Chelmsford’s Darrel Church to fight for British Challenge belt at light-heavyweight on May 16
On May 16 at the iconic York Hall in Bethnal Green, light-heavyweight “Dazzling” Darrel Church (6-2-1) will get the opportunity to fight for the first piece of silverware in his approaching four-year professional career in the form of the British Challenge belt.
Church will face an opponent yet to be confirmed over eight three-minute rounds at the light-heavyweight limit on a packed Goodwin Promotions card headlined by Kay “Special K” Prospere (11-1) and Nathan “Sugar Boy” Weise (12-5-2) as they go head to head in a final eliminator for the English super-lightweight title.
Promoter Steve Goodwin set up the title fight after the Chelmsford puncher demolished his previous opponent Rikke Askew (2-3) in under three-minutes in March at the same venue, flooring his victim three times en-route to a first-round KO win.
Church took advantage of the cameras present at ringside on the undercard of the Hayemaker Promotions event, which was topped by Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist Joe Joyce in his third professional fight, by giving the best performance of his career and his first victory by knockout.
The 28-year-old downed the South Londoner twice before landing a powerful straight right hand to completely stop him in his tracks with just seconds to go in the opener.
Trained by Scott Massey in the Sweet Science gym in Chelmsford, the 175-pounder expressed what it means to be fighting for the British Challenge belt: “Over the moon really, it’s that next step up. Turning pro, you want to reach certain levels and win titles, and it just shows that the hard work pays off to have something around your waist.”
Church’s previous performance has elevated his stock with fight fans and bumped his name up in the rankings, BoxRec placing him at 35th in Britain in the 175lbs standings.
“After my last fight, my name has gotten out there and the ticket sales have increased by a lot! Winning this title will only do better for me and put me further up in the rankings. Another good win or knockout and I’ll be jumping up to the top-20’s, then, hopefully, I’ll end up in the top-15 by the end of this year.”
He added: “It just shows how a strong performance can really put you up there and it’s given me so much confidence scoring a knockout in that last fight, I know I’ve got it in me to do it now.”
As well as the tantalising Prospere v Weise bill-topper, unbeaten prospects Adrian Martin (7-0); Dean Richardson (6-0); Charlie Wynn (2-0); and Paul Greenidge (1-0) are also in action on the night.