Morgan earns three-fight Duco deal
Canterbury’s own real life Rocky has three chances to run up the steps of international boxing.
Freezing worker Bowyn Morgan has signed a three-fight contract with leading promoters Duco Events.
With Duco behind Kiwi heavyweight prospect Joseph Parker, a worldwide audience of promoters, fans and potential opponents will watch on Saturday night to see the unbeaten Morgan taking on tough Queenslander Luke Travers over six rounds on the undercard to Parker’s bout with German heavyweight Yakup Saglam in Palmerston North.
The four-time national amateur champion’s two remaining fights with Duco are on Parker undercards in Invercargill and Auckland later this year.
In just his second professional fight, Morgan fought on the undercard of Parker’s defeat of American Jason Pettaway at Manukau in March. The 26-yearold beat tough Auckland Ivana Siau in a comfortable points victory.
Morgan’s trainer and manager Phil Shatford wasn’t thrilled with Morgan’s performance, but the 2014 Commonwealth Games representative’s entertaining style and immense potential was enough to hook Duco.
‘‘Dean Lonergan was absolutely rapt with him, that’s why we got the three-fight contract,’’ Shatford said.
‘‘I think Bowyn tried to tip him over too quickly. He probably didn’t use his jab the way I wanted him to and we’ve been working on that ever since then.’’
Shatford, a decorated national amateur coach who led the New Zealand team in Glasgow last year before turning to the professional ranks to train Morgan and talented light heavyweight Reece Papuni, said the goal for Morgan was to improve every fight.
He believes Morgan can be a big player in the professional ranks and is confident he will be much improved from his previous fights.
‘‘Bowyn’s got one terrific workrate but he’s not always getting the target so we’ve been concentrating on using his jab to make sure we are hitting it,’’ Shatford said.
Morgan’s last outing was in his home town of Greymouth with a six round shut-out over mixed martial arts fighter Shaun Colmore.
A natural welterweight, Morgan has mostly fought at middleweight just to gain fights in his three professional outings so far.
‘‘It’s extremely hard to get Bowyn the right opponents at the moment without giving away weight,’’ Shatford said.
Morgan and Travers will clash at super welterweight and Shatford is hopeful Duco’s backing will help get opponents at welterweight.
Travers has been helping another Duco prospect, Australian welterweight Jeff Horn, prepare for his fight with Richmond Djarbeng which also takes place on Parker’s undercard.
‘‘Travers fought for the Queensland title a month ago and lost in close split decision that could have gone either way,’’ Shatford said.
‘‘There’s a lot of talk over there that he is a very underestimated fighter.’’
But Shatford said Morgan is ready for the challenge.
‘‘Bowyn’s as fit as I can get him. He’ll be very tough to beat.’’