No Fury-Chisora, but stacked undercard saves the day

By Peter Wells:


Fury will have been flipping more tables when Chisora pulled out with injury

It's not very often in boxing that you can take away the main event and still sit their satisfied with the line-up. And while the loss of Tyson Fury's rematch with Dereck Chisora is a huge blow for this Frank Warren show, it's not the end of the world, all thanks to a stacked undercard.

Chisora's replacement, Alexander Ustinov, is as good a 1 week notice substitute as you can get, and the upgraded main attraction between unbeatens Billy Joe Saunders and Emanuele Blandamura is a high quality fight in itself.

The undercard is boosted by two British title fights, where Liam Smith defends his Light Middleweight version of the Lonsdale Belt against former Frankie Gavin victim and aggressive boxer, Jason Welborn. Black Country boxing fans will also have a chance to see Martin Gethin attempt to reclaim his British Lightweight crown against unbeaten Terry Flanagan. Also on the bill two prospects face off for the Central Area Light Welterweight title in Nathan Brough and Jack Catterall and Liam Williams takes on Ronnie Heffron in a final eliminator for the Light Middleweight British title.

Appearances for Chris Eubank Jr, Liam Walsh, Bradley Saunders, Eddie Chambers and many more completes a 15 fight card.

A true mouth watering spectacle for British boxing fans that enjoy tough-to-call contests.

In the main event, Saunders 19-0(10) will face his toughest test to date against Blandamura 22-0(5) for the vacant European Middleweight belt.

Blandamura won the European Union version of the European title last time out in January, where he shone on BoxNation from Germany as he boxed brilliantly to outscore the favoured Marcos Nader. The split decision did not do justice to the Italians' performance as he countered the aggression of Nader. Albeit Nader's performance was far from what was expected.



Billy Joe Saunders (right) will now be the main attraction

Blandamura showed a solid chin and decent power of his own that is not reflected by just 5 knockout wins, but the 34 year old seems to be getting better with age. But outside of Nader, his resume hasn't been exceptional.

Saunders will prove much tougher to hit than the crude Nader, but Saunders has been out of action since September last year. That night he was forced to dig very deep against underrated John Ryder, taking a unanimous decision by the skin of his teeth. Not a big puncher either, Saunders is a magnificent boxer, whose fast hands and technical noose have seen him dominate his domestic rivals.

While Blandamura will be awkward, one sees the speed and accuracy of Saunders being the difference. Blandamura may need to rough Saunders up if he is to pull off an upset. After avoiding punishment early, Blandamura will begin to eat more shots between rounds 5-9, before Saunders boxes to a comfortable decision win, although a late push for a stoppage could make a big statement.



Terry Flanagan will hope to add the British title to his Prizefighter trophy

In the best of the British title fights, Flanagan 24-0(8) will finally get his chance to prove himself on the big domestic stage against former champion Martin Gethin 24-5-1(11).

After a rough patch in 2008/09 Gethin has sprung his career into life with wins over Carl Johanneson and Ben Murphy - TKO 11 and TKO 9. In the latter he won the British title that he went on to lose in a split decision loss to Derry Matthews - who has now vacated the title. Prior to the Matthews encounter, Gethin found his level against fringe world class Panamanian Ammeth Diaz (KO 7).

Flanagan's best run of form came in 2012 where he dominated the aggressive Troy James (UD 10) before being crowned Prizefighter champion, beating Patrick Walsh, Derry Matthews and Gary Sykes all on points over 3 rounds. Since then his most notable opponents have been faded Nate Campbell (RTD 4) and Michael Grant (TKO 2) in a fight where both hit the canvas.

That stutter in his development will have only made the well schooled Flanagan more determined to prove a point on Saturday night, and he will feel that Gethin, who slowly but surely bulls his way into his fights, will be the perfect opponent.



Jason Welborn (left) & Martin Gethin (right) fight in separate bouts

Flanagan can start fast, outworking Gethin to claim an early advantage. If Gethin can kick into gear before the halfway mark of the contest then after taking most of Flanagan's fast punches on the gloves he can begin to wear the home fighter down. Gethin may need to force a stoppage late to take back the British title, but the pick is for the Walsall man to take a very close decision win.

Liam Smith 16-0-1(6) will make the 2nd defence of his British crown against former British Welterweight challenger, Jason Welborn 15-2(6).

The aggressive Welborn has found better form at 154lbs, after he lost in 7 to Frankie Gavin. His 8th round stoppage win over Terry Carruthers last year highlighted his limitations with Carruthers up on the scorecards before cuts halted his Midlands Area title reign. Carruthers is better than his record suggests but he is still not on Smith's level when it comes to boxing, and it could prove to be a very tough night for the entertaining Welborn.

Smith is a quality boxer who can dig as he showed when stopping Mark Thompson in 4 last time out.


Liam Smith (left) winning British crown against Erick Ochieng

Welborn will come forward all night as he did against Gavin last year, but his attacks will often be met by crisp combinations. Smith, well ahead on the scorecards, can possibly force a late stoppage.

Tyson Fury 22-0(16) can take his frustrations out on Ustinov 29-1(21) scoring a stoppage inside 6. But Peter Fury must ensure Tyson is 100% focused on the game plan, knowing full well that Ustinov will be looking for one big shot to cause an unlikely upset.

While Liam Williams 9-0-1(4) seems to be on the rise, Heffron 15-1(5) will use his experience to earn a tight unanimous decision win, although it is unlikely to be as controversial as his last decision win over John Thain.

Catterall 8-0(4) vs Brough 11-0(2) can provide plenty of entertainment, with Catterall forcing a stoppage late in the contest.

Walsh 15-0(10) may need the full 10 to beat Kevin Hooper 15-2(3) while Eubank Jr 16-0(11) can destroy Ivan Jukic 19-2(12) inside 4 rounds. Eddie Chambers 39-4(21) can also get the job done inside 4 against Marcelo Luiz Nascimento 17-6(15).