BROTHERS IN ARMS
Ryan Walsh looks to win the British title outright, writes George Gigney
ON the undercard of his twin brother Liam’s first shot at a world title, Ryan Walsh will make the third defence of his British featherweight title against Belfast’s Marco Mccullough.
Ryan first won the title back in September 2015 in a closely fought contest with Samir Mouneimne, with a fifth-round knockdown just about swinging the fight in Walsh’s favour. He followed that up with two impressive fifth-round stoppage wins over Darren Traynor and James Tennyson, meaning that if he defeats Mccullough this weekend he will have the belt for keeps.
Last October, in his most recent outing, Walsh dropped a tight decision to Dennis Ceylan in Denmark for the European title, his second loss to date after being outpointed by Lee Selby back in 2013.
On his way up Mccullough was an exciting prospect with an aggressive style, but a punishing first-round stoppage loss to unheralded Zoltan Kovacs in 2015 seemed to expose his flaws – his laboured head movement leaves him open at times, and he isn’t good at riding out a crisis.
Three fights later, he was outboxed and stopped in eight rounds by Isaac Lowe in a fight for the vacant Commonwealth title. He has bounced back with three wins over low-level opposition (only one opponent had a winning record) and was originally mooted to fight Josh Warrington last weekend, but talks fell through.
Mccullough’s size – if he can utilise it – could cause real problems for the stocky RIGHT ON: Dodson champion, though W(arilsghth) ahsasresgucucleasrsly fought people taller thwaitnhhiims reaanrdhacnlodses the distance well. When he gets his feet
moving, he can be a real threat when he darts into range and fires off crisp shots – his right hand is particularly dangerous.
Mccullough has a great jab and picks his shots well when given the time, though his losses have added an air of vulnerability. Stylistically, this could be exciting, especially considering both men have been hurt in the past.
It may take him a few rounds to negate Mccullough’s height and reach, but Walsh should be able to produce consistent, eye-catching work to win on the scorecards. Light-heavyweight destroyer Anthony
Yarde, 10-0 (9), fights for his first professional title on the card when he challenges Southern Area champion
Chris Hobbs, 6-1-1. Though Yarde has not yet been tested – just one of his professional opponents to date had a winning record when they fought – the muscular Londoner has looked more impressive with each outing, though they are usually brief. All of his stoppages have come inside two rounds – Stanislavs Makarenko stretched Yarde over the four-round distance in Anthony’s second pro fight, though was dropped in the second round.
Inactivity has hampered Hobbs’ career, which began in 2012, and since Yarde turned pro halfway through 2015 Hobbs has only fought twice. In March of last year he lost to Kelvin Young after dislocating his shoulder but a year later won the Southern Area title by outpointing Jordan Joseph over 10, the same amount of rounds this fight is scheduled for.
“I think he [Yarde] could have stepped up a few fights ago,” Hobbs told BN. “I think they want to build a brand around him. I’ve never seen so much hype around one fighter who wasn’t an Olympian.” Though Yarde’s record suggests he is a seekand-destroy fighter, the 25-year-old is a lot more nuanced than that – he never lunges in and can be patient when he needs to. As soon as he finds an opening, his power has so far been enough to dispatch his foes. Hobbs is no slouch, but expect Yarde to win this one in the first half of the fight. Harrow super-featherweight Mitchell
Smith, 14-1 (8), will be hoping to put a bout of inactivity behind him, though at the time of writing his opponent has not been confirmed. He has fought just once since his surprise December 2015 loss to George Jupp but insists new trainer Adam Booth is the right man to get him back in the mix.
An interesting super-welterweight clash pits Joe Pigford, 12-0 (11), against Aarron Morgan, 12-0 (8), while heavyweight prospect Daniel
Dubois, 2-0 (2), has his third professional outing.
THE VERDICT Walsh can win his Lonsdale Belt for keeps.
‘I’VE NEVER SEEN SO MUCH HYPE AS THERE IS WITH YARDE’