How close is Troy Williamson from fighting for something really big?
It’s a question worth asking and we might get the answer on Saturday night.
The red-hot Darlington fighter makes the maiden defence of the International Boxing Federation’s European light-middleweight title he won back in December when he tackles fellow Englishman Harry Scarff in East London.
Just a couple of days shy of his 29th birthday, ‘Trojan’ is probably somewhere near his peak physically and will want to move onto the major fights over the next couple of years.
The light-middleweight division is a hot topic at the moment following on from Ted Cheeseman’s victory over Sam Eggington two Saturday’s ago, ‘The Big Cheese’ winning a thrilling domestic dust-up for the IBF’s International belt.
“I am confident I will beat anyone domestically” declared Troy this week, a message to the aforementioned Cheese and Egg, and anyone else in the UK for that matter.
Frank Warren, who stages the show at Stratford’s BT Sport studios agrees.
“Troy Williamson v Harry Scarff is a cracking fight on paper,” said the world-renowned promoter.
“Last time out, Troy poleaxed his opponent with an amazing KO punch and now his name is in the limelight.
“This is a tough fight, but we believe in him and think he has a great chance of going all the way.”
Scarff must be accounted for first and that won’t be easy.
The 27-year-old lifted the English championship last year by beating Jack Flatley before going the distance with another domestic light-middleweight star, Anthony Fowler, the former Olympian winning via a unanimous verdict for the WBA’s International belt.
For all Scarff is “dead awkward” according to Williamson, he wants to outshine Fowler.
“It looked like Scarff froze against Fowler,” said Troy. “But Anthony’s feet were too slow on the night and he couldn’t cut the ring down.
“I’ve got faster feet than Fowler and I genuinely believe I will get him out of there.”
Williamson is one of the first boxers out of the blocks following the return of the sport.
Read what Troy Williamson thinks about tonight’s fight here.
Ironically, he was one of the last to tape up the gloves before lockdown filling in Daniel Urbanski inside two rounds on MTK’s show in Newcastle at the end of February.
That came just a couple of months after he stopped Italy’s Dario Socci just a minute from the end of their battle for the IBF’s Euro belt at the Copper Box Arena on Warren’s ‘Christmas Cracker’.
Given the long break from March onwards, the Craig Carney-trained fighter is not doing too badly in having three bouts in nine months.
“I need to make sure I get the job done on Saturday night and hopefully I’ll be back out again before Christmas,” he told punch-lines.
There is a strong Irish flavour to the event with Carl Frampton facing
Darren Traynor and Michael Conlan meeting France’s Sofiane Takoucht.
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: Jennifer Charlton
