Back and better than when he left! That is comeback man John Green who returns to the ring in Tear up on Tyneside.
So says his new coach, Pete Shepperson, who will be in the corner when the Northern Area lightweight champion takes on Alec Bazza over six rounds at the Lancastrian Suite on Saturday night.
It would not be a fallacy to say that 2018 has been the year of the comeback in the North-East and we have seen Chris Burton, Anthony Nelson and Mohammed Waqas tape up their gloves again.
The difference with Green, compared to the other guys, was he stopped after a win! He produced a superb display to avenge a previous Northern Area title loss to Peter Cope by beating him at the 2015 Summer Rumble.
“I think he had a couple of fights lined up which fell through,” said Shepperson. “He had work commitments and they had to come first.
“Over the last year he’s opened Green’s Boxing gym in Middlesbrough for somewhere for the local kids to train.
“Now that’s up and running and he’s now his own boss, he can train when he wants.
“He’s fully committed, he’s got his strength and conditioning sorted, his nutrition, all that.
“I’ve known John a while, we used to train in the same gym, and it’s a pleasure now to be coaching him.
“He is going straight back in at six rounds which I think is a good statement to be making.
“John’s had some great sparring with Luke Cope, you would pay to watch it, it’s been that good.
“For me, Luke is one of the top talents in the region so to see John looking so good is great.
“I don’t think John is just back as good as he was, I believe he has gone up a level.
“Because this is boxing, we are taking nothing for granted, but I’m confident we’ll see a very good John Green on Saturday night.”
DBMA team-mate Reece McAllister makes his debut, also over six rounds, against Yorkshire’s Said Zahoor.
Click here to about the switch from Thai to boxing from Reece McAllister.
Teesside is out in force on the Steve Wraith/ Phil Jeffries five-bout event at the Lancastrian Suite with three boxers from Imran Naeem’s NPBA gym.
Luke Cope (pictured second left alongside Green and coaches Shepperson and Naeem) faces Shropshire’s Dean Jones, Mohammed Waqas is matched against Sheffield veteran Anwar Alfadli while ‘Turbo’ Terry Tyers tackles Nottingham-based Pole Patryk Buczek.
For tickets, contact any of the participating boxers or go to www.proboxingnewcastlegateshead.com .
Words: Roy Kelly
