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If prizes were handed out for being humble and keeping your feet on the ground, then Leicester ’s European Super Bantamweight Champion Rendall “Two Tone” Munroe would have a trophy cabinet larger than Manchester United’s.
Just eight weeks ago, the stylish southpaw outlclassed Kiko Martinez to take the hard hitting Spaniard’s prized EBU strap and he hasn’t allowed the success to go to his head. Every morning, come rain or shine, Munroe gets out of bed and goes to his day job as a bin man and the only treat he’s allowed himself since his career best victory is the purchase of a second hand motorbike.
“I’m a humble type of person,” he told the BBC recently. “I keep myself to myself, and don’t go around thinking I’m anything special.
“A lot of people say the binman is a down and out person’s job, but I think more people are realising now that any job that you do can be just as respectable as the top job.”
This Friday evening, Munroe, 14-1 (6), returns to the scene of his title winning tilt when he takes on the tough Frenchman Salem Bouaita at the Harvey Hadden Leisure Centre in Nottingham, England.
The victory over Martinez in early March was seen as something of shock at the time. The Spanish puncher was undefeated, ranked number eight in the world by Ring Magazine, and was riding high after stopping the highly touted Irishman Bernard Dunne in 86 one sided seconds last August.
But Munroe showed that he cared little for reputations by keeping the squat Martinez at the end of his pinpoint jab and often bamboozling him with flashy combinations on way to a majority decision, 114-114 and 115-113 (twice) on the cards. For what it’s worth, I had it much wider.
Despite Friday’s challenger, Bouaita, carrying two defeats by stoppage on his 19-12 (6) ledger, he is a durable operator and a victory here will certainly help “Two Tone” improve on the top ten positions he currently holds with two of the four major sanctioning bodies.
33 year old Bouaita has crossed the channel to Blighty twice before and lost on both occasions. Back in 2000, he faced Dagenham’s Nicky Cook and was soundly outpointed over six rounds. A year later he was halted in the sixth by Crawley’s former British and Commonwealth Champion Michael Alldis.
Nothing much should be read into those defeats though, because Bouaita does come into this fight on good form, having won five of his last six outings and picking up the French and European Union 122 pound baubles along the way. A further incentive will also be the fact that he realises this fight is likely to be his final chance to seize a major championship.
Verdict: Neither man could be described as a big puncher but Munroe does hit harder than his six stoppage wins suggests and I feel a late TKO isn’t out of the question. However, if I was a betting man, I would put my money on Munroe using his stylish boxing skills to run out a wide decision winner.
