Tommy Frank vs Matt Windle and Kash Ali vs Roman Gorst fight previews
Sheffield’s ‘Super’ Tommy Frank aims to become the first British flyweight champion in history from his home city when he clashes with in-form Matt Windle on September 18 at the Ponds Forge Arena, live on Fightzone.
The fight serves as chief support to the headlining act featuring heavyweight Kash Ali in a maiden defence of his IBF European strap to hard-hitting German Roman Gorst on the Dennis Hobson Promotions show.
BBN have previewed the entire event below:
CHIEF SUPPORT
Tommy Frank vs Matt Windle
12×3 British flyweight title
‘Steel City’s Super Frank’ vs ‘The Punching Poet’
Birmingham’s Matt Windle (6-3-1) upset unbeaten Neil McCubbin in his last fight in June with a fifth-round knockdown leading to a unanimous decision win with one judge scoring the contest 117-110.
The 30-year-old West Midlander debuted almost six years ago in December 2015 and lost just once from his first seven contests, which was a narrow 56-58 points reverse to tricky journeyman Brett Fidoe, who has a habit of upsetting home fighters all over the country.
That same year they fought in 2017, Tommy Frank defeated ‘Brett the Threat’ himself on points scored at 39-37, giving one round away to the talented away fighter.
The ‘MatMan’ then lost two back-to-back challenges for the Midlands Area flyweight title in 2019, both times close contests with once-beaten Ijaz Ahmed (94-97), then to once-beaten David Seymour (94-96).
His previous 12-round contest was due to be an eliminator for the Commonwealth light-flyweight title, but the British Board of Boxing Control do not recognise the division, which is why he has moved up to flyweight for this title challenge instead.
Home fighter Tommy Frank (13-2, 3KOs) has fought in this arena seven times already and will have the home crowd behind him in his first ever British title bid.
The 28-year-old has lost his last two fights to IBF Inter-Continental flyweight titlist Rosendo Hugo Guarneros (19-4-2, 9KOs), despite having the home advantage at the Sheffield Arena Car Park.
Both times at that outdoor venue, cleverly used by promoter Dennis Hobson shortly after lockdown while restrictions were still very stringent, he tasted defeat, but prior to that he had five wins in a row all at the Ponds Forge Arena where he returns to for the biggest title fight of his five-year-long career.
He has collected four titles so far – the Central Area strap at super-flyweight in his seventh contest; then the Commonwealth at the same weight in his 10th; then came the WBC International Silver belt, again at super-fly; followed by the IBO Inter-Continental title a division down at flyweight.
Trainer Glyn Rhodes has called both losses to the Mexican ‘contentious’, believing his 112-pound charge did enough to win the last bout at least, with the first meeting ending early due to Frank injuring his left shoulder in the eighth round.
One judge had it 115-113 to Frank, Rhodes stated that his man did the better work and landed the cleaner shots. However, that’s all in the past now and both Frank and Rhodes that this is a must-win fight, not just because of the prestige on the line but for the fact that three strikes in a row will be incredibly difficult to come back from.
Frank has four belts in his trophy cabinet already, as well as 101 professional rounds banked, compared to 10-bouter Windle having far fewer rounds at just 68.
However, he comes into the contest after 12 good rounds in his last fight and prior to that he went the distance over 10-rounds twice. Since March 2019, Matt has experienced 32 championship rounds compared to Frank’s 46 in title fights, so there’s not a huge difference in those numbers there creating a closer contest than it looks on paper.
Frank is undoubtedly the favourite going into this British championship clash, especially as the home fighter in such familiar surroundings, but Windle’s rejuvenation following two losses at Midlands Area level will make for a dangerous and motivated opponent on the night.
I believe this pair are going to fight in close quarters, Windle will be there in front of Frank throughout the contest, but Frank’s experience at the higher level will help him to get the better work off and land the cleaner, eye-catching, point-scoring punches. Tommy is composed and calm under the pressure, so if ever Windle turns up the heat, I think he should handle the pressure comfortably. Windle’s only chance of stopping Frank would be overwhelm him and swarm him with unanswered punches, but there’s not much chance of that happening against such an experienced opponent.
I expect Frank to be the one on the front foot and become the more dominant of the two, especially being the bigger man. I expect a close contest to end on a unanimous points decision to Frank.
MAIN EVENT
Kash Ali vs Roman Gorst
10×3 IBF European heavyweight title
There’s heavyweight action in the main event as Kash Ali (19-1, 10KOs) defends his IBF European title to heavy-handed German Roman Gorst (7-1, 6KOs).
Trained by Richard Towers, Ali has won four fights in a row since his disgraceful performance against Liverpool’s mighty David Price in March 2019, where he was disqualified for biting and forced to exit the arena swiftly.
The big man from Rotherham got his head back together, accepted his ban, and rebuilt brilliantly to stop three from his last four foes.
His 21st opponent will be 32-year-old Bayern boxer Gorst, a former German heavyweight champion, whose only loss was at the hands of the promising Peter Kadiru (11-0, 6KOs), who was an outstanding multiple European amateur champion with a win over Daniel Dubois.
Kash has an excellent ramrod jab and is very good at controlling the distance. Against the Czech title contender Tomas Salek (15-2, 13KOs), he sneaked in some stinging uppercuts on several occasions to devastating effect. He decked him in the second round after his right uppercut landed copiously, then the 23-year-old Central European came out fighting in the third, sporting a broken nose and bleeding left eyelid, until another string of successful right uppercuts put him down again and ended the contest.
It’s interesting that the aforementioned Peter Kadiru took six rounds to stop Salek and Ali did it in half the time. If this pair ever fought, Ali would have a chance to take Kadiru’s top-30 ranking with the WBC.
Gorst is light on his feet, he bounces around on his toes quite well for a heavyweight, despite his fleshy appearance, but his guard is often dropped so he will inevitably be eating Ali’s stiff jabs during their fight.
I believe it will be a patient, controlled display from Kash Ali to eventually wear the mover down and potentially score a stoppage in the second half of the contest.
Undercard Fights
Muheeb Fazeldin vs TBA
4×3 Super-featherweight contest
Nav Mansouri vs TBA
4×3 Super-welterweight contest
Charlie Schofield vs TBA
4×3 Super-middleweight contest
Lee Reeves vs TBA
4×3 Super-lightweight contest
Michael Gomez Jr. vs TBA
4×3 Super-featherweight contest
Shaka Thompson vs TBA
4×3 Middleweight contest
Perry Howe vs TBA
4×3 Cruiserweight contest
Levi Giles vs Shaun Cooper
10×3 Midlands Area super-featherweight title
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