Bobby Dalton is back in action and back in the same ring as the one he enjoyed the greatest night of his boxing life.
The undefeated 26-year-old will box on the Shamrock show at Houghton on Saturday March 29, when he Justin Menzie.
It is the Northern Area champion’s first outing since he took the region’s welterweight belt with an outstanding performance to inflict a first career defeat on Jeff Saunders at the end of November.
Saunders, while despite his relative inactivity, was a considerable step up in class for the Redcar boxer.
But Bobby cleared the hurdle in emphatic fashion, winning with a high-intensity approach which the ‘Hands of Stone” simply could not match.
Dalton’s 96-94 victory was only his ninth as a professional and, hopefully, will have propelled him forward.
Certainly the confidence and belief infused from that night at the Rainton Arena you suspect will have added another 20 per cent to the fighter, who is trained in Redcar by dad Bobby.
There has been a change in team for Dalton Jnr, who is now under the Shamrock Boxing umbrella.
Shamrock welcomed the Teessider with the following statement.
“Now 9-0 Bobby will be looking to push on to more championships under our promotional guidance,” it read. “Bobby has great ambition and wants to push on to fighting the best, we are really pleased to have him on board.”
It is interesting to note that there is an English welterweight title eliminator being contested on May 25, when Owen Cooper meets Chris Kongo at the Motorpoint Arena.
Both boxers in Nottingham are ahead of Dalton, even though Cooper is younger and his record is 10-1, while champion Sean Noakes has reeled off three English wins on the spin.
It will be intriguing to see the plans of Shamrock and their front man Mervyn Turner, where Dalton is concerned.
Tonight against ‘The Genie’ is the opening step.
The veteran Essex boy is an 11 hour substitute after original opponent Manish Sharma, was forced to pull out after being stopped last time out.
It has been the toughest of weeks for Turner and Dave Westgarth with Shamock having to deal with a constant stream of pull-outs.
Seven fights are scheduled at the Rainton Arena, or Sunderland Live Arena, if you are more corporate minded.
Ferryhill’s Callum Walton also goes over six rounds and will be seeking a magnificent seventh win when he faces Yorkshire’s Jake Bray, who dubs himself;f the ‘Stainforth Chuck Norris’. The Ferryhill fighter is also boxing for the first time since the end of November, having dominated Ukrainian Serhii Ksendzov.
There will be plenty of eyes on Josh Babb, one of our region’s most exciting prospects, when he tackles Lancashire’s Stephen Jackson.
Babb, trained by Darlington’s former Commonwealth super-bantamweight champion Isaac Ward, is 3-0, with his most recent win coming on a Matchroom show last September in Sheffield, where he outpointed Kelvin Madjid, another new pro.
Fellow Darlington boxer Liam Copping faces Manchester ‘Freedom Fighter’ Bahadar Karami, while Newbiggin’s 4-0 Owen Rees has East End opposition in the shape of Lee Hallett, from Canning Town.
Gateshead’s Brandon Morrison, who has started his career with back-to-back wins, tackles Owen Durnan, from Sheffield.
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: Jason Corbett/ Mindenwood Photography
