DACRES’ BID
Warley super-heavyweight discusses his ambitions with
WITH Daniel Dubois turning pro and Joe Joyce expected to, there’s a super-heavyweight vacancy in Sheffield that Solomon Dacres is keen to fill.
At 23, and improving, he appears to be well placed. Frazer Clarke is obviously way ahead of him, but Dacres described a recent spar as “back and forth” and his form this season is good.
Boxing for Warley in the West Midlands, he’s had wins over Jeami Tshiveka (White Hart Lane) and Canadian champion Christophe Bernier – now based at Coventry University – and in two bouts with Dubois, he had his moments. Dacres was in their Great Britain championship final in December until the dying seconds, when Dubois wobbled him with a volley of left hooks.
“If I fought him again, I would put it on him more,” said Dacres, who stands 6ft 5ins tall and weighs around 100kgs. “I had a lot left in the tank after both fights and if we fought again, I would go for it more.
“I’m not that far behind fighters at that level. I just need more fights – and more sparring. I don’t get a lot of sparring. I felt I had a good, back-and-forth spar with Frazer Clarke, and if I get on the GB squad, hopefully I can spar him regularly.
“That’s what I need. Good sparring and as many fights as possible. If I’m fighting, I’m improving.”
Dacres accepts that if he’s going to get noticed in Sheffield, he needs to win the Elites that get underway in the West Midlands at Donnington on Sunday, March 26. He was a semi-finalist last season, losing to Alex Dickinson, and said, “I thought I beat him. I definitely want to fight him again.”
Dacres has previously won Development honours since deciding to quit rugby for boxing. He had trials for England under20s and was at Worcester Warriors Academy for a spell before drifting into the National League and playing in the back row for Bromsgrove and Birmingham and Solihull.
“I played rugby and boxed for a couple of years,” said Dacres, “and there came a time when I had to choose. I had become a bit disillusioned with rugby. I had been playing the game since I was 11 years old, but I was picking up so many injuries and ended up losing a bit of motivation. I tore my shoulder, got cracked ribs and there seemed to be a different injury every week. Boxing is a tougher sport, but there’s so much wear and tear when you play rugby.
“I was forever getting banged up… The worst injury I’ve had from boxing is bruised knuckles!”