Glyn Rhodes excited for Tommy Frank and his future
Trainer Glyn Rhodes has heaped praise on Tommy Frank, ahead of the ‘Steel City’ fighter’s upcoming November 29th bout against Mexican Martin Tecuapetla at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge Arena.
Frank and Tecuapetla, 15-11-4 (10), will contest the vacant International Boxing Organisation (IBO) Inter-Continental Flyweight Title live on Freesports and, ahead of the contest, Rhodes believes his protégé is maturing into a world-level operator.
Last time out, in September, Frank, 12-0 (3), edged a split decision verdict over Thailand’s Aran Dipaen, now 8-2 (7), to claim the World Boxing Council International Silver Super Flyweight belt. Despite the victory, the 26-year-old expressed disappointment at his performance. Rhodes though believes the huge Sheffield United fan was being harsh on himself, and should take heart from the win.
“I wasn’t disappointed, not at all,” explained former pro, Rhodes. “He did a hard 12 rounds, which a fighter needs to know he can do. If he’s going to be stepping up in his class then he needs to know he can do it against a kid that could have very easily have been a banana skin. Dipaen was tough as old boots, and we found out afterwards he’d had loads of Muay Thai bouts. It was a mature performance from Tommy, and he was only disappointed because he expected to get the kid out of there, and that doesn’t always happen.
“I was actually pleased that Tommy hit him with some good shots and he didn’t go anywhere, and he caused Tommy some headaches. Fighters get disappointed because they want to be ‘crash, bang wallop’ for the fans, but Tommy stuck to his job and I was more than pleased with him. He is on the verge of something big, and we know now he can do a hard 12 rounds.
“I was surprised it was a split decision though. Some of the rounds were ‘six of one, half a dozen of the other’ but I thought Tommy did the better work and caught a lot of the kid’s shots. Boxing’s subjective, but watching it from the corner, even though some of the rounds were competitive, he still won it easily enough for me. It depends what you’re looking for, but I liked what Tommy did on the night and he shone for me more than Dipaen.”
Tommy can expect another hard night’s work against Mexico City native, Tecuapetla. Despite the 11 losses on his record, the South American has only been stopped twice and fought for the IBF World Light Flyweight belt in 2016, losing a split decision verdict in Japan. The 29-year-old also went the distance with former world flyweight champion, Cristofer Rosales, as recently as 2017.
Co-headlining alongside Tommy, will be Barnsley’s Josh Wale, 29-11-2 (14), aiming to become a three-weight champion. The former British Bantamweight champion and