Harlem Eubank is rumoured to have been offered an early 2024 contest with British champion Dalton Smith, but he must first get past the experienced Timo Schwarzkopf at the Brighton Centre this Friday night.
Eubank and Schwarzkopf will compete for the vacant WBO Global super lightweight title, with Wasserman promoting and Channel 5 televising live in the UK.
Eubank (18-0, 7KOs) has steadily been stepping up in class of late, and has been out six times since the start of 2022. The 29-year-old rounded out 2022 with a wide points win over ten against Tom Farrell, and he started 2023 with another ten rounds banked, dropping Miguel Cesario Antin twice on the way to another handy win on the cards.
Credit: Leigh Dawney, Wasserman
The Brightonian was last out in July, halting Ishmael Ellis in seven. Germany’s Schwarzkopf (22-5, 13KOs) is next in the Eubank firing-line, and the 32-year-old has lost four of his last eight contests. He has yet to be stopped though, and did take Jack Catterall the full ten rounds in 2019, although he lost heavily on the cards. Schwarzkopf is coming off a win, a close ten round points success against Miguel Vazquez back in February.
Prediction: Eubank shouldn’t encounter too many difficulties here, but Schwarzkopf is tough, and should last the ten round distance, with Eubank coming through widely on the scorecards.
A long undercard features a lot of up and coming talent.
Lerrone Richards (17-0, 4KOs) is pretty much a forgotten man, having boxed just once since December 2021, but he has inked a deal with Wasserman, and is eased in against Mickey Ellison (14-5, 5KOs), a former Area champion, at super middleweight. Richards should prevail on points.
Heavyweight hope Tommy Welch (11-0, 6KOs) steps up to eight round level for the first time, and he should record an early win against Jonathan Exequiel Vergara (5-0, 3KOs). Roman Fury (2-0, 0KOs) continues his education, and the cruiserweight can outpoint Bradley Davies (1-5-1, 1KOs). Ebonie Jones (4-0-1, 0KOs) can do the same in her super featherweight meeting against Jamilette Janitza Vallejos (2-9-2, 2KOs).
Sultan Zaurbek (15-0, 10KOs) also appears on this card.
Denmark’s Oliver Zaren (9-0, 2KOs) can bank a points win over six at super middleweight against Bahadur Karami (3-7-2, 1KOs), and super featherweight JP O’Meara (1-0, 0KOs) may need all four frames to take the win against Karl Sampson (5-25-1, 1KOs).
Ben Andrews (1-0, 0KOs) can win on points against Patryk Polasik (1-14-1, 1KO) at cruiserweight, and Irishman Tiernan Bradley (7-0, 5KOs) can halt Michal Bulik (6-4, 2KOs).
Debutants also turn over on the card.
Tom Welland may need the distance to see off Francisco Rodriguez (1-18, 1KO) at super bantamweight, and Harvey Dykes can also triumph on the cards against Erik Nazaryan (29-34-4, 22KOs) at heavyweight.
