Lynn vs Jahanzeb – Meet the prospects
The opening night of Queensberry's brand-new series of six shows with the spotlight placed on top prospects will take place at the Copper Box Arena on Friday September 10, live on BT Sport.
To mark the occasion, two unbeaten young featherweights, 'Loco' Louie Lynn (9-0, 7 KOs) from South London and Bradford's Amin Jahanzeb (8-0, 2 KOs), will top the bill with the WBC International Silver title at stake and thrills and spills guaranteed in what should be a fascinating clash of styles.
There's a wealth of promising prospects on display on the night, so BBN have listed a few details on each one for UK fight fans to get to know them a little better to get behind them in the early stages of their careers.
Junaid Bostan vs Dwain Grant (3-10-1)
4×3 Super-welterweight contest
England amateur star Junaid Bostan signed with Frank Warren just a few months back in July.
The Rotherham super-welterweight is a double national champion and has boxed for England since he was 13-years-old.
Now 19, standing at over 5' 11", the Yorkshireman boxes out of the Sheffield’s fast rising Steel City gym where he trains alongside IBF World Flyweight champion Sunny Edwards and English super-lightweight titlist Dalton Smith under the watchful eye of head coach Grant Smith.
After the National Elite Championships were rescheduled due to the pandemic, Bostan decided not to wait around for another year and turned over with Frank Warren instead.
The youngster has been trained by Grant Smith since he was 12-years-old, having spent his earliest boxing years training under the late Brendan Ingle, so it's no surprise Bostan is a tricky switch hitter who can expect to bamboozle opponents. Similar to his hero Prince Naseem, the big personality has said he wants to entertain people inside and out of the ring.
He has already sparred with a string of top fighters and helped European Welterweight champion David Avanesyan prepare for his emphatic win over Josh Kelly.
He started at the gym just two weeks after Sunny Edwards so has been with him since the start all the way through to becoming a world champion.
He regards himself as more of a boxer than a puncher but is adamant that he wants to entertain fans.
As well as Naseem Hamed, he also counts Pernell Whitaker, Hector Camacho, Caleb Plant, and Fernando Vargas as his boxing inspirations.
His debut opponent is West Midland's Dwain Grant, who has won just three from 14 bouts. The 37-year-old know as 'Cheeky' has defeated a 6-0 prospect in the past and also drew with a Southern Area title contender.
Adan Mohamed (2-0) vs TBA
4×3 Featherweight contest
Adan Mohamed, 18, is a product of the Repton Boxing Club and amassed an amateur record of 55 wins from 60 fights.
A seven-time national champion, the Buckhurst Hill-based super bantamweight also won a Tri-Nations GB title, two Haringey Box Cups and was a bronze medallist in the 2019 European Youth championships. He also boxed over 10 times for England and was a member of the national squad from the age of 12.
He trained with the likes of Dennis McCann and Henry Turner as an amateur and was inspired to join them at Queensberry.
He aims to campaign at super-bantam with a view to moving up to featherweight some day.
This will be his third fight this year, having bested Luke Fash 40-36 on points last June, and prior to that he managed to win 40-37 on points on his pro debut in February against arguably one of Britain's hardest journymen there is – Brett Fidoe.
Joshua Frankham (3-0) vs Matija Petrinic (1-6)
4×3 Super-welterweight contest
Most known for being Tyson Fury's cousin, Josh Frankham was a four-time national amateur champion before turning pro with Frank Warren.
The 20-year-old super-welterweight and former England International had 37 fights as an amateur with only six going against him.
Trained by Wayne Batten in Southampton, it was his big cousin Tyson that sent a message of endorsement to the Hall of Fame promoter, which he acted upon immediately to sign the young starlet.
Part of a talented group down on the coast, he has so far won all 12 rounds during his trio of pro bouts against journeymen with over 360 fights between them as experience.
Callum Thompson (1-0) vs Dean Jones (1-30)
4×3 Lightweight contest
Former Team GB ace Callum Thompson is 22-years-old from Liverpool.
He could have gone to this summer’s Tokyo Olympics, but had his dreams shattered when rule changes were made in June 2019. It was decided that weight classes for men would be reduced from ten to eight so the women’s competition could increase from three to five divisions.
It meant heartbreak for Thompson when the 60kg division was dropped so he decided to turn professional under manager and trainer Joe Gallagher instead.
The super-featherweight won a Three Nations gold medal twice and five bronze medals for Team GB in six international competitions during his two years on the squad.
