Will Travis Waters be forced to hear the final bell when he makes his first home appearance of 2024?
Sunderland’s stoppage specialist is one of the principal attractions of VIP Boxing’s nine-fight card at Houghton on Saturday, May 4, when he is matched with Poland’s Marian Wesolowski.
The event is headlined by Jordan Ellison’s Northern Area light-welterweight title defence against Thomas ‘The Hitman’ Hodgson, but there is a buzz around the six-rounder for Waters, who has caught the attention of fight fans.
Southpaw Travis (pictured) has chalked up six straight wins since turning professional with the Tenacity team, which is based in Sunderland and VIP, including his last three bouts which have taken him a total of eight rounds.
“Travis has been banging a few out recently,” said manager and promoter Steve Wood.
“We’ve brought over a tough guy from Poland to try to get him through the six rounds, but because he is off to Benidorm in the morning, he wants an early finish, so we might see an eager Travis Waters.
“I’m expecting another good display from him, he’s looking the part. He’s an explosive quality fighter.”
“The last time we went up to Durham there was a great atmosphere,” said Wood. “It’s a great venue and I’m expecting this show to be even better.”
Waters is joined on the bill by Tenacity team-mates Adam Reichard and Beau Smith, who are also making rapid strides under coaches Anth Kelly and John Stubbs.
Reichard (4-0) goes over six rounds against Carlisle’s Jake Osgood, while Smith (2-0) comes up against Rotherham southpaw Nathan Darby.
Unbeaten Ben Rees, one of the many North-East boxers to come off the Birtley ABC production line, will have his fourth pro fight on the promotion. The excellent Newbiggin southpaw is matched with Cornwall’s Dylan Courtney.
The VIP event will be an exciting night with three North-East talents throwing their first leather as professionals.
Most notably, there is a first start in the paid ranks for a former member of the GB Boxing squad, Hannah Robinson. A silver medallist at the Bockskai and GeeBee tournaments last year, Hannah is now trained by top coach Jamie Moore.
Click here to see what promotor Steve Wood thinks about the show.
Here, the Darlington lightweight starts off against Czech girl Johana Rochl, who has a 1-1 fight log.
Jason Cumming is the latest boxer from Hartlepool to follow a long and illustrious list of professionals from the town.
Coached by Peter Cope, Alan Temple and Wayne McCarte at the Hartlepool Elite Boxing Academy, Jason was due to make his bow at Eston Leisure Centre in February, only for his opponent to pull out at the eleventh hour, but he gets his chance on the big stage now against Simas Volosinas.
Connor Samms also makes a delayed, but still an eagerly anticipated, pro debut against Sheffield’s Karl Sampson on the VIP show.
The two-time national champion, from Cramlington, who has been beset by injury problems, is just back from a training camp in Tenerife and can’t wait to get going.
For those who can’t make it to the arena, the action will be streamed live on the VIP youtube channel.
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: Tom Collins
