This Friday, April 18, 2008, South London's charismatic Gary "Hot Stuff" Woolcombe, 25-1 (10), will be putting his British Light Middleweight title on the line for the first time since winning the vacant crown against Marcus Portman last December in Wigan, England.

The 25 year old has filled London's York Hall for this hotly anticipated clash with big punching southpaw and former titlist Ryan Rhodes, 38-4 (26), on a Frank Maloney promotion and we had the good fortune to catch up with Gary as he was putting the final touches on his training camp.

SaddoBoxing: Who are you sparring against in the gym in order to prepare for Ryan Rhodes and can you say a bit about how that sparring is going?

Gary Woolcombe: "The sparring has been going really well. I don't have a problem with southpaws. I have been sparring Sam Webb, he is an orthodox fighter, but he's been turning southpaw for me. I reckon he's a better southpaw than he is orthodox fighter, anyway.

"I sparred Tony Oakey a couple of times, we got let down by Craig Watson, and Tony jumped in at the last minute. I sparred Gokhan Kazaz quite a few times and had a good spar with him. I did actually spar Craig, but only once and also John Honney, he's a lot better in the gym then he is on the night, but I had great sparring sessions with all of them."

SB: What were the key components in your British title winning effort against southpaw Marcus Portman last December? What did you find that really worked for you and how were you able to nullify his effectiveness?

GW: " I took the fight at a week's notice, so I never had any southpaw sparring for it, I just took things as they came. I just adapted to his style, that's what makes a good fighter. All my career, I have been due to fight, say, a come forward fighter, and the day before the fight, they change the opponent to a runner, so I had to learn to adapt to deal with the change of opponent." More...

With only a few days to go before popular south Londoner Gary Woolcombe's first British light middleweight title defense against former champion Ryan "Spice Boy" Rhodes, the spiritual home of English boxing, York Hall, looks set for another thriller this Friday, April 18, 2008.

This highly anticipated light middleweight clash is the classic contrast of youth against experience. More...

**With Slideshow**

© Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing

On Friday night, Irish-man Martin Rogan became the first ‘Prizefighter’ winner after successfully defeating Alex Ibbs of Stoke in the quarter-final, Dave Ferguson of North Tyneside in the semi-final and bookies favourite - David Dolan of Sunderland, in the final.

Ironically, aged 36, Belfast Boxer ‘Rogie’ was the oldest of the eight boxers! Rogan received a cheque for £25,000 and the Prize-fighter trophy as well as significantly increasing his profile in a short space of time.

The York Hall, Bethnal Green, England, was packed with an excited crowd awaiting the first of this new style boxing tournament billed as ‘The Prize Fighter Series: The Heavyweights’ promoted by Barry Hearn of Matchroom Sports. Consisting of eight boxers, four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and a final - each contest of three x three minute rounds, all on the same night.

Rogan’s first opponent was Alex Ibbs of Stoke, aged just 22 - it was a match-up of the youngest versus the eldest contender! More...

**With Slideshow**

© Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing

The Prizefighter Series was a fantastic occasion on Friday night at the York Hall, Bethnal Green, London England. The Matchroom Sports promoted event consisted of seven boxing contests to find the winner of the first Prizefighter Trophy and a cheque for £25,000.

Waiting backstage should one of the scheduled participants get an injury were boxers Derek Chisora and Dave Ingleby, hoping that they would get a 'wild-card' chance to compete as replacements.

The first quarter-final of the night was between big guy Dave Ferguson of North Shields and the more-experienced Billy Bessey of Portsmouth.

Both fighters go all out for it, right from the bell, but Bessey goes down from a big right punch after just 20 seconds of the opening round. He takes the count and continues boxing, but a body shot sends him slightly off-balance in the closing seconds. More...

Barry Hearn of Matchroom Sports chaired the final press conference yesterday for the ‘PrizeFighter’ Boxing show which takes place at the York Hall, Bethnal Green, tonight.

Eight British Heavyweight Boxers will be competing in 3-round contests, the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final - all taking place in one exciting night of boxing.

The ‘brainchild’ of Mr. Hearn - this revolutionary new style of Boxing Tournament is hoped to raise the profile of British Heavyweight Boxing.

The Boxers competing tonight are Billy Bessey (Portsmouth) Paul Butlin (Melton Mowbray) David Dolan (Sunderland) David Ferguson (North Shields) Alex Ibbs (Stoke) Colin Kenna (Southampton) Darren Morgan (Swansea) Martin Rogan (Belfast).

British light middleweight champion Gary Woolcombe can’t wait to get in the ring with Sheffield southpaw Ryan Rhodes at York Hall on Friday, April 18.

Woolcombe, who has only one loss in a dazzling 26 bout career, is unbeaten in 14 appearances at the historic venue.

Woolcombe’s winning streak began in June 2003 when he outpointed Birmingham’s Arv Mittoo, and the 25 year old maintained his unbeaten York Hall record when he stopped Jason Rushton last September. More...