Callum started boxing young, aged seven, and had 96 amateur bouts. He was also in the England squad from the age of 13 for five years before getting his GB place.
It was a chat with former WBA World Lightweight champion Anthony Crolla that brought Thompson to Gallagher’s attention.
Thompson explained: “I’d already left GB and I got speaking to Anthony Crolla. He spoke to Joe and I went to the gym to spar with Scott Quigg before his fight with Jono Carroll last year.”
Gallagher added: “Callum doesn’t take any short cuts in training, listens, learns and for me as a trainer it’s exciting to start from the beginning with a very good young fighter.
“People who watch Callum will say afterwards, ‘Who is that? I want to see him again.’ That is the reaction from people who come to the gym.”
In his pro debut, 'The Tank' Thompson went straight into a six-rounder with Derbyshire's Lee Connelly (7-60-5) in the journeyman's 70th pro fight and won every round on the way to a points decision. That was just 22 days ago and now he is back in the ring again already!
His second opponent is Telford's tough Dean Jones, who has only been stopped once in 31 fights, and even then it was on the doctor's advice following a bad cut above his left eye.
Jonathan Kumuteo (1-0) vs Kevin McCauley (15-210-12)
4×3 Super-welterweight contest
The 24-year-old DR Congo-born welterweight trains with Josh Burnham in Bushey.
The aggressive counter-puncher enjoyed success in the amateur ranks with victory in the London Novice u20 championships and was a finalist in the National Novice championships, clocking up 28 fights in a vest.
However, his amateur experience was punctuated by the suffering of Hidradenitis Suppurativa, (HS), which is a chronic inflammatory skin disease, for over four years.
The condition affected his ability to compete in tournaments, as well as his availability to accept international recognition by both England and DRC, and was forced to have three operations, the most recent being in November 2018.
Despite the hindrance to his training and amateur career, where he could have had many more fights and championships under his belt, the 25-year-old has already started afresh with a 39-37 points victory over 50-fight veteran Dale Arrowsmith in April this year.
Karol Itauma (3-0, 2KOs) vs Darryl Sharp (5-74-1)
4×3 Light-heavyweight contest
Eight-time national champion and Youth Olympic gold medallist Karol Itauma is based in Chatham, Kent.
The 20-year-old decided to abandon his pursuit of an Olympic position in favour of the professional ranks.
The Slovakian-born light heavyweight beat world and European youth champion Ruslan Kolesnikov to claim the gold in Argentina in the 2018 Games, avenging a defeat in his first international tournament against the Russian.
He decided he was slightly too young to break through and make the squad for Tokyo and didn't want to commit to a further four-year cycle for the next one.
The light-heavyweight has served as A regular sparring partner for Chris Eubank Jr ahead of his fight against James DeGale and has recently enjoyed sparring with Lawrence Okolie and Ultimate Boxxer finalist Grant Dennis, also from Chatham.
Itauma, who fights out of the St Mary's club in Chatham, receives competition on the home front from youngest brother Enrico, who is a two-time national and European champion at heavyweight, while his middle brother Savio is a promising footballer.
As a pro, the 6' 1" 175-pounder has already stopped two from three opponents. Ex-soldier and highly-rated journeyman Lewis van Poetsch (9-130-2, 2KOs) gave the debuatant four good rounds in December 2012 on the undercard of Lyndon Arthur's shock win over Anthony Yarde, but then the Medway man blasted away his next two foes in rounds one and two respectively.
For his fourth opponent, he faces a former Central Area middleweight champion in Darryl Sharp (5-74-1), a 29-year-old southpaw who has only ever been stopped by once in 80 fights. Only world title contender Liam Williams managed to halt the Middleton man and that was over three years and 42 fights ago!
Khalid Ali vs TBA
4×3 Welterweight contest
Tower Hamlets welterweight Khalid Ali will make his professional debut after learning his trade at Repton ABC.
The 20-year-old welterweight hails from the heart of Brick Lane in London and is trained in Bethnal Green by Roger Hunt – a nephew of former world champion Maurice Hope – and his own father, Wolid.
He had 25 fights in the famous green Repton vest, losing something around five. He won the Londons, boxed for England, reached the Haringey finals, and was on the same amateur team as Dennis McCann, Adan Mohamed, and Henry Turner.
In his own words, he is flashy but hits hard, and is one of the first British Bengalis to be signed by Frank Warren, which he hopes will inspire others.
Umar Khan (1-0) vs TBA
4×3 Super-bantamweight contest
Super-bantamweight prospect Umar Khan is former Team GB star from Ilford.
