Jack Catterall is getting a taste for Argentinian with his second opponent in a row from the South American nation on Saturday July 11th at the Manchester Velodrome (National Cycling Centre).
Catterall defeated hard Argie Cesar David Inalef in five rounds last time out in March at the Liverpool Echo Arena and now he’s looking to do a similar demolition job on Rio Negro hitman Gabriel Calfin.
Catterall features as chief support to Terry Flanagan’s WBO World Lightweight title challenge against Jose Zepeda, that also features Liam Walsh’s British and Commonwealth Super-Featherweight title defence against Troy James, plus the return of former IBF World Bantamweight Champion Paul Butler, live and exclusive on BoxNation.
The undefeated 21-year-old, who’s regarded as one of the hottest young talents in British boxing, makes the first defence of the belt that he won against Inalef as he continues his rise on the world scene.
Like Catterall, Calfin is a southpaw, but the 31-year-old holds the experience over the youngster with 31 fights and 164 rounds under his belt compared to Catterall’s 11 fights and 49 rounds and is a former WBC Latino Champion.
“Calfin is another challenger that I have to deal with efficiently as I continue on the path towards the world title,” Said Catterall.
“It’s important to me that I put on good performance against him and show my talent and potential as a future world champion so I know that I can’t slip up against him.”
“Regardless of where he’s from, he’s another fighter in my way looking to beat me and take my title. The last Argentinean, Inalef, was a hard kid who took some punishment before I got to him in the fifth round and I’m expecting Calfin to provide more of test for me looking at his record and experience,”
“I’m certainly not taking him for granted and know that I’ll have to be one-hundred percent spot.”
Opponent Set for Langford in Dublin
Birmingham’s Tommy Langford will face a new challenger on Saturday July 4th at the National Stadium, Dublin.
The unbeaten 25-year-old now takes on Mexican Julio Cesar Avalos for the title, replacing original opponent, German Ronny Mittag, in the chief supporting bout to Jamie Conlan’s WBO European Super-Flyweight title defence against Junior Granados, live and exclusive on BoxNation.
Avalos, from Guadalajara, has won 15 out of 19 fights with seven early stoppages. He recently extended up-and-coming unbeaten Mexican prospects Ivan Montero and Juan Ruiz over eight rounds each.
Despite the change, hot prospect Langford is excited to be now facing a Mexican in the first title challenge of his pro career and says the new harder opponent will bring out the best in him.
“I’m already in great physical shape ahead of the fight so with this change of opponent it’s just a couple of adjustments I need to make to the new opponent,” said Langford.
“Whereas Mittag is a tall, stand up, European style boxer, I’m now having to change to face a rough Mexican who’s shorter and more of an attacker. It’s all good experience for me as I develop as a fighter and at the end of the day I have to get in the ring and perform to my best on the night,”
“My trainer Tom Chaney will tell you I’m sharp as a razor at the moment and now I need to maintain that sharpness as I refocus on Avalos, who I reckon is going to be a much harder fighter than Mittag which will bring me up another level,”
“Mexican boxers come with that fearsome reputation and I know that Avalos is going to be a pretty hard nut to crack, but I’m now entering championship level and will get a top 15 ranking so fighters like Avalos and better than him are the guys that I’m going to have beat.”
Jamie Conlan headlines ‘New Beginning’, an action-packed card promoted by Frank Warren, in association with MGM Promotions.
Desmond Improves to 5-0
Essex middleweight prospect, Liam Desmond moved up to 5-0 after defeating Chris Jenkinson 8-21-2 on points over six rounds on June 20th at Grays Civic Hall on a Carl Greaves Promotions show.
The 22-year-old from Corringham, Essex commented on the win, “The score was 59-55 but I thought I had won every round. He’s a seasoned pro that’s been in with decent fella’s and it was a big step up for me. It’s a good win for me, it all went to plan, I managed to outbox him and not get too involved.”
The victory completed Desmond’s first six rounder and step up in quality of opponents against a seasoned professional that has been involved in four title fights winning the International Masters middleweight title with a win over Nicky Jenman in February 2013 and the Silver version five months later against Lyndon Newman, both by stoppage.
Ten years his senior, the 32-year-old from Bolton is well into his third year punching for pay as Liam Desmond kicks off just his second year with this latest triumph.
“First round, I just tried to test him out, he was awkward but I got some success with tying him up on the ropes and was doing well with unloading body shots,” explained Desmond. “I had to watch out for his right hands over the top, I knew from watching him that he was dangerous with that shot. He hit hard, probably the hardest hitter I’ve been in with.
‘The Hammer’ completed his induction into the paid ranks successfully with victories over Liam Griffiths 3-37-1 on his pro bow in March last year, Dee Mitchell 9-63-1 four months later in July, Kieran Gray 6-35-1 another four months apart in November, and a fine win over an unbeaten Rob Brown 1-0 in March this year concluded his debut year.
Following the test, Desmond plans to have another six rounder in September with a view to challenge for titles before the end of the year, he clarified, “This year, I definitely want to fight for a title. I’ll do another six rounds next, it wasn’t a high tempo fight, we was just picking our shots but I felt completely comfortable in there.”
