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By Frank Warren
THE CITY OF Liverpool, a famed fighting fraternity, has got another boxing superstar in the making.
Andrew Cain is the name and more and more fight fans are jumping aboard the Cain Train.
Quite right too, because the performances of Andrew are demanding of attention and the profile that comes with blasting out opponents on live TV shows.
The thing is, with Andrew at the moment, he is poleaxing opponents in a matter of seconds and they are not recovering.
He is doing what all top young fighters do, he is seizing his moment, grabbing the spotlight and getting people talking. His is a name that fans will now keep tabs on and want to see more of because there will never be a dull moment when he steps into the ring.
His Mexican opponent at York Hall on Friday fancied the job. He’d seen Cain in action and wanted a piece of the action, believing that a trade-up with the formidable Scouser would play into his Mexican interests and heritage.
Luis Moreno should pick his battles a bit more wisely because I can’t see too many super bantams or bantams surviving a Cain onslaught at the moment. Moreno had only been stopped once before in an early six-rounder in his homeland and he gave Dennis McCann a good fight in March of last year.
For Andrew, now he has hit 10-0, he is good to go. He has shown us what he is all about and doesn’t need any nurturing. The Liverpool lad is on the fast track to the top.
I love his forthright attitude. He doesn’t mince his words and is very business-like, telling it how it is, heart on sleeve and knows exactly what he wants out of the sport.
As I have written before, he would fight King Kong if the weight and price was right and promoting hungry, driven individuals like this is a joy.
Andrew’s attitude and ability, I believe, is shaped by his surroundings at the Everton Red Triangle gym under the tutelage of Paul Stevenson. Very much like his fighters, Paul is not one to shout from the rooftops and quietly goes about his business of creating fierce creatures.
You can detect the same traits in both Nick Ball – who had his moment in the sun at Wembley Stadium recently – and Brad Strand. They are cut from the same cloth, although Paul does not operate a one-size-fits-all training regime. The real similarity between them all is their mentality and a big part of Paul’s work is talking to his fighters and forensically examining old fight footage.
Located at the foot of a concrete stairwell in the residential area of Liverpool 5, the Everton Red Triangle sits beneath a youth club and has been in existence for over 100 years (and, no, I was not there for the opening!).
Like all gyms, there have been peaks and troughs, but what I admire about Paul and the ERT is the way they simply knuckle down and develop the next generation from within. I understand there is something like 30 young amateur hopefuls working away there of an evening so the supply chain is strong and this can only bode well for the sport in the city.
Only last weekend the gym produced another national champion at schoolboy level and this is an annual occurrence.
Coaches like Paul don’t get the credit they deserve. He is very much of the same mould as Alan Smith, Martin Bowers and Wayne Batten, trainers who we work closely with who don’t seek any personal publicity and make it all about the fighter. If a notable fighter retires or moves on for whatever reason, they just get on with nurturing the next new star and don’t operate a recruitment policy.
Men like this are the lifeblood of the sport and all credit to them.
Andrew, Nick and Brad are going to be prominent figures on our promotions in the forthcoming years and, if I were a betting man, I would wager that we have three future world champions on our hands.
I wonder what the odds are on that?
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