“Stars of the Future” Sparkle In York Hall Debut

Saturday night’s “Stars of the Future” fight card at London’s York Hall was a resounding victory for Frank Maloney as the promoter presided over the successful christening of four prospects from his stable.

The highlights of the evening were heavyweight Tom Dallas and lightweight counterpart Liam Shinkwin, both of whom showed up to their respective professional debuts with large, vocal audiences in tow.

“I thought Dallas looked very impressive in his victory over an experienced Slovakian operator, and he made his fans in the hall very happy” said Maloney of the heavyweight’s four round points win over Vlado Szabo.

“Shinkwin is another fighter with large, dedicated support and he kept the crowd on their toes, having opponent Robin Deakin on the floor in the first round before getting the win. He certainly looks like one to watch as he progresses up the ranks.”

While not yet possessing the fanbase of Dallas or Shinkwin, the other debutantes provided the fireworks of the evening and earned good marks from their promoter. Light welter Vinny Woolford stopped Gavin Deacon in the second, as did light middle Tomas Grublys against Nick Corret.

“Woolford is the brother of one of my welterweights, Scott Woolford, and proved to be a good addition to that fighting family,” said Maloney. “Grublys is from Lithuania but based locally and he showed me that he likes to come and have a fight. If he can get regular work here, he could become a favorite with the London fight crowd.”

There were also veterans on the show with light welter Gavin Tait winning a solid points decision over Baz Carey after coming in four pounds over the weight limit, a transgression which caused him to cede a portion of his purse to Carey, while former Commonwealth Games silver medallist Michael Frontin forced a four round draw against the more experienced Ryan Barrett at welterweight.

Maloney was satisfied with the size of the crowd for his first off-TV fight card of the year but was less than happy with big punching Irish heavyweight Scott Belshaw, who topped the bill by outpointing Pavol Polakovic over eight rounds.

“Scott looks the part and physically, he’s got everything he needs to succeed but he hasn’t got the right attitude; the ring is not a place for gentle giants,” said Maloney. “The best thing I can say about his fight is that he won the decision but he must be honest with himself as only he can answer the question of whether or not he has the heart and determination to go with his physique.”

Maloney will be returning to York Hall in November for another off-TV show but first will pack out the spiritual home of British boxing on Friday, October 17, 2008 when British bantamweight champion Ian Napa, who made an appearance in York Hall on Saturday to thunderous applause, will try to knock off European ruler Carmelo Ballone on Sky Sports.

Chief support features British super flyweight champion Andy Bell defending against Lee Haskins and Tony Oakey facing Courtney Fry for the vacant English light heavyweight title.

Tickets to “Dapa Napa” are priced at £75 and £35 and are available by logging onto www.frankmaloney.com or by calling the Box Office at 0871 226 1508.