GOLD DIGGERS
Mimoune may prove to be the best of the eight Golden Contract contestants, writes Daniel Herbert
Introducing The Golden Contract contestants at super-lightweight
MCKENNA AND DAVIES ALREADY DISLIKE EACH OTHER
THE second of MTK Global’s Golden Contract tournaments starts on Friday (November 22) when eight superlightweights contest four 10-round quarter-finals at York Hall in Bethnal Green. Sky Sports Action televise in the UK, ESPN+ in the US.
The draw wasn’t made by the time we went to press, but there are some intriguing matchups possible among the octet, although the level of quality did take a hit when Zankosh Turarov and Anthony Yigit withdrew late on.
Hackney puncher Ohara Davies and Belfast’s Tyrone Mckenna have already declared their antipathy for each other. Davies is 19-2 (14) but one of those losses, a sixth-round stoppage by Josh Taylor, doesn’t look so bad given Taylor is now world number one at the weight.
Mckenna is tall for 140lbs at 6ft 1ins and a southpaw to boot, which makes him awkward to handle. But with only six early wins in his 19-1-1 ledger, he tends to outbox people rather than blast them out.
Tyrone’s only defeat was to worldrated Jack Catterall, but a year ago in Glasgow the Northern Irishman did narrowly outpoint another GC entrant in Lewis Benson. The Edinburgh man, 12-2 (2), has also been outscored by another southpaw in Johnny Coyle, so it’s clear he doesn’t like portsiders.
Thornley, County Durham’s Darren Surtees has crept to 12-0 (8) almost entirely on small shows in the North East. Surtees has contested only one 10-rounder, when he stopped Ross Jameson in six for the Northern Area title.
One of MTK’S Us-based signings constitutes a real dark horse in this company. Hawaii talent Logan Yoon has won all 16 fights, 12 inside the distance.
However, his sole outing this year was a routine eight-rounder.
Better known is France’s Mohamed Mimoune, 21-3 (2), who two years ago won the European welter title from Sam Eggington. He then dropped down to 140 before losing to the quality Viktor Postol.
“The Problem” is no banger but this 5ft 10in boxer has ring smarts plus stamina, so we’ll go for him to win it all.
Following the withdrawals of Turarov and Yigit, the two tournament reserves – Kieran Gething and Mikey Sakyi – were
drafted in. Pontypool’s Gething is a 9-2-1 (2) Welsh titlist, while Romford’s Sakyi is an 8-2 (4) Southern Area champ. Both men have made successful defences of their belts this year – Gething in June and Sakyi in March.