Saturday night sees a bumper Frank Warren and Queensberry promoted bill in London, with a host of fights scheduled on the card.
Topping the bill sees the eagerly awaited return of Liam Williams (22-2-1, KO17), who makes his first appearance of 2020 as he continues to campaign for a long overdue world title shot at Middleweight.
The Welshman meets tricky Midlander, Andrew Robinson (24-4-1, KO7), with Williams making only the second defence of the British Middleweight title that he won in December 2018.
Williams has been steadily stepping up in class, and negotiations did begin back in March for a shot at Demetrius Andrade’s WBO world title, but the Pandemic has seen the fight shelved for the time being.
Williams had served as British and Commonwealth Super Welterweight champion in 2015 and 16, and then stepped up to world level to challenge Liam Smith for the interim WBO belt in April 2017.
Williams was stopped on cuts when ahead on all three scorecards, but would disappoint in the rematch as he lost a majority decision.
These remain his only losses, and is on a six fight winning streak since moving up in weight.
Winning the vacant Lonsdale Belt at 160 pounds at the back end of 2018 with an impressive stoppage of Mark Heffron in ten, before defending with ease in a second round knockout of Joe Mullender in March 2019.
Since that win, he has set about improving his ranking, stopping Karim Achour in two in July 2019 to win the WBC Silver belt, and then, in his last fight, Alantez Fox was stopped in five as Williams picked up the vacant WBO Intercontinental strap.
He will see the fight with Robinson as an opportunity for a rust shaker, but he will need to be on his mettle to guard against any complacency.
‘D’Animal’ Robinson, has been patiently waiting for a shot at the British title for a while, and finally gets his chance this Saturday.
The Redditch native won his first 13 on the bounce, and then put in a spirited display in defeat to Frank Buglioni over ten in late November 2014.
A move down to Middleweight saw back to back defeats in 2016, losing close decisions to both Sam Sheedy and Lee ‘Banjo’ Markham.
Robinson then drew against the then 6-20-4 Adam Jones over six, but since then, is 6-1 in his last seven outings.
His only other defeat came in June 2018, when the previously mentioned Mark Heffron stopped Robinson in six.
He has won three straight since, including a split decision win on the road in Poland against the previously unbeaten Damian Jonak in Katowice.
Prediction: I can’t see Williams taking his eye off the prize here, as he looks to continue his ascent to a world title shot.
Robinson is big for the weight, and tough, and may make the later stages before Williams scores a stoppage win down the stretch.
There’s another return to action, this time for Liverpool’s JJ Metcalf (21-0, KO13) who puts his Commonwealth Super Welterweight crown on the line in an intriguing clash with Jack Flatley (16-1-1, KO4).
Metcalf, the son of the legendary Shea Neary, finally stepped up in class last June in Leeds, claiming the vacant belt he now owns in a thriller with Jason Welborn, with Metcalf scoring an eighth round stoppage.
He was last seen in February, stopping Jan Balog in a round in Liverpool.
Boltonian Flatley holds a June 2018 draw with Troy Williamson, and his only defeat came in September last year in a tight points loss to Harry Scarff for the English Super Welterweight title, that he had won against Craig Morris four months earlier.
Flatley last appeared in the ring in December 2019, outscoring Alistair White over six in his native Bolton.
Prediction: Metcalf will look to build on the win against Welborn, which wasn’t perfect by any means but his best win to date.
Flatley is tough, and I expect him to last the distance, but for the Liverpudlian to take a wide points win.
Willy Hutchinson (12-0, KO8) couldn’t be matched on the Josh Taylor undercard after a late pull out, but the heavy-handed Scot appears here, in a ten-rounder at Super Middleweight.
Spain’s Jose Miguel Fandino (15-7, KO8), last seen knocked out in seven by the returning Sergio Martinez in August is the opponent.
An early stoppage win would certainly be a statement for Hutchinson, and it’s certainly achievable.
Another postponed fight gets the green light on this bill, where the returning Nathan Gorman (16-1, KO11) aims to bounce back from his first pro defeat last July to Daniel Dubois.
An assignment against former Dubois foe, Richard Lartey (14-2, KO11) at Heavyweight over ten rounds awaits.
Portsmouth Lightweight Mark Chamberlain (6-0, KO4) gets an eight rounder with Shaun Cooper (10-1, KO0).
At Super Featherweight, Muheeb Fazeldin (13-0-1, KO4) takes on Luke Jones (6-3-1, KO0) over six, and rounding off the card is Micky Burke (3-0, KO0) who clashes with Dan Booth (4-1, KO1) in a Welterweight four rounder.
