Get ready for another huge night of boxing.
Phil Jeffries is to stage a 10-fight card at Houghton on Saturday, November 13, when Tommy Ward looks to take a major step forward in the featherweight division against Venezuela’s KO specialist Leonardo Padilla.
And the event, hosted in association with MTK Global and broadcast around the globe by ESPN+, will feature a cracking North-East derby as Terence Wilkinson faces Jordan Ellison for the Northern Area title.
Some of the region’s most promising and popular talent will be on the undercard at Rainton Arena, Adam Cope, Joe Laws, Sam Menzies, Joe Maphosa and Jordan Barker-Porter, while there is a pro debut for Newcastle’s Nathan Cummiskey.
It’s some show and it’s some opportunity for Ward, who is looking for a breakthrough into the featherweight scene.
As punch-lines previously revealed, the unbeaten Dave Garside and Neil Fannan star has moved up from super-bantamweight, where he spent month after month and year after year at the top end of the world rankings, where he was top four in the WBO list.
The 27-year-old has won 30 and drawn one and comes into this international match full of confidence after a superb performance at Newcastle in June, when he outclassed Mexico’s Eddy Valencia Mercado.
Padilla looks a real force, winning 20 of is 23 contests, 14 of his victories coming via stoppage, while he has won one of the World Boxing Association’s minor belts.
Wilkinson v Ellison has the makings of a cracker as the undefeated Geordie puts his undefeated record on the line against the Seaham battler.
Terence, part of the Forest Hall stable, has won all eight of his contests and comes up against a man with something of a lopsided record of 12-34-2.
But don’t be fooled by numbers, much of Ellison’s career has been spent on the road and up against unbeaten stars and hometown ticket-sellers.
He’ll give it a go, as the Walker boxer’s team-mate, Lewis Ritson, found when they clashed for the Northern Area lightweight title in the same Houghton venue in late 2016, when ‘the Sandman’ stopped him in the seventh.
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: Mark Robinson/ Matchroom
