Impact Boxing: Kings Hall Preview

By Keith Chadwick

Stoke lightweight Scott Lawton looks to improve his pro ledger to 19-2-1 at Stoke’s King’s Hall on Saturday night when he takes on 32 year-old British based Mauritian Judex Meemea on the latest Impact boxing promotion.

Meemea, who takes a fairly decent 5-5-3 record into the bout, out-pointed Peterborough’s Lea Handley last time out but had been halted inside five rounds two months earlier (in April) by Merthyr’s as yet unbeaten Gary Buckland. His record also shows a points loss to London based Scot Dave Stewart, one of just two men to emerge victorious over current English lightweight champion Lawton.  

Scott however has his sights set firmly on future glories and will doubtless look upon this weekends bout as a marking time fight. He will be confident of victory but may be forced to settle for a points win.

A case of youth versus experience see’s Stoke welterweight Jimmy ‘Whirlwind’ Doherty step between the ropes to face Birmingham’s 40 year-old Karl Taylor, a veteran of some 113 pro bouts, only 16 of which have seen him emerge victorious.

At his prime, Taylor, whose son Kyle also boxes professionally, was Midlands Area lightweight champion and also fought for the British lightweight title but his more recent form, coupled with a propensity towards cutting means that he is now seen as a good learning fight for up and coming youngsters, of which Doherty is undoubtedly one.

The affable Jimmy, whose other two-outings this year have seen him record victories over Taylor stable-mates Jason Nesbitt and Peter Buckley is more than capable of delighting his noisy supporters to complete a hat-trick of victories over Birmingham opposition to improve his 100% record to 4-0.

Former British Masters super-bantamweight champion Chris Edwards looks to build on his recent victory over Gary Sheil with a bout against Derby debutant Usman Ahmed.

Ahmed boasts an amateur career that included forays into the National ABA championships so he is likely to be ambitious but Chris will be determined not to be upstaged in front of his home crowd.

In an evening sprinkled with debutants Newark’s Andrew Allen Lowe, a former Royal Marine and decent amateur, as well as an accomplished kick boxer takes on fellow first timer John Musgrave. Musgrave fights out of the Barnsley stable of respected trainer Trevor Schofield so he should provide Lowe with a good level of opposition on his pro baptism.

Former Welsh ABA champion Aaron Thomas, son of former Stoke City, Manchester United and Wrexham star Mickey makes his pro bow against Darwen’s Martin Sweeney. The man from Lancashire has lost all three to date since turning pro just four months ago, two points reverses in May and then a 3rd round stoppage defeat at the hands of Yorkshire’s Nicki Smedley a month later being his lot to date. That being the case, decent ticket seller Thomas is likely to send his supporters home happy.

Liverpool boxer Gary Davies – the current British Masters super-bantamweight champion who harbours English title ambitions – completes the evening’s line-up with a bout against Nottingham’s Barrington Brown.

Both boxers boast identical 4-2 records but despite a seven month period of inactivity Davies looks the pick on paper, his opponents have been of a higher standard than those of the Nottingham man and his solid amateur grounding should give him the edge, but with both men winning by first round stoppages last time out there could be a possibility of a quick finish so punters might be wise to give the bar a miss for a few minutes.

Alfreton’s Adie Whitmore, who had also been scheduled to appear, has been forced to withdraw after sustaining an injury whilst training. 

Tickets are reportedly all but sold out and the Kings Hall is likely to filled with yet another electric atmosphere, the kind for which Impact shows are becoming renowned.