Walsh, Zuar Antia, Jimmy Halpin
R&J: Paul McMahon
Physio: Scott Murphy
Jerome Featherstone Jr; Ahead of the Learning Curve
Baltimore, MD (June 7, 2012) – When Jerome Featherstone Jr. entered the Baltimore Boxing and Fitness Gym for the first time in January 2012, promoter and gym owner Jake Smith figured he had another athlete with a brief fascination of the sweet science.
An elite wrestler at the prestigious Boys Latin High School in Maryland and the University of Oklahoma, Smith assumed Featherstone Jr. would spend a few weeks in the gym before calling it quits; something he calls the norm.
“I’ve had so many athletes that starred in other sports come into my gym to give boxing a shot only to realize it wasn’t for them,” said Smith, a member of both the Maryland and D.C. Boxing Hall of Fames. “I expected Jerome would be one of those guys who thought boxing would be a breeze because he excelled in another sport, before he got a rude awakening.”
Smith was surprisingly wrong.
Featherstone Jr. proved to be a natural from the moment he laced up a pair of gloves, displaying speed, power and footwork of a ring veteran. According to Smith, Featherstone Jr’s god-given ability, all-around discipline and eagerness to learn are unlike anything he’s seen.
“I’ve been around all of the world champions and top contenders from this area during the last 30 years. Jerome tops all of them at this stage. There are a lot of boxers who’ve been doing this their entire life and had tons of amateur fights that never displayed the kind of potential he has. If Jerome continue to progress, I guarantee you’ll all know who he is in the near future.”
Tomorrow evening, Featherstone Jr. looks to improve his record to 4-0 when he challenges experienced Darius Vann for the East Coast Middleweight title in the main event of a fight card pitting Team Baltimore against a squad from Philadelphia at Du Burns Arena.
Tickets starting at $25 and VIP tables of 10 from $500 are available on Baltimoreboxing.com or by calling 410-375-9175.
In addition to the Featherstone-Vann match-up, there will be 11 Olympic Style bouts featuring each squad’s top talent. Thus far, Team Baltimore is 3-0 in competitions, defeating a team from the Naval Academy and twice besting a squad from Pittsburgh.
All bouts are sanctioned by USA Boxing.
The Du Burns Arena is located at 1301 S. Elwood Ave in Baltimore. Doors open at 6:30 and the first bout is slated for 8 pm.