Opportunities will only come around every so often for boxers in the current climate and Tom Hill intends to take his chance with both gloves.
With Lewis Ritson, Tommy Ward and Joe Laws in Peterborough doing battle on Sky Sports on Saturday, you would be forgiven for allowing Hill’s fight this weekend to pass under the radar.
But the gifted Redcar boxer will be flying if he ends the unbeaten run of Jack Rafferty on Sunday’s big MTK Fight Night in Pontefract.
It is a great stage for Hill with the event shown live in the USA on ESPN+ in association with Top Rank and also on IFLTV.
Lancashire lad Rafferty, like Tom, is a boxer with ambition to break into the top echelon, having reeled off 12 straight wins, seven inside the distance.
“These are the kind of fights I want and ones which will get me to where I want to be,” he told punch-lines.
“I’ve been waiting for the phone to go and when the offer came it was a yes straight away.
“In the current situation you are not going to turn it down, are you?
“Jack looks a good kid, with a good record, but everyone has flaws and so does he and I plan to expose them.”
Rafferty has justified his moniker ‘Demolition Man’ by stopping seven of his 12 opponents, with his February points victory over Ismael Molina bringing to an end a run of four early successes.
So is Hill (pictured right) wary of the TNT the 25-year-old might be bringing across the Pennines from Shaw to the Production Park Studios?
“I’m not worried about his power,” said the boxer trained by Dave Binns in Peterlee.
“I’m going to focus on me and implement my game-plan.
“I feel really good. I think sometimes if you’ve had a long camp you can be a bit over-cooked, but I’m really fresh going into this and I think I’ll feel the benefit of that.”
Speaking from the MTK Bubble in Yorkshire, ‘One Bomb’ exudes a quiet confidence and so he should.
The 25-year-old is not lacking in skill and having 10 bouts under his belt (nine wins and just a solitary defeat, to Ellis Corrie) he’s not short on experience.
But he believes getting it right in the mind is as important as getting it right in body.
“Don’t get me wrong, you have to be good physically, but boxing is more about getting the mentality right,” said the Phil Jeffries-managed talent.
“I feel as though I’m flying at the moment.”
Hill can take confidence from the sparring sessions he has taken part in with Ritson, who speaks highly of him.
“I know it’s only sparring and know sparring is a different game to fighting when you have the lighter gloves on,” he said.
“But I’ve picked up bits from sparring with Lewis and other top kids and I’ll use that to my advantage.”
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: Jennifer Charlton