The 18-year-old clocked up 28 wins from 32 fights and became a national champion, but his heart was firmly set on turning pro and following in the footsteps of his cousin, WBO European super-welterweight champion Hamzah Sheeraz.
He won his pro debut on points against Levi Dunn, who was down from a left hook in the third round, back in March this year and now he's back in the ring less than six months later for his second pro bout.
Mark Chamberlain (8-0, 5 KOs) vs Benjamin Lamptey (11-4-1, 9 KOs)
8×3 Lightweight contest
Portsmouth heavy hitting lightweight 'Marky Boy' Chamberlain is three-time national amateur champion who has just been added to the bill after the Sunny Edwards vs Jayson Mama show on Saturday night was cancelled.
Fortunately, he was moved forward 24 hours and his training camp won't be for nothing after all. and will face Ghana’s Benjamin Lampteyover eight rounds.
Following his first round destruction of Jordan Ellison last March, the 22-year-old southpaw, trained by Wayne Batten, is now on the hunt for titles.
After the first 2020 lockdown, Chamberlain was actually the first home fighter back in a British ring when he defeated Stu Greener in one round on July 9, 2020.
The devastating puncher now has five first-round knockouts on his record, in fact there's only been one from eight fights where there wasn't a knockdown, so eight fights, five KOs and four other knockdowns in total so far.
Expect fireworks as he goes up against a dangerous man with nine KOs from 11 victories. The former Ghanaian lightweight champion, now 33, lost four championship fights in a row between 2016-2019, but bounced back with a second-round stoppage in his last appearance in April this year.
Chamberlain is aiming to reach 9-0 but 'Daddy Lumba' has stopped a 9-0 opponent during his career before, so he will need to be careful as he goes about his business in what should be a cracker of a contest.
Frank Arnold (7-0-1, 1KO) vs Lee Glover (11-5, 3KOs)
6×3 Super-featherweight contest
Frank Arnold, 22-year-old from Hackney, is the only other fight on the bill that isn't a four-rounder.
Arnold is trained by Gareth Lawrence in Lakeside, West Thurrock, and managed by Tunde Ajayi.
He made his professional debut in December 2017 at York Hall with a fourth-round KO win.
The southpaw only had 15 fights in the amateurs, claimig that he wasn't dedicated back then, but still boxed in the national finals.
His only blemish on his eight-fight record comes from a 38-38 stalemate with the aforementioned Brett 'The Threat' Fidoe in July 2018.
'The Tipton Slasher' Lee Glover is aiming to go one better by inflicting the first defeat on the Londoner's record.
34-years-old, Glover has already lifted a Masters title, way back in 2011, having debuted in June 2010. He has fought for the English super-featherweight title twice and has only won two from his last five fights.
MAIN EVENT
Louie Lynn (9-0, 7KOs) vs Amin Jahanzeb (8-0, 2KOs)
10×3 WBC International Silver featherweight title
The Kevin Mitchell-trained featherweight 'Loco' Louie Lynn enjoyed a successful amateur tenure as an England international winning the U20 Novices, then the 2017 ABA Elite Championship and the GB Championship before electing to enter the paid ranks.
The 23-year-old made his debut in March 2018 and scored a second round stoppage, before subsequently stopping his next three opponents.
He won his WBC ranking title with a UD verdict of 12-1-1 Spaniard Sebastian Perez, but his maiden title defence to Jahanzeb will be his hardest fight of his paid career yet.
The Haroon Headley-trained fighter, managed by Tunde Ajayi, had 19 fights with 15 wins in the amateurs and won a Senior Development national title. Despite his lowly KO count as a pro, in the amateurs he won over half of his fights by stoppage.
Dedicated to his craft, Amin travels to Manchester to train with Haroon at Heavyhitters.
The student claims to be pick 'n' mix of everything and that he can box front foot, back foot, he likes to fight and box, depending on his mood, and he grew up watching and studying fighters like Roy Jones jr, James Toney, and Gerald McClellan.
"I lot of my opponents punch fresh air and if you watch my fights you will see I can come forward and counter-punch as well," he said.
This main event has a fantastic and intruiging clash of styles with 'Loco' Lynn being a relentless volume puncher who goes for the jugular, and Jahanzeb who likes to employ slick skills and clever footwork to unpick his opponent.
Both boxers are 25-years-old, fresh with less than 10 fights on their records, and each have experienced 38 rounds in the pros, so make a great fight on paper and in reality, which fight fans will be able to witness live and free on September 9.
How to watch Lynn vs Jahanzeb
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