It’s a great card full of prospects at the spiritual home of UK boxing this Saturday night, as Frank Warren promotes at the York Hall, Bethnal Green.
BT Sport is the place to see the action in the UK, as hot prospect, Sunny Edwards (12-0, KO4) tops the bill. The Croydon man moves down to Flyweight to contest the vacant IBF and WBO Intercontinental Titles against the Mexican, Rosendo Hugo Guarneros (16-2-2, KO8) over ten rounds.
Guarneros lost on his professional debut, and comes to the East End of London not in the most spectacular of form, with a 1-1-1 record in his last three fights.
Hugo Hernandez Aguilar won a split decision over six in December 2018, and Guarneros then had a eight round draw with Joaquin Cruz in February of this year. He is coming off a decent wide eight round points win against the then 26-1 Luis Gerardo Castillo in May. He fights outside his native Mexico for the first time this weekend.
23 year old Edwards is tipped to eclipse big brother Charlie, the current WBC Flyweight Champion, and has impressed thus far in his paid career.
His breakout win came in a masterclass points win against Ryan Farrag in October last year. He did suffer a flash knockdown against Junior Granados two months later, but rallied to dominate a points win. He has since coasted to an eighth round stoppage of Pedro Matos, and, last time out he won nearly every round against Hiram Gallardo.
Prediction: Opportunities at domestic level act Flyweight and Super Fly are thin on the ground, so Edwards may be catapulted towards European and World Title level sooner than ideally expected. I don’t foresee Guarneros posing a threat to Edwards’ unbeaten record, and can see this one playing out very much like his last few contests. Edwards should dominate a clear points win in this one.
An intriguing battle of unbeaten fighters features on the bill, as Lichfield’s Brad Foster (11-0-1, KO4) defends his British Super Bantamweight Title against a live opponent in West Ham’s Lucien Reid (8-0-1, KO4).
Former Kickboxer Foster catapulted himself into wider attention when he upset Josh Wale in a wide points win to capture the vacant British Title in Barnsley back in March, and he backed that performance up with an impressive last round stoppage of Ashley Lane to pick up the Bristolian’s Commonwealth crown in Stevenage two months later.
“Lethal” Lucien Reid makes his first significant step up in class, after a usual education on journeymen. He also has had a change in trainer, moving to London’s IBOX Gym under Alan Smith after leaving Adam Booth. Reid hasn’t been past an eight round distance as yet in his pain career, achieving the feat just once with a points win against Rafael Castillo last October. His last outing was in March, where his meeting with Indi Sangha was curtailed after three rounds, with Reid unable to continue due to a serious cut above his eye.
Prediction: I think this opportunity could have come too soon for 25 year old Reid, with Foster on a roll in his last couple of fights. I think Foster can stave off a strong Reid challenge to retain his Lonsdale Belt on the scorecards.
Another solid match up sees someone’s “0” disappear as hot prospects Kody Davies (9-0, KO3) and Zak Chelli (7-0, KO3) clash in a ten rounder at Light Heavyweight.
Both have impressed, with Chelli overcoming Umar Sadiq to take Sadiq’s unbeaten record last October, before winning the Southern Area Title against Jimmy Smith in April, winning every round of their ten rounder. The Fulham man is huge for the weight.
Davies hits hard, and this is a step up for him as well as his opponent, with the Welshman overcoming limited opposition so far.
The tentative pick in this one is Chelli to come through a war on the cards.
The aforementioned Umar Sadiq (6-1, KO3) is matched well in a six rounder against former Commonwealth Super Middleweight Champion, Luke Blackledge (26-8-2, KO9).
Lancashire’s Blackledge is firmly on the slide, having suffered six defeats in his last ten outings, and Sadiq should be able to score a comfortable points victory.
There is plenty of value for money on the rest of this bustling card, and an English Light Heavyweight Title fight should be a cracker.
Dec Spelman (16-2, KO8), who captured the belt in May with a points victory over Kirk Garvey, makes a first defence in a rematch of a November 2018 Ultimate Boxxer final. Birmingham’s Shakan Pitters (12-0, KO4) dropped Spelman in the opening round on the way to a wide points win in that meeting, but that was obviously over a much shorter distance and at the end of a long tournament format.
Since that breakout win, Pitters has faced two journeyman, dispatching Norbert Szekeres in a round In March, and Dmitrij Kalinovskij was outpointed over six in May at IndigO2.
Scunthorpe’s Spelman has only one other defeat on his slate, in a tragic points defeat to Scott Westgarth, who later died after collapsing post fight. Spelman continues to fight in his fallen opponent’s memory.
Prediction: I feel this contest could go much the same way as their Ultimate Boxxer affair, with Pitters starting fast and forcing Spelman into mistakes. If Pitters can’t finish the job early, he may have to settle for a clear points win.
