There is no doubting who is the main attraction when the North-East stages its finale for the 2017-18 season.
Tommy Ward will be taking his first steps on the International Boxing Federation road to world glory at Houghton on Friday night.
The talented 24-year-old is matched with Spanish champion Alvaro Rodriguez for the IBF European super-bantamweight belt, one step away he hopes from an eliminator for the IBF title.
This England v Spain battle headlines the card at the Rainton Meadows Arena.
But who will be the star of the undercard? Promoters Dennis Hobson, Dave Garside and Phil Jeffries have brought in some of the North East’s top boxers to support Ward v Rodriguez.
Those of us who have watched the shows at the Dolphin Centre and Stadium of Light have been treated to belting undercards, full of competitive bouts and let’s hope for more of the same on Friday.
The men in the home corner have all been matched.
Working through them in alphabetical order, Chad Ellis will come up against a familiar figure for North-East shows, Casey Blair, from Northern Ireland.
Ellis recovered from a difficult place last time out against Kevin McAuley and the Spennymoor boxer came good at the Metro Radio Arena, so this will be another good test in his third bout.
Jordan Ellison will be back in the Rainton Meadows Arena ring for the first time since giving Lewis Ritson a good argument for the Northern Area title last year.
The Seaham and Hartlepool fighter has done well on the road since then, but how nice to see him on home turf against the second of the Northern Ireland contingent, Belfast’s Alec Bazza.
Ellison’s Gus Robinson Developments stablemate, Anthony Hardy, has a tough foe for his comeback bout.
The ‘Horden Hitman’ has been matched with Michael Williams who went all the way with Tom Hill at the Summer Rumble.
Unbeaten Hill has foreign opposition this time as he makes a quick turnaround from the Stadium of Light, taking on Lithuania’s Andrej Cepur. Redcar’s ‘One Bomb’ will be looking for more of the same here.
Here’s the man so many have been talking about since that Sunday afternoon at Sunderland AFC, Joe Laws.
‘The Benwell Bomber’ has one of the hardest men in the business in the opposite corner, Belfast veteran James Gorman, so this will be a fascinating second pro appearance for the Phil Jeffries-managed prospect.
One bout this writer can’t wait for is the return of Middlesbrough’s Mohammed Waqas.
Back after five years out, the Imran Naeem star has been assigned a tricky hurdle to clear against a good Lithuanian amateur-turned-pro, Marius Vysniauskas, who has won his only bout in the paid ranks.
Like Laws, another Jaffa boxer, Terence Wilkinson, entertained us at the Stadium of Light with a four-round master-class against Naeem Chaudry.
The Davy Ritson-trained prospect now has a more difficult test this time against ambitious Plymouth newcomer Mohamed Mahmoud.
I was going to ask ‘who will you be watching’ but having witnessed the Darlington and Sunderland shows, best not take your eye off any of the contests!
For ticket info, contact Phil on 07747611020.
Words: Roy Kelly
