FULLY LOADED
Bowen and Gorman given platform to shine, writes Matt Bozeat
British super-feather boss Sam ‘Bullet’ Bowen takes centre stage in Leicester
NEW year, same old problem… Who will fight Sam Bowen? On the way up, manager Carl Greaves forked out to bring in imports because even the hardest of domestic journeymen weren’t interested in facing a prospect with such a fearsome reputation.
One former amateur opponent described Bowen as “a psychopath.”
Now Bowen is British superfeatherweight champion, he’s giving Frank Warren’s matchmaker, Mervyn Turner, sleepless nights.
He was set to make a mandatory defence against Ronnie Clark last December, but was forced out with a rib injury. The fight was rearranged for last month and this time, Clark pulled out with a herniated disk.
Craig Evans was lined up and then turned down by the Board because he hadn’t made 130lbs since his debut, nobody from overseas could be found and a fight with Ryan Wheeler, previously an amateur clubmate of Bowen’s, fell through.
That led to the show being put back four weeks and Jordan Mccorry, 17-4-1 (4) steps up to challenge Bowen at Leicester’s Morningside Arena on Saturday night.
He’s a 28-year-old from Cambuslang who’s won Scottish honours at super-featherweight and lightweight and was set for a shot at the Celtic 9 stones belt before this chance came up.
“Everyone who turns pro in Britain wants to win the British title,” he said. “It’s a class belt and a major belt.”
Mccorry is also looking forward to the exposure on BT Sport. He’s been fighting away from the cameras since turning pro in 2011, but there is footage of his 10-round points win over Namibia’s Abraham Ndauendapo in November, 2017, on Youtube. That was his first fight with trainer Craig Dickson and though Mccorry predominantly countered off the front foot that night, he says he’s “versatile.” He has a look at what’s in front of him and then adapts. Mccorry had around 90 amateurs – the majority at junior level – and says he’s seen most things. He did fade in that fight, being docked a point in the ninth, and there’s a late stoppage defeat to Clark which doesn’t bode well because Bowen, 14-0 (10), is known as a fighter who grows into fights and gets on top of opponents. The 26-year-old from Ibstock, Leicestershire, said: “When someone is on you non-stop for round after round, it wears you down in the end. After three or four rounds, they start realising they won’t be pushing me back, I will be pushing them back – and they go into
their shell.”
Mccorry could well cause Bowen problems for three or four rounds but holding him off for 12 is another matter entirely.
The Bowen camp seem to think that if Mccorry moves, the champion will hunt him down and if he tries to stand and trade, Bowen will be too strong.
He was too strong for decent Argentine Horacio Alfredo Cabral last October, taking him out with a fourth-round body shot.
There was criticism of the way Bowen crossed his feet and then jumped into the finishing punch but said afterwards: “We work on that shot in the gym” and Greaves reckons his fighter doesn’t get the credit he deserves.
“Yeah, he’s a bit stiff and takes a few,” said Greaves, who twice challenged for the belt Bowen defends this weekend, “but so did Carl Froch. Sam has the same will to win he did and he lives the life as well.”
There’s also a bit of Tony Sibson about the unassuming way Bowen goes about his business. Bowen became Leicestershire’s first British champion since “Sibbo” by breaking down Maxi Hughes last April and finally, he makes his first defence this weekend.
Provided Bowen wins, we wonder how long he will stay at domestic level, now he has a top-10 ranking with the WBO.
Greaves wants him to win the Lonsdale belt outright, while Bowen says his motivation is money.
Mccorry says such talk proves Bowen is underestimating him and predicts the sort of bubble bursting that Clark dished out to Zelfa Barrett last year.
There’s always the chance the postponements and disappointments will have left Bowen a bit deflated and an under motivated champion could come unstuck against an inspired challenger.
But the pick has to be for Bowen to keep his belt with a stoppage around the midway stage.
There’s growing interest in a clash between heavyweights Nathan
Gorman and Daniel Dubois, a fight Frank Warren says will happen by the end of the year.
At Royal Albert Hall on March 9, Dubois scored a victory of sorts over Gorman, stopping Razvan Cojanu, an opponent who extended Gorman the full 12 last December.
Gorman points out that fight was hastily out together after Alex Leapai pulled out. In Leicester, Gorman meets Fabio
Maldonado, a 38-year-old Brazilian with an impressive-looking 26-1 (25) record.
He looks to be a pudgy, no-nonsense puncher who’s proved his hardness in the MMA cage and by last time out going the full 10 with unbeaten Canadian Oscar Rivas, mooted as a possible next opponent for Tyson Fury.
Going the distance with Rivas gives Maldonado more credibility than his astonishing 24 wins inside three rounds and the record also shows a five-anda-half-year gap, when the cage took precedence.
Fact is, not many topclass heavyweights come out of Brazil.
Adilson Rodrigues was chinned by Evander Holyfield and George Forman and, more recently, Irineu Beato Costa Junior built a good record in Brazil before being well beaten by the likes of Joseph Parker and David Price. With the notable exception of Acelino Freitas, the Brazilians we’ve seen over here tend to have impressive records and then disappoint. The good news for Gorman, 15-0 (11), is that after facing the negative Kamil Sokolowski and Cojanu in his last two, he’s got an opponent who will take the fight to him.
Gorman says he sees similarities between Maldonado and Sean “Big Sexy” Turner, who he stopped inside three rounds for a breakthrough win last June.
Gorman stood off and walked the slowfooted Irishman onto combination after combination until he crumbled.
Trainer Ricky Hatton wants to see the 22-year-old take fights by the scruff of the neck - and he should get the stoppage this weekend.
Also in Leicester, there’s a welcome step up in class for Liverpool superlightweight Sam Maxwell. After being fed journeymen for his first 10, he meets
Kelvin Dotel, a decent-looking Spanishbased fighter with a 14-4 (7) record.
Dotel goes into the fight on the back of a career-best win, a one-punch KO of Mishika Beselia 18-0 (12).
Maxwell can also bang – he has eight stoppages – is long, lean and as you would expect of a fighter who spent so long with the Great Britain amateur set up, he’s good at controlling the range. He can win on points.
There’s also a good-looking derby between Leicestershire’s Kyle Haywood and CJ Challenger, who share the LE9 postcode, for the vacant Midlands Area super-welterweight belt.
The likeliest outcomes are either southpaw Haywood, 8-0 (1), breaks Challenger, 9-0 (2), down or Challenger picks him off. We go for the latter. Challenger on points.
THE VERDICT Don’t bank on any upsets.
‘BOWEN IS A BIT STIFF AND TAKES A FEW. BUT SO DID CARL FROCH’