Kieran Gething maiden title defence against a former Welsh lightweight champion
Welsh super-lightweight champion Kieran Gething (8-2-1) will defend his title for the first time on June 1 at Vale Sports Arena in Cardiff on the undercard of Jay Harris' European flyweight title fight with Angel Moreno.
The 25-year-old champion from Pontypool clashes with former Area lightweight titlist Craig Woodruff (7-4).
He said, "I’m defending my Welsh super-lightweight title against former Welsh lightweight champion Craig Woodruff, live on iFL TV and it's also going out on ESPN+."
Woodruff, 26 from Newport, became a Welsh Area champion in just his fifth fight and has also previously challenged for the Celtic lightweight title against Mitch Buckland, who he has lost to twice during his seven-year career. He has shared the ring with former British, Commonwealth and European super-featherweight champion Martin J Ward, as well as Olympian Luke Campbell.
Both fighters have experienced 11 bouts and face each other following two points wins.
"I’ve been training really well, sparring with current lightweight champion Gavin Gwynne," said Gething.
"I’m looking forward to the fight, as I think it could be a big breakthrough for me with a huge audience tuning in. And if I come through unscathed and look good doing it, I’d love to get a chance against Phil Bowes for the Commonwealth title as soon as possible."
The Welshman is further enthused at the prospect of fighting in front of the camers, "I’ve boxed on iFL before and another streaming service as well, also S4C twice, so I’ve got that TV experience. I enjoy the cameras, if anything!"
Gething didn't have the brightest start to his paid career, drawing with an enthused journeyman Kevin Mcauley (11-129-9) in what was his landmark 150th bout in November 2016.
His next outing went even worse than that with a loss to debutant Aaron Sutton in Bristol, who is now eight fights unbeaten. Gething narrowly lost out 39-38 from the away corner.
He then put together a six successive victories from May 2017 to August 2018, two of those were fourth-round stoppage wins.
On a winning streak, Gething then earned a shot at the Welsh Area welterweight title against a former Area titleholder in Tony Dixon in October 2018, less than two years on from is pro debut.
Despite hitting the deck in the fourth-round, Gething rallied back to narrowly lose out on a 94-95 points reverse, the knockdown costing him the triumph.
Undeterred, he bounced straight back to win the super-lightweight version in his following fight against Henry Janes (12-23-3) in February 2019.
He then defeated Spaniard Damian Esquisabel (3-2) in a keep busy bout last March and now looks to defend his Area title on the same night that Anthony Joshua makes his US debut against challenger Andy Ruiz Jr in New York.