Yorkshire boxers winning career-developing bouts to prepare for titles

Yorkshire professional boxers have recently been out in force on major shows in Leeds and Sheffield winning career-enhancing bouts confirming their status as contenders for area and even national title belts as these become available over the coming year.

Leeds boxer Billy Pickles travelled to Sheffield for a Commonwealth super-lightweight title eliminator bout at Skate Central on a show organised by promoter Dennis Hobson.

Pickles was delighted to get a unanimous decision win following what was described as a battle of attrition and which sets him up to box for the Commonwealth title. ‘This was my best win yet and my toughest fight.

Keanan’s a great boxer and has the potential to win a major title. We fought a ten round war which was a crowd pleaser and entertaining to watch and which will certainly have helped me prepare for the ultimate challenge of a twelve-round contest,’ said Pickles, 30.

The Leeds boxer’s record now stands at sixteen wins out of seventeen professional bouts since joining the paid ranks in 2016. He’s also ranked 21st out of 121 British boxers in his division according to the sport’s international database Boxrec.

Meanwhile a trio of Doncaster professional boxers secured wins on a show at the John Charles Centre in south Leeds which was the first to be organised by boxing champion Josh Warrington’s new company Leeds Warrior Promotions in association with VIP Promotions owned by Manchester-based promoter Steve Wood and of which Warrington is now a director. ‘It was an interesting eye-opener for me to the world of the boxing promoter,’ said Warrington.

Doncaster prospect Jake Goodwin was ecstatic to return to winning ways earning maximum points as he beat veteran Midlands boxer M J Hall. Goodwin had been out of the ring for ten months following two defeats last summer and needed to recover from a bulged disc in his back.

‘I took some time off to reflect and get over that injury and then I started training at Josh Warrington’s gym in Leeds coached by Warrington’s dad Sean O’Hagan. I feel better for having stepped up to middleweight. I’d been cutting too much weight and was overtraining. I now train less but more effectively and there’s a great atmosphere in the gym. The bout went well. I got the rounds in and wasn’t threatened by my opponent as I kept him under control throughout. I’m loving this boxing journey and hope to bring title belts to Doncaster as early as next year.’

Now undefeated in fifteen bouts over nine years ago, Doncaster welterweight Lewis Booth shook off any ringrust as he defeated Rotherham’s Nathan Darby in a six rounder in which Booth took every round. This was twenty-eight-year-old Booth’s first outing in a little over eighteen months and he thanked Darby ‘for giving me a test that I passed to go home with a smile on my face. I couldn’t be happier. I’m confident I can bring more to the table and am looking for an eight-round challenge as soon as possible.’

After winning all four rounds of his eighth professional bout, twenty-nine-year-old Jamie Mellers proved he remains a contender following what he described as a ‘title fight that went to pot’ when he was stopped in the first round of ten in Blackpool last March against local favourite Willy Goldie-Galloway. ‘There’s been some going back to basics in training,’ said Mellers, ‘and I’ve continued to enjoy strong support from my team. My opponent Joe Hardy from Leeds will have had a sore head afterwards. My hands were hurting, and I also worked him over with some strong body shots. A six rounder soon would be nice.’

Keighley super featherweight Ibrahim Nadim beat Colombian Joshua Ocampo in a six rounder just two weeks after similar points win over Cristian Narvaez on a Bolton show which was Nadim’s first bout in fourteen months. Hull’s Hashim Rehman defeated Ramiro Lopez and Bridlington’s Roan Stanley gave a convincing performance getting every single available point in his win over Manchester’s Josh Cook.