Frank Warren showcases plenty of his prospects on a stacked bill at the Copper Box Arena on Saturday, live on BT Sport.
On the undercard of Hamzah Sheeraz’s headline clash against Francisco Torres, Hall of Fame promoter, Warren puts on 11 fights featuring some of the most highly-touted youngsters in the talent.
Nick Ball fresh off his brutal stoppage victory over Isaac Lowe at Wembley Stadium in April, looks to continue the momentum when he defends his WBC Silver featherweight crown against Nathanael Kakololo and the 25-year-old has WBC world champion, Rey Vargas in his sights.
Dennis McCann also looks to extend his undefeated streak, gunning for the WBC International featherweight title against James Beech Jr, whilst Lennox Clarke and Mark Heffron meet in a much-anticipated British and Commonwealth super middleweight title clash.
Here we look at five prospects, who we caught up with during the week, looking to take centre stage in Hackney.
Masood Abdullah
Masood Abdullah looks to notch a fifth straight knockout victory when he meets fellow unbeaten prospect Tinko Banabakov.
The Islington man moves down to super bantamweight and is eyeing a title before the year closes.
Abdullah (4-0, 4 KOs), who stopped Sandeep Singh Batti in six rounds at Wembley Arena in March has tasted top level sparring with the likes of world champions Leigh Wood and Joe Cordina and insists he is looking to make his mark on a thriving domestic scene, which includes Queensberry stablemates Brad Foster, Chris Bourke and Jason Cunningham to name a few.
Asked which fighter he’s learnt the most from, Abdullah said: “It would be Joe Cordina, phenomenal boxer.
“Every single time he boxes, there’s a lot of fight IQ in him.
“Every time I spar him I try and steal little bits of things here and there.”
Umar Khan
Umar Khan also looks to preserve his unbeaten record when he clashes with Nicaraguan Engel Gomez.
Khan (3-0) fights for the fourth consecutive time at the Copper Box Arena, dominating the opposition in the early stages of his career.
The 20-year-old turned over to the professional ranks after an impressive stint in the amateurs which saw him win one national title and the super bantamweight prospect has relocated his training to Spain, where he works with former Roberto Duran coach Bernardo Checa.
Khan is hopeful of appearing twice more after Saturday in what will be his first six round contest.
“They’re tough [Nicaraguan fighters].
“I train out in Spain. Over there that’s like their base where they all are the Nicaraguans.
“So I spar them a lot, they’re tough.”
Sonny Liston Ali
Sonny Liston Ali has a name which few can forget, although he promises that his family did not give him the name of two former heavyweight champions to entice him to the sport.
The 3-0 super lightweight excelled as an amateur, winning two national titles and two GB crowns and is proving to be a tricky boxer in the professional ranks.
The 23-year-old takes the next step in his early career on Saturday when he faces highly experienced journeyman Chris Adaway who has only been stopped eight times in his 72 losses.
The Essex man says he wants to sit down on his punches more against Adaway.
“You haven’t seen the best Sonny Liston Ali yet.
“I’m hoping [on] Saturday night you will, because obviously you can only be as good as your opponent.
“So when they’re coming, they’re coming to survive sort of thing, it’s hard to look good.
“I know he does come to win, he comes to have a fight, so I’m praying that he does come and we’ll have a good fight.
“I want to show a bit of spite. I want to show that I’m not just a classy boxer.”
Sean Noakes
Sean Noakes (1-0) is part of a fighting family and has joined his brother Sam as part of the Queensberry stable.
Sean, the older of the pair, won a Haringey Box Cup as an amateur and fights for the second time as a professional on Saturday against experienced journeyman MJ Hall.
The Maidstone man says he’s looking to box at least twice more before the end of the year and the 27-year-old has future plans of sharing a bill with his brother who has won his first nine fights by stoppage.
“I’d love to get on the same card [as Sam].
“We haven’t boxed together since 2013.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve fought on the same show as each other.
“Hopefully when he fights for a British title or something big like that I’ll get on the card and we can do it together.”
Khalid Ali
Khalid Ali is a fighter with a big following and his 200+ faithful will be packing out the Copper Box Arena for his third professional fight.
Ali (2-0, 1 KO) describes himself as an “well-rounded fighter” with “power, class and speed” and he faces Des Newton on Saturday.
The welterweight prospect is aiming to be out twice more after Saturday and is targeting a fight at York Hall.
Ali was brought to Frank Warren’s attention by Hamzah Sheeraz’s father and he admits that Sheeraz has been a big inspiration to him.
“I feel like he’s a huge inspiration to fighters in the Queensberry stable.
“He started off like me beginning of the shows.
“One fight, two fights, can sell tickets, moving up the ranks, now he’s headlining a show.”
