Black Country Boxing chief Errol Johnson has come up with a great idea to create interest in small-hall boxing.
Or rather, the Sauerlands came up with a great idea – and Johnson pinched it off them.
The Midlands Boxing Super Series, a distant relation of the World Boxing Super Series, gets underway at Walsall Town Hall this Sunday (OCT 15) with four quarter finals over six rounds and reaches its climax sometime next year with a fight for the Midlands Area super-featherweight championship, vacated by Lyon Woodstock Jr.
The Midlands Boxing Super Series – to be known as MBSS for the remainder of this article – gives fighters something to work towards, fans get 50-50 fights and Johnson might even make a few bob.
Not every show Johnson puts on – and he puts on at least one most weekends – makes money, but he keeps putting them on to give his stable of 50-odd boxers work. That’s a real boxing man for you.
Fans could even make a few quid out of MBSS.
Local bookmakers are involved – and until Paul Holt withdrew last week, he was the favourite.
He’s been replaced by Indi Sangha and if Boxing Social manages to sneak off to the bookmakers without Mrs Boxing Social noticing, it will be to put a cheeky fiver on either him or Josh Baillie, a 31 year old from Tamworth who gives the impression he enjoys life.
Sangha gets his shot after rather schooling Holt at Villa Park recently – his seventh straight win – and he looks a handful. Now with Jon Pegg at the Eastside gym in Birmingham, Sangha started out with Clifton Mitchell – and he drew comparisons between Indi and Prince Naseem Hamed. At this level, Sangha, who has every trick and punch in the book, looks hard to beat.
Baillie is also worth a flutter.
The 5-3-2 (2) record is misleading. He can fight and has had good wins over Alex Phillips and MBSS rival Manny Zaber.
Baillie has more amateur experience than anyone else in MBSS – he had 58 bouts and shared a room with Kell Brook during an England training camp – turned pro in Australia after emigrating and fought in China as well before settling in Tamworth.
He is robust, has skills – and is game.
Josh offered to fight Sam Bowen – and nobody offers to fight him.
Baillie got his shot at the big time last year against Lee Appleyard on a Sky Sports show. Appleyard was just too big.
“If you lose, who cares ?” is Baillie’s attitude. “I want hard fights. I don’t want to just fight journeymen.”
Baillie looks to have a decent quarter-final draw in MBSS. Louis Fielding (7-4) has to be considered an outsider having lost to Holt and Jack Summers – and Baillie knows him well. They were stablemates before Baillie left to join Shaun Cogan, who fought for Midlands and Commonwealth honours in his own ring career.
In the other quarterfinals, Zaber (10-1) faces West Bromwich mover Jack Summers (3-2), Sangha meets Waqas Mohammed (2-0-1) and there’s a good clash between the Shinfields’ rangy Joel Ducker and Luke Jones, a former kickboxing champion trained by Scott Lawton who looked sharp last time out.
There are four other fights on the show, featuring light-heavyweight gunslinger Josh Stokes and Dilly Singh, a willing cruiserweight from Coventry who has fun fights.
Boxing starts at 2.0pm and tickets are available at the door.