British Boxing Blog’s question last week to the North-East fight scene was a beauty.
‘Who has come onto the scene recently and caught your eye? Five fights or less’
Given the North-East is not shy of quality it was not an easy one to answer but your punch-lines writer could not look past Alex Farrell.
And he is one boxer worth a watch when MTK come to Newcastle in a couple of Saturdays time at the Eagles Community Arena on September 28.
Part Greek, part English, part Geordie, the Peterlee-trained boxer looks like total talent, certainly on the evidence of his debut at the Summer Rumble.
Off the back of that win over Arvydas Trizno, he now tackles Saif Zahoor over four rounds at the excellent Scotswood Road venue.
An amateur national champ in Greece, Farrell is a student at university in Newcastle and a student of coach Dave Binns at the East Durham College gym.
“Alex was class at the Stadium of Light,” Binns told punch-lines. “There is an aura about him.
“He has generated a lot of interest, people have liked what they saw.
“People think something will come of him.”
Hopefully, Farrell-Zahoor will be a decent spectacle.
Zahoor is a new pro himself, having boxed only twice, both points defeats but punch-lines understands the 26-year-old Yorkshireman is “game”.
He will need to be should Farrell repeat his display from the Stadium of Light where he punched with both accuracy and spite in one of the most confident debuts you could witness.
The ‘Black Diamond’ forms 33 per cent of an East Durham gym assault at the Eagles Community Arena.
Unbeaten Tom Hill, who has been sparring Lewis Ritson this week, also has Yorkshire opposition against Sheffield’s Nathan Hardy.
Luck has not been with Hill after having a Northern Area title battle with Ellis Corrie collapse.
There have been whispers of a potential championship derby with Basi Razak, who is also listed to box at the MTK event, and that would certainly suit ‘One Bomb’ who looks ready to get his teeth into a challenge.
“Tom wants a Northern Area title fight and hopefully something will happen in the future,” added Binns. “He’s looking mint and he’s looking forward to this six-rounder.”
Team-mate Adam Gair is chasing his third win and surely he’ll get it in a four-rounder against Derby veteran Elvis Dube.
Gair has won two out of two including an impressive win at Sunderland in July when he held off an aggressive Dmitrij Kalinovskij.
“Adam boxed well, I was proud of him,” said Binns. “Since that win he’s picked up the tempo in the gym.”
Words: Roy Kelly
