HOBSON REVEALS CAMERON’S FIRST DEFENCE AND SAYS EUBANK JR WOULD BE A FUTURE OPTION
Dennis Hobson has revealed that Liam Cameron’s first defence of his Commonwealth middleweight title will be against Danny Butler at Sheffield’s Ice Arena on April 27.
Cameron, 20-5 (8), won the title in a thrilling scrap against former belt holder Sam Sheedy last October, stopping his Steel City rival in eight rounds at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge Arena.
Since then, a defence against newly-crowned English champion Elliott Matthews has been mooted, but that match has been scuppered due to a Matthews injury, meaning Butler now steps into the fray.
Cameron, a former ABA champion, should get a solid test in Butler. The Bristol fighter is a former British title challenger, losing to Darren Barker, and had held the English middleweight crown in his 27-6 (9) career.
Hobson – who has previously guided former world champions Ricky Hatton, Clinton Woods, Jamie McDonnell, Stuart Hall and Carl Thompson – has also revealed that Cameron would be open to a future challenge from Chris Eubank Jr, if the Brighton man decides to move back down to the middleweight division.
“We were going to defend against Elliott Matthews, who’s the English champion, for Liam’s Commonwealth title, but Elliott is now injured,” explained Hobson. “So, we’ve got Danny Butler, and that’s a smashing fight. Danny has fought at a good level, probably at a higher level than Elliott and, on paper, this is a tougher fight for Liam.
“One thing we’re definitely going to find out now is whether the Sam Sheedy fight, where Liam looked like he’d really gone up a level, whether that was a fluke or not. It’s up to Liam to show that it wasn’t and that he’s at that level, and better. One thing’s for sure, if he isn’t then he’ll struggle against Butler. Danny will be coming with all guns blazing because the Commonwealth is a major title.
“The fight will be shown live and free on Freesports TV [Sky Channel 424 and via Freeview/Youview on channel 95], and I’m also trying to organise an international fight with a Canadian promoter so we could be getting some Canadian TV involved too.
“We’d also be interested in the Chris Eubank Jr fight, if Liam comes through against Butler, because Liam will fight anybody. I thought Eubank put in a shocking performance at the weekend [against George Groves]. He fought a naturally bigger man who was very well schooled and had much more experience, and that showed.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Groves but Eubank played into his hands with his tactics; he was wild and didn’t know how to cut the space down, and he got picked off. His corner doesn’t look as though it has enough cohesion either, and they need to go back to the drawing board. Eubank is a tough fight for anybody though, especially at middleweight because he’s definitely still world class. But if his team fancy the fight then we’d seriously consider it.”
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