A chance for Max Maxwell to prove his worth
Sep 12 2008 By Ian Johnson
MAX Maxwell has to be in the running for the Midlands’ best young boxer of the year as the area’s middleweight champion.
If he doesn’t get the honour at the awards dinner on September 27 I will be surprised, and tomorrow afternoon at the Edgbaston Tower Ballroom he gets the chance to underline his talent.
The 28-year-old Brummie school teacher defends his title against Wolverhampton’s Rob Kenny having beaten Kenny’s stablemate Matty Hough to take the crown with a dramatic third round knockout back in February.
Kenny has an outstanding record of seven wins and one draw which is a touch better than Maxwell’s seven wins and one defeat. Clearly it’s an even money fight although Maxwell will probably start a narrow favourite.
Maxwell’s punching performance in beating Hough was an eye-opener. He produced punching power never seen from him in the ring before although his coach Richie Woodhall was not at all surprised.
The former world champion said: “Max has show considerable punching power in the gym. It was just a question of him gaining confidence to throw the punches.
“Against Hough he did exactly that and he now knows that he has the ability to win via the short route.
“It won’t happen every time of course, but Kenny will do well to keep out of serious trouble.”
Maxwell has enjoyed the challenge of sparring big time with new stable mate Matthew Macklin and will be going in much the stronger for the experience.
The same can be said for D Delroy Mitchell who will have a tough time against Latvian Gatis Skya who is based in Bethnal Green. Even so I expect Mitchell to come through.
It is also going to be a big night for the Coventry twins Rhys and Lewy Davies make a little bit of history and their professional debuts on the under card.
Both lads really fancy their chances of making it big in the sport and will want to get off to flying starts.
Super middleweight Lewy goes in against Doncaster’s James Tucker and light heavyweight Rhys will face Mark Nielsen from Manchester.
And the highly popular light heavyweight Eddie McIntosh challenges Rob Burton from Barnsley.
Bartley Green’s McIntosh is looking for his sixth success against an opponent who has a decent record of more than 40 outings.
