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Showtime and ITV partner up tonight for a transatlantic broadcast of an exciting night at the fights from the Park Lane Hilton in London, England. Ghana’s Ossie Duran will seek to retain his coveted Commonwealth Light Middle belt from the ambitions of promising unbeaten Scotsman Colin McNeil while as chief support, hot prospect Ross Minter defends his British Southern Area Welter crown against former British Masters strapholder Sammy Smith. Two talented unbeaten super feathers, Kevin Mitchell and Andy Morris, who appear in separate contests, head the undercard. Sports Network promotes the lineup as a charity show to raise funds and combat a rare but deadly skin disease known as EB.
Duran, 19-4-1 (9), was originally slated to face former British Welterweight titlist Neil Sinclair but the Ulsterman dropped out of the bout earlier this week citing a lack of focus on his part. One of a long line of quality fighters to come from the mean streets of Accra, Ghana, Duran, a former Commonwealth Welter kingpin, won his title by shocking Jamie Moore of Manchester in June of last year. The bout was developing nicely until Moore suffered a serious hip injury and electing to continue on, was knocked out by Duran in the third round.
A resident of the fabled Bukom section of Accra, Duran has, in addition to Moore, beaten current Commonwealth Welter boss Joshua Okine and dangerous Belarussian spoiler Yuri Tsarenko.
Colin McNeil, the 32 year old man from the Edinburgh suburb of Fauldhouse, Scotland has only participated in eight professional fights since turning pro in March of last year. An accomplished amateur who won five Scottish welter titles, McNeil, 8-0 (1), has gotten past a squad of journeymen and most recently handled hardnosed Welshman Taz Jones over ten rounds to win the vacant Celtic Light Middle belt.
Although a superb boxer who favors combinations and can whack well to the body, McNeil may be in for an education against the far more seasoned Duran. The former lightweight champion of Ghana sports a lethal left jab and sets everything up off of it.
while not a big puncher, Duran has enough power in his right hand to keep the competition honest and a granite jaw that has seen the former resident of Chelmsford, England finish all 25 professional bouts on his feet.
The winner of this bout will certainly see their stock rise, particularly after exposure to millions of television viewers in both the US and the UK, but may have to defend against former champion Michael Jones of Liverpool, a survivor of three rough and tumble matches with Jamie Moore.
