In just his second pro fight Mark Bennett tackles the experienced Dorian Darch in a brave bid to climb the rankings
Heavyweight Mark Bennett (1-0) tackles Dorian Darch (12-6-1) in just his second professional bout tonight at the North Notts Arena on the JE Promotions ‘Hope & Glory’ event.
The throwback fighter stated early on in his professional career that he had ambitious plans to reach the top 10 as soon as possible and is certainly living up to his words by taking on a vastly experienced winning fighter in only his second pro bout.
Darch has shared the ring with the unified world champion Anthony Joshua, British champion Hughie Fury and was last seen at the Copper Box Arena putting up a spirited display against the new English heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois.
The Welshman comes to every fight with the intention of winning as stablemate Dave Jones discovered in October last year when he was floored for the first time in his career but just managed to salvage a draw in a fierce six-round battle with the 34-year-old from Aberdare.
His most notable scalps include English title contender Tom Little and Central Area title challenger David Howe. With 75 professional rounds under his belt compared to Bennett’s four, he will fancy his chances against the fledgling pro.
‘Bad News’ Bennett only begun boxing at the advanced age of 27 but he scored a first-round knockout on his unlicensed debut and quickly rose through the ranks to win titles.
He made his successful transition from the untested unlicensed scene into the pro ranks last November against Hungarian Ferenc Zsalek (21-62-6) on points, but picked up an unfortunate injury that kept him on the side-lines since.
The 31-year-old from Edlington describes himself as an explosive puncher and lists Roy Jones Jr as his biggest inspiration.
He commented on the risky fight, “After sitting down with my team and thinking things over, we’ve got an opponent for Saturday night – Dorian Darch. He’s a tough kid and this is a massive risk but I got into the pro ranks to make a stamp and test myself and this is what I’m doing. I don’t want to protect my record, I want to push my boundaries. We’re not here for a long time and I’m going to prove my worth and jump up the British rankings. Fighters fight!”
Manager Joe Elfidh added, “Tonight is set to be the best show there is! There’s a few banana skins on, especially for Mark Bennett but he said to me ‘I don’t want someone with 25 losses on his record, I want someone who’s coming to win.’ Mark is a credit to boxing, he’s a throwback, a real old school fighter that doesn’t want to protect records. He’s trained hard for eight weeks and he wants a hard fight at the end of that. He wants real fights against real fighters. If he wins this, the next fight we’ll be pushing for the Central Area title!”
The JE Promotions’ seven-fight card, their eighth event at North Notts Arena, will make history with the area’s first ever title fight headlining the six-fight card. The entire event will be a big occasion for the East Midlands town and Joe Elfidh is the man credited for first introducing professional boxing to the area.
Elfidh said, “I always wanted to stage a pro show in my hometown of Worksop, which we first did in March 2016. Now, in our eighth event, we are hosting the first ever title fight in the area and it’s only what the boxers and the fans supporting them deserve."
Doncaster’s Kyle Fox (5-0) is all set to make history as he becomes the first boxer to fight for a title in the Nottinghamshire town of Worksop.
The 24-year-old, trained by Michael White at the Fighting Fit Gym in Dinnington, faces former Dutch national champion Innocent Anwanyu (25-34-3) over eight three-minute rounds for the International Challenge welterweight belt.
Worksop will also get to see their newest pro boxer Dylan Clegg as he makes his eagerly-awaited debut in his hometown at super-middleweight against Chessington’s Richard Harrison (2-29).
Managed by Scott Calow and trained by Michael White at the Fighting Fit Gym, the former amateur had 25 fights in the unpaid code and brings a large fanbase with him to the paid ranks.
Scunthorpe’s ‘Kid Nytro’ Dec Spelman (11-1), 26, returns to the ring for the first time since his ill-fated fight with Scott Westgarth in February, who collapsed in the dressing room and later died in hospital.
The Scunthorpe boxer almost quit boxing following the death of his opponent in an English light-heavyweight title eliminator, which Spelman lost on points. His opponent is expected to be announced very shortly.
Sonny Price (3-0) has his fourth bout in eight months, since making his pro bow last November, against Iranian Yadollah Ghasemi (1-11-1) who travels in from Birmingham.
The seven-time Yorkshire amateur champion hasn’t put a foot wrong yet, winning all 12 professional rounds so far against Jamie Quinn (3-47-2); Youseff Al Hamidi (14-117-3); and Ibrar Riyaz (6-135-4), respectively.
The 21-year-old super-lightweight from Swallownest spent 10 years in the amateurs, racking up over 50 fights and now has ambitions to become a British champion.
Langold’s Luke Middleton makes his pro debut against Hyde’s Dale Arrowsmith (1-16-1) after experiencing just 15 amateur fights. Trained by Nick Staff at the Fighting fit Gym, the middleweight makes his pro bow over four three-minute rounds.
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