British Boxing: Haywood Gets Difficult First Defense Against Daws

Scott Haywood is set to defend his English light welterweight title on January 17 in Wigan, England but the lanky stylist must turn back the aspirations of the toughest opponent he faced yet, Londoner Lenny Daws.

Tricky six footer Haywood, 19-2 (4), brought a six bout win streak into his vacant English title clash against big-hearted Wolverhampton man Dean Harrison and narrowly put the first loss on Harrison’s resume after ten furious rounds as the Derby man came out on top 97-96 on referee Howard Foster’s scorecard.

The win put Haywood back on track after his career trajectory was knocked askew with a one point loss to John Fewkes in 2006 but as a dubious reward of sorts, the long armed 27 year old has to defend the English title against former British champion Lenny Daws.

“Lightening” Lenny, 17-1 (6), will make his first appearance in the north since gunning down Oscar Hall in Hartlepool in 2005 and that bout was the precursor to perhaps the top win of Daws’ career to date, a ninth round stoppage of future European and British titlist Colin Lynes, which won the Morden man an official British title eliminator along with a Southern Area belt.

Daws made the most of the opportunity to fight for the vacant British crown as he outboxed Nigel Wright over 12 frames at York Hall.

But disaster struck when Daws lost the Lonsdale to iron-chinned Scotsman Barry Morrison by split decision in January, 2007. Daws was then held to a draw by Wright for the English title and has been looking for a way back to the top of the domestic scene ever since.

Wins against Mihaita Mutu and Jay Morris earlier this year did the trick and now Daws gets another crack at the English belt.

But can the durable 29 year old South West Londoner solve the riddle that Haywood presents to his rivals?

At over 5 feet 10 inches tall, Daws is a tall light welter but he’ll be looking up to the even taller Derby native Haywood and for the challenger to bring home the belt to Morden, he’ll have to turn the contest into a close quarters brawl to negate the long reach of the champion.

Daws will need to work his quick left hook and follow it up with the right but at the same will face the full arsenal of Haywood, who is surprisingly quick for such a tall fighter and isn’t shy about launching punches from either hand from unexpected angles and unusual distances.

Both men will be aware that the loser will face the long task of rebuilding so a torrid contest can be expected but look for the fresher Haywood to find a way to win and move onto a British title fight.