TREASURE HUNTER
Matt Bozeat wonders whether Rowson has unearthed another gem as he previews a value for money small hall show
EVERYONE thought Black Country manager PJ Rowson had lost his marbles after he declared he’d found the future British middleweight champion fighting in the back room of a snooker hall in some place called Trowbridge. As it turned out, he was right about Nick Blackwell and on Friday (March 8), we will discover if he’s right about Brad Foster as well. He’s a former kickboxer from some place called Lichfield.
From the start, Rowson said Foster would claim British honours, and at just 21 years old, he gets the chance to win the vacant super-bantamweight belt when he meets Barnsley’s seasoned Josh Wale on Stefy Bull’s promotion at the Metrodome in Wale’s hometown.
The Board originally paired Foster, the Midlands Area champion with a 9-0-1 (3) record, with Jazza Dickens for the title vacated by Thomas Patrick Ward. Following Dickens’ withdrawal, Wale jumped at the chance to become a twoweight British champ. He previously made two defences of the bantamweight title, and was a proud holder of the belt.
“When I was eight years old, my dad [Mick Wale] took me to a local show where Jonjo Irwin was fighting,” Josh told BN. “He was the British champion and my dad said: ‘That Lonsdale Belt is the best belt in the world’, and I told him: ‘I will win it for you one day.’ At one stage, it looked like I wouldn’t get there. I was a nearly man, but I promised my dad.”
The joy Wale showed upon winning the vacant title with a close unanimous points verdict over Jamie Wilson in July 2017 was shared by many in the trade. A pro at 18, Wale has always been the most honest of fighters who takes on anyone – including Kid Galahad and Stuart Hall – and no matter what’s been thrown at him or how badly he’s been cut, he has seldom taken a backwards step.
For Josh, 30, the Foster fight will mark his third shot at the British superbantamweight title, following a split draw with Gavin Mcdonnell and a unanimous points loss to Dickens. The Mcdonnell decision could well have gone Wale’s way – a familiar story in his 27-10-2 (13) career. Wale is adamant he was robbed last time out in October, when he lost a majority verdict to Frenchman Georges Ory in France for the vacant European bantam crown. “That was the biggest fight of my career and I got shafted big time,” said Wale, who doesn’t just fight honestly. “I dominated for 12 rounds and they took it off me. I was down for a couple of weeks, but you have to dust yourself off and get on with it. I thought I might be
‘THAT WAS THE BIGGEST FIGHT OF MY CAREER AND I GOT SHAFTED’
waiting around for something to happen at bantamweight, but when this came up [at super-bantam], I thought: ‘Brilliant.’”
Wale has to go into this fight a sizeable favourite. He’s had eight title fights at British, Commonwealth and European level, while Foster has only had 10 boxing matches in his life.
“I know people are going to be writing me off and saying I won’t win,” said Brad, “but that’s only because they haven’t seen me. I believe in myself.”
Foster comes from a kickboxing background, having a reported 36 fullcontact fights, and went on to make his boxing debut six weeks after his 18th birthday, becoming the first pro from the South Staffordshire city of Lichfield for a decade. The victory that secured him his British title chance was July’s eight-round dismantling of Burton’s then-unbeaten Leon Gower. Rowson regarded that as a “British title-level performance” and Foster really did impress.
Gower’s trainer, former pro Matt Sturgess, said: “Brad was better than we thought. Because he had been boxing down at super-flyweight not long before, we thought Leon would be too strong and break him down, but his footwork was brilliant and his punches were very sharp.”
Foster is well thought of in the gyms. He sparred Josh Warrington ahead of the Carl Frampton fight and regularly spars the Yafai brothers, Kal and Gamal. The latter has a unanimous points win over Wale on his record, and he fancies Foster to triumph. He points out that Foster has fewer miles on the clock and that Wale hasn’t had his best results up at superbantamweight. Yafai believes Foster, who’s grown into the weight after starting off around super-flyweight, will be too fresh and strong.
Going into the contest, all the questions are about Foster. He says that having fought kickboxing fights across the world, he will deal with the occasion. But even if he does, Foster has never boxed anyone near Wale’s level or who brings his pressure. Of course, there comes a time in a fighter’s career when experience becomes wear and tear, and of the two, Foster is the fresher, but you have to fancy Wale will still have too much left to hold him off and win on points.
The value-for-money card also features a 10-twos lightweight bout between two unbeatens – Denaby’s 5-0 (2) Terri Harper, a good Junior amateur last seen thrashing Feriche Mashauri, and Nina Bradley (7-0), a volume puncher from Newark who holds the Commonwealth super-lightweight belt.
There’s a third Yorkshire-midlands battle on the show – a 10-round eliminator for the English superlightweight title between Rotherham’s
Lee Appleyard and Stoke’s Kieran Mclaren. Appleyard feels much better now he’s no longer squeezing his 5ft 11in frame down to 135lbs. He lost a vacant Commonwealth title challenge to Sean Dodd a couple of years ago, and now he wants a change of luck.
Appleyard, 14-5 (5), felt he should have got the nod over current Central Area titlist Bilal Rehman last time out in November, and the Board have decided he did enough to stay in title contention and face Mclaren, a tough and tidy box-fighter who’s won all 12 against undemanding opposition.
THE VERDICT An intriguing clash between youth and experience.