Earl Has Bennett Firmly in Sights.

By Curtis McCormick

British Lightweight champion Graham Earl has something to prove and the Englishman plans on doing so this Sunday night when he meets Commonwealth titlist Kevin Bennett at London’s historic York Hall. Earl will be in good company as an English Light Heavyweight title fight along with two British Masters championship clashes are also on the bill as well as bouts featuring two of the hottest prospects in the UK today. The Maloney Promotions event starts at locally at 7:45pm and will be broadcast as it happens on Setanta Sports in the both the UK and Ireland while also being shown as a live worldwide webcast on many affiliated websites via fightnight.com.

The fight card was originally scheduled for May 12th but a left-hand injury incurred by Earl a week before put the action back six weeks. Since that time Earl has regained most of the facility in the hand and the lightweight is fully prepared to carry out his fight plans. “I feel much better than I did a few weeks ago but it isn’t one hundred percent better,” he said. “Still, it hasn’t been causing me any problems. I’ve been getting physio on it and I’ve been able to do my work. I’m not worried about the hand because once you get the adrenaline going, if you feel a twinge or some pain, you just fight through it. There’d be no point in me going out there if I couldn’t use both arms.”

The opponent Earl, 22-1 (11), will face on Sunday is determined to lift the Luton boxer’s British belt and doesn’t plan on placing his fate in anyone’s hands other than his own. Commonwealth titlist Kevin Bennett, 17-4 (7), has pledged to knock Earl out but British champion just sees that tactic as an opportunity to turn the tables on the Hartlepool man. “Bennett’s coming down to my territory so he probably feels that he has to try and knock me out, but if he goes looking for something like that he might get something in return,” warned Earl.

In his most recent action Earl was outboxed in a non-title affair against an unbeaten Scottish prospect by the name of Ricky Burns this past February. The loss did not sit well with the Luton native, who would like nothing more than to use this bout against Bennett to make it up to his faithful fan base. Since the bout will be shown live on a worldwide basis Earl will have the opportunity to do that as well as win over man more new supporters. “My fans will see me perform a million times better than I did against Burns,” declared the twenty-six year old. “They’ll see a clever, thinking fighter in the ring, one good enough to win this fight. I just hope that all the fans come out and support me or watch the fight because if they do, they’ll see me become a double champion.

“There’s a lot riding on this and also because I lost my last fight, I’ve got a lot to prove. It’s the biggest fight of my career plus there are two belts on the line, one of which I get to keep. I don’t like to look past a fight but providing everything goes well, my next step will be the European title. It’s time for me to move on as I think I’ve been at this level too long. I went a bit stale in my last fight so it’s time to move on definitely. I want to win this fight, obviously, but I really want to win it for the fans.”

In addition to the Earl – Bennett British and Commonwealth Lightweight title fight, English Light Heavy champ Peter Haymer defends against former WBU titlist Tony Oakey, Gary Woolcombe faces Taz Jones for the British Masters Light Middle belt and Nathan Ward and James Paisley argue for the British Masters Welter crown.

Added attractions are appearances by Amir Khan’s nemesis, the Manchester lightweight Craig Watson and red-hot cruiserweight prospect Junior MacDonald. The Maloney Promotions event is sponsored by HIFX and BBE and starts at locally at 7:45pm.

The entire three-hour Earl – Bennett fight card will be broadcast on Setanta Sports for just £8.99, while anyone across the world with a 1 megabyte broadband connection can watch the exact same live program as a webcast, on one of many affiliated websites for just £4.99 (rough equivalent of $10 US dollars). Just look for the fightnight.com logo on your favorite website or log onto www.fightnight.com to find out which sites are carrying the webcast.