North East Boxing enters the Eliminator Zone

North East Boxing enters the Eliminator Zone – British Boxing Blog

2016 is shaping up to be a crucial year for North East boxing, with title fights and eliminators on the horizon for some of the region’s top pugilists.

The month of March sees two North East fighters in British Title eliminator fights, and if it wasn’t for Tom Whitfield’s unfortunate injury, we would’ve had a Northern Area title fight thrown in for good measure on Steve Wraith’s show too. (Daniel Cope still boxes on the show, and there is hope that his bout with Tom Whitfield will be rescheduled for later in the year).

Saturday March 5th is a date that the regions fight fans and journalists have long since had in their diaries. Two of our best boxers will face the biggest fights of their careers so far, as Craig Dixon and Tommy Ward fight in British title eliminators at Welterweight and Super Bantamweight respectively.

Tommy Ward will face the experienced Robbie Turley in a huge fight at Rainton Meadows Arena and Craig Dixon will travel up to Paisley, Scotland to face Mike Towell at the Lagoon Leisure Centre in Paisley.

We will focus on Ward first, the stylish, gifted, younger brother of Martin, who looks like he could pose a real threat to the domestic Super Bantamweight scene. He takes on the experienced Welshman, Robbie Turley, who lost over the distance to Carl Frampton back in 2011.

Credit must be given to Tommy’s promoter, Phil Jeffries and the rest of his team for securing this opportunity for Ward in the North East. Without the backing of a big television deal, Jeffries has once again put his money where his mouth, won the purse bids and made the fight happen in the North East, just as he did for Tommy’s older brother, Martin, when he fought against Jazza Dickens for the British title at the back end of 2015.

It must be remembered that talented Tommy is still only a “bairn”, and his unbeaten 16 fight record in the pro game is even more impressive when taking in to consideration that he is still only 21 years of age.

Since making his pro debut in 2012, Tommy has steadily built up his experience. He will need to draw on this experience when he faces Robbie Turley, a fighter who has fought at Domestic level for a few years now.

Fighting away from home in big title fights and eliminators has been an unfortunate tale of woe for a lot of North East boxers in recent years, with fighters such as Glenn Foot, Jonson McClumpha and Lee Mould on the wrong end of points decisions when boxing on the road, therefore it cannot be underestimated just how good of a job Jeffries and his team have done in securing Tommy Ward this fight at Rainton.

There is sure to be an electric atmosphere as always inside the Rainton Meadows Arena on March 5th, with the regions boxing fans turning out in their numbers to cheer Tommy to victory. The main event is backed by a stellar undercard of local talent, including the return of Glenn Foot, Darren Richardson and Warren Baister. This is the North East’s first major show of 2016 and is one not to be missed.

One fighter that is hoping to reverse the trend of recent years, that has seen our local fighters lose major fights on the road, is the talented Birtley boy, Craig Dixon. Craig is also in action on March 5th as he has the biggest fight of his career so far; a British Welterweight title eliminator against the unbeaten Mike Towell in Paisley, Scotland. Craig, promoted by Fighting Chance, is certainly not phased at all about fighting on the road and is heading over border full of confidence that he will grasp the opportunity with both hands and come back victorious.

Credit once again has to be given to Craig’s promoters, Fighting Chance, for manoeuvring Craig up the domestic rankings securing this opportunity and maximising the earnings for their fighter. A victory and a potential future fight for Sam Eggington (or Bradley Skeete, depending on the winner of Saturday’s British title contest in Birmingham) could transform Craig’s career and elevate him on to a whole new stage completely.

We have witnessed Craig in training and sparring twice over the past few weeks back and it has to be said that Fighting Chance head trainer, Ronnie Rowe has his young charge in fantastic shape.

When speaking to Craig earlier this week, he was certainly in confident mood, telling us that he was in the best shape of his life, and was keen to praise Fighting Chance’s Performance Nutrionist, Chris Clayton for his help and guidance with regards to nutrition in this camp. As well as Clayton, Dixon was also keen to wax lyrical about the strength and conditioning work he has gone through at Unit 29 in Washington under the guidance of Andy Coulson. Dixon was keen to stress just how pleased he was with the work he has put in at the facility, describing it as “old school boxing strength and conditioning work but with excellent facilities, which has really helped me get in the best shape possible for fight night”

One aspect that could help the Birtley Bullet in this fight is his previous experience of boxing (and winning) away from home. Craig explained this to us, saying “I’ve never had any issues with boxing on the road and have gained good experience in doing so during both my amateur and professional careers. When I was part of the GB set up, I was used to being away from home from Thursday – Saturday most weeks and it has never bothered me in the slightest.” The big fight experience he gained from his scintillating Northern Area title fight with Lee Mould a couple of years back, will also stand him in good stead when making the trip to Scotland on March 5th.

We have witnessed Craig’s sparring first hand down at the Fighting Chance gym in Felling, highly competitive, physical sparring with stable mate, Jamie “Boom Boom” Jones. Dixon was full of praise for Jones, and also for Glenn Foot, who he has been sparring with over numerous rounds at Dave Binns’ East Durham College facility in Peterlee. Both men have helped him prepare for Towell, who he believes will be a come forward, physical fighter.

Saturday 5th March could be a memorable date for North East Boxing fans, and we here at British Boxing Blog would like to wish Tommy Ward, Craig Dixon and their respective teams the best of luck with their British title eliminators. .

We would like to personally thank Tommy Ward for taking the time to do an interview with us, as well as his promoter Phil Jeffries for giving us access to his show on Saturday evening.

We would also like to thank Craig Dixon for taking time out of his busy schedule to speak to us, as well as Nathan Orr and Ronnie Rowe and all others at Fighting Chance HQ for inviting us down to the gym and giving us great access.