Froch-Groves Undercard Preview

By Peter Wells (twitter- @boxingsaddler):

Despite the loss of a cracking British lightweight battle between Martin Gethin and Anthony Crolla, the undercard is still jam packed with exciting action.

Quigg(left) & Silva(right) ahead of their world title showdown

Scott Quigg defends his WBA 'world' Super Bantamweight title against Argentinian Diego Oscar Silva.

Silva 29-2-4(15) was stopped in 3 rounds by Fernando Montiel back in 2009 at Bantamweight and holds very few victories of note. An 11th round stoppage win over Alex De Oliveira was his best win to date but last time out in June he drew with Nestor Hugo Paniagua who was stopped in a round by a 4-0 Yuriokis Gamboa.

The man who has only fought once outside of South America will have it all to do against Quigg 26-0-2(19) who comes off the back of a draw as well. But Quigg drew with talented but still developing Yoandris Salinas just last month. It is incredible to see a world champion defending his title so quickly, but after the opening few rounds the fans will see why Quigg didn't need a layoff for this voluntary defence. Quigg can impress in front of his home fans, stopping Silva in the second half of the contest.

In a slightly more taxing affair, Rocky Fielding will make the first defence of his Commonwealth Super Middleweight title against the local Luke Blackledge.

Fielding 16-0(9) has been moving through the development stage very smoothly, beating Mohammad Akrong in just one round last time out. Blackledge 14-1-2(5) however gave a good account of himself against unbeaten Erik Skoglund(L UD 10) and destroyed Mads Larson(KO 4) who had previously gone 7 rounds with Brian Magee and the distance with Sven Ottke. He also has points wins over Phill Fury and Matthew Barney.

However the pick is for Fielding to follow Skoglund's lead and take a points victory over the 12 round distance.

In another 12 rounder Anthony Crolla steps in with late replacement Stephen Foster Jr. As Crolla waits for his British title fight with Martin Gethin to be rescheduled for next year.

Foster has campaigned most of his career at Super Featherweight but with the short notice the former European Super Featherweight champion won't mind being sparred any added gruelling weight loss. Foster's only defeats come to top domestic and European opposition, Derry Matthews(UD 12), Alex Arthur(UD 12), Ermano Fegatilli(UD 12) and Gary Buckland(RTD 8). But that 3rd defeat to Fegatilli seemed to take all the sting out of the 33 year olds career.

Crolla 26-4-1(9) has endured quite a rollercoaster career, early career defeats to journeyman Youssef Al Hamidi(UD 8) and the former British Super Featherweight champion Gary Sykes(PTS 10). This was followed by a winning streak that resulted in a British title fight victory over John Watson(TKO 9) before a successful defence against Wille Limond(UD 12).



No mistakes allowed: Crolla(left) must beat Foster(right)

So just as things were moving smoothly for Anthony he was struck by another defeat this time to Derry Matthews(TKO 6) whom he later drew with over 12 rounds. A second defeat to Sykes(SD 3) this time in Prizefighter has been followed by victories over Kieran Farrell(UD 10) and most impressively Gavin Rees(MD 12).

So with erratic form it can be hard to predict what to expect from Crolla but Foster will not be in great shape for this contest having been called up at short notice and with a British title shot in the pipeline Crolla can score a late stoppage victory.

Also on the card is Stephen Smith 17-1(10) lining up his root to a world title shot against WBC Super Featherweight champion Takashi Miura. Firstly the former British champion who vacated the title to leave Frank Warren will have to navigate his way past Sergio Manuel Medina 39-6-1(21).

The Argentinian who lost last time out to Fernando David Saucedo, who Smith will face in a final eliminator if he is victorious, will remain in the contest for the opening few rounds but Smith can use his speed advantage to full use, taking a unanimous decision at the end of the 10 rounds.

Also in action and all expected to win are Scott Cardle 12-0(2) who can beat Krzysztof Szot 17-8-1(5) on points. Jamie McDonnell 21-2-1(9) who was harshly stripped of his IBF Bantamweight title can beat Bernard Inom 22-3-1(10) over 8 rounds, while Khalid Yafai 9-0(6) and Luke Campbell 3-0(3) can both score stoppages over Abigail Medina 9-2-2(5) and Morgan Duthes 5-0(1) respectively. Finally Andy Lee 30-2(21) can make short work of Ferenc Hafner 21-4(12)