Portman in next Prizefighter

West Bromwich's Marcus Portman is almost certain to be in the next Prizefighter tournament, Prizefighter The Light Middleweights.

The ex WBF light middleweight champion has said that after his dissapointing draw with Tyan Booth last October he was close to retiring, but will give Prizefighter a go and see how he goes from there.

Other rumoured entrants are ex Portman opponents Gary Woolcombe and Bradley Pryce, aswell as Leicester's Martin Concepcion and Matthew Hall.

The tournament will take place on February 26th at York Hall, Bethnal Green and will be screened by Sky.

Black Country derby at Holiday Inn

West Bromwich's Wayne Downing will return to the ring after an eight month retirement to face Dudley's Martin Gordon for the vacant British Masters title at the Holiday Inn in Birmingham at the end of the month. Downing retired in May to concentrate on his corner work with the Wednesbury gym but will be back in the ring aiming to pick up a belt against an opponent he beat in 2007.

The show will be Wednesbury based First Team's first show of the year and will be hosted by guest speaker and ring legend John Conteh. The four fight dinner show will also feature Stourbridge's Sam Horton who will be aiming to bounce back from his recent British title eliminator defeat by beating Welshman Jamie Ambler which will be for an International Masters title. Filling the rest of the card will be Dudley's Chris Male and Coventry's ex English champion Steve Bendall.

Mutley to fight on at light welterweight

West Brom's Young Mutley has vowed to fight on after his recent semi final loss in Prizefighter The Light Welterweights and is going to campaign back at the 10 stone light welterweight limit where he believes he is strongest. Mutley will also Keep original trainer Jason Shinfield as main man in his corner (after bringing him back for Prizefighter) alongside Errol Johnson with both working together.

The 33 year old ex British champion beat Barrie Jones in the quarter final but then lost a close fight to old foe Colin Lynes (Lynes stopped Mutley in 2007 for the European strap) which included a rather dubious knockdown being given against Mutley.

Picture courtesy of theprizefighterseries.com/Matchroom Sport Ltd

Saville's suffers shock defeat

Friday 18th September 2009
Civic Hall, Wolverhampton

This past Friday night First Team promotions hosted a five fight card billed as "Big Bother".

Local favourite Steve "Bomber" Saville was left fuming after losing a 96-95 decision to awkward Youssef Al Hamidi for the vacant British Masters light welterweight title, in what was an eventful top of the bill.

From early on it was clear Syrian born Al Hamidi had come to have a go and wasn't just there to make the numbers. The late substitute (Saville was originally supposed to fight Jon Baguley) landed some decent shots and was slightly the busier of the two, Saville looked to cover up and looked for the big shot.

In round four Saville found the big shot and dropped Al Hamidi. Al Hamidi was still the busier though in the middle rounds and Saville's left eye was badly swollen. In round six Al Hamidi was docked a point for blatant use of the head but Saville's eye looked a mess.

Saville seemed to tire in the later rounds and was struggling to keep his eye guarded at the same time trying to find one big shot. Al Hamidi however continued to outwork the Wednesfield man. At the end of the tenth referee Shaun Messer lifted Al Hamidi's hand much to the dismay of Saville. Al Hamidi improves to 6-20-1, whilst Saville is now 19-6-0.

Elsewhere the paparazzi were out in force as recent Big Brother contestant (and boxer) Angel McKenzie took on Wolverhampton's only female boxer (and current GBC super featherweight champion) Lyndsey Scragg. It was to be no eviction party for McKenzie though as hometown girl Scragg exited with a 79-75 points victory.

Essington Middleweight Ben Wilkes continued his improvement in his debut year with a 40-38 points victory over Matt Scriven who's always a good test. Wilkes improves to 5-0-0.

Worcester's Alex Strutt impressed with a first round stoppage victory over Scunthorpe's Davey Jones that send his travelling fans home happy.

Willenhall prospect Myles Holder made it three wins out of three with points victory overChris Brophy over six rounds.

Birmingham's Chris Truman improved to 2-0-0 with a shutout points victory over Welshman Craig Dyer over four three's.

In attendance at the decently supported show were ex British welterweight champion Young Mutley who entered the ring to applause, ex WBF light middleweight champion Marcus Portman, both from West Brom and current Commonwealth super flyweight champion Don Broadhurst.

McDermott to defend against Butler in Manchester

Dudley's Darren McDermott will defend his English title against mandatory challenger Bristol's Danny Butler on a Hatton promotions show at the Velodrome in Manchester on September 25th.

Purse bids were put out for this fight recently with Hatton's promotion team who represent Danny Butler winning the bids and putting the fight on for that date. There are strong rumours that this date could be Hatton's first show on Sky as part of the deal they have signed recently.

"The Black Country Bodysnatcher" Darren McDermott will be looking to get back to winning ways after recently coming up short in a Commonwealth title chance against Darren Barker and will want to keep the English strap he beat Steve Bendall for earlier in the year.

Butler has mixed in far less quality company as McDermott (who has also fought for the British title losing on a cut against Wayne Elcock last year). Although Butler does have a few decent wins, including one for the vacant Super-Middleweight British Masters title over Walsall's Matty Hough last year (Butler stopped Hough in the 5th at the Tower Ballrooms, Edgbaston) and his only loss was in the Prizefighter tournament where he lost to the eventual winner Martin Murray.

Hillocks wins at Tower Ballrooms

Tower Ballrooms, Edgbaston
Sunday 5th July

Brierley Hill's Quinton Hillocks continued his career climb with his third win in as many fights. The Super-Middleweight beat Weslhman Adam Wilcox on points over four.

Stourbridge's Richie Wyatt made it two wins from two fights beating Craig Dyer over two fours.

Also on the bill Dee Mitchell beat Martin Concepcion (the two had fought last year, Concepcion winning on that occasion), Eddie McIntosh beat Jamie Norkett and Nasser-Al-Harbi beat Martyn King all on points.

Gethin back on track, Spencer hits 100

Liquid Envy Nightclub, Luton
28th June, 2009

Walsall's Martin Gethin got back to winning ways lastnight with a win over Jason Nesbitt, whilst Wolverhampton's Delroy Spencer celebrated his 100th paid fight with a surprise win.

Lightweight Gethin bounced back after his shock controversial defeat to Chris Long last month, beating Nesbitt in a shut out 40-36 points victory. Gethin's manager Errol Johnson is now hoping to secure Gethin a shot at either Lee McAllister's Comonwealth title, or the British title that John Murray was forced to vacate for not making weight earlier this month.

Delroy Spencer loses more than he wins, but the veteran celebrated his impressive 100th bout with a shock points win over Belfast's Luke Wilton. Wilton was being touted as an opponent for Britih and Commonwealth Flyweight champ Chris Edwards, which makes 40 year old Spencer's win even more impressive.

Back The "Bring Back Bunce" campaign

T.V channel Setanta have as you may know ceased broadcasting this week, and with that goes a host of live boxing (Setanta had a exclusive deals with Top Rank, Hayemaker and Sauerland) but also means the discontinuation of Setanta's weekly boxing show Bunce's Boxing Hour, hosted by sports writer Steve Bunce and presenter Andy Kerr.

Many boxing fans across the U.K have come together to try and keep this fantastic T.V show on our screens by creating a website, petition and Facebook group. The site has already garnered support from the likes of Carl Froch, Don King and Micky Cantwell. We'd like to add our support to the cause and hope that you will too. For the good of boxing in the U.K this show needs to stay on the air.

Please support by visiting the site http://www.bringbackbunce.net/ where you can find all information.

Board order Macca to defend against Butler

The British Boxing Board of Control recently put out some interesting British and English title fights for purse bids including ordering Dudley's Darren "Macca" McDermott (pictured with his English title) to defend his Middleweight English title against Bristol's Danny Butler.

McDermott who won the English title in February at the N.I.A in Birmingham beating Coventry's Steve Bendall on points. McDermott was recently unsuccessful in stepping up and trying to capture Darren Barker's Commonwealth title (being stopped controversially in four) and has also fought for the British title (lost on a cut to Wayne Elcock last year).

Danny Butler who has been fighting under Ricky Hatton's promotional team recently has mixed in far lower quality but has some decent wins, one of which a fifth round stoppage over Walsall's Matty Hough and a second round KO over Jamie Ambler (who recently took McDermott six rounds losing on points). Butler's only defeat comes in the Prizefighter series losing in the semi-final to eventual winner Martin Murray.

Portman to headline Tower Ballroom show

West Bromwich Light-Middleweight Marcus Portman will headline a First Team promoted Sunday afternoon show at the historic Tower Ballrooms in Edgbaston, Birmingham on the 5th July.

No opponent has yet to be announced for Portman who will continue to try and force himself into the title mix. Portman has held the WBF title but has come short when fighting for the British title (beaten by Gary Woolcombe in 2007) and the Commonwealth strap (beaten by Bradley Pryce last year).

Also on the bill will be former English title challenger Dean Hickman who only fought once last year losing to Steve Williams, Coseley prospect Richard Ghent and Walsall's Sam Padgett who recently made an impressive stoppage win debut.

In other news from Saturday night, Stourbridge's Kevin McCauley beat house fighter Brock Cato (on points over six) on the Hatton Promotions bill in Bristol.