It’s back ON! Tom Hill and Ellis Corrie will finally get to battle it out for the Northern Area title.
Promoter Phil Jeffries has sealed the deal for this derby for his Friday the 13th fright night spectacular at Rainton Meadows Arena on December 13.
This showdown had been scheduled to top the bill at the Summer Rumble at the Stadium of Light, only for the match-up to collapse a month out.
But it’s now very much on as Jeffries told punch-lines.
“I’m over the moon that it’s on,” said Jaffa.
“North-East fight fans want derbies and we, as promoters, love putting these bouts on.
“Sometimes it’s hard getting lads to fight each other, but both these boxers want this.
“It’s a great fight for them and it’s a great fight for the North-East.”
Jaffa is spot on.
The region has been starved of Northern Area championship action – May 2017 was the last NAT action and that was in Manchester where Liam Conroy stopped Darlington’s Steve Cooper to become the light-heavyweight champion.
Corrie now has the chance to put Darlington back on the title charts.
It has the makings of a pre-Christmas cracker.
Hill, managed by Jeffries and trained in the in-form Peterlee gym of Dave Binns, has accumulated eight wins in his two years as a professional.
The 24-year-old clinched his eighth straight victory on MTK’s event in Newcastle, where ‘One Bomb’ beat Londoner Jordan Grannum over six rounds, with some high-quality work (pictured).
Corrie will bring a record of 3-1-1 to the table but it’s fair to say it does not do him any justice.
‘2 Cool’, managed by Jaffa’s promoting partner Steve Wraith, has made the smoothest of transitions from the martial arts scene to the square ring, having been a successful Muay Thai fighter.
Under Pete Shepperson he has clocked up three wins, but it has been the fights he has not got the ‘W’ in which has shown his quality, losing to unbeaten Welsh prospect Maredudd Thomas in Ebbw Vale and then drawing at undefeated home-town man, George Lamport, in Bracknell. Both results could easily have gone the way of Corrie.
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: Tom Collins/ Stockton & Billingham Life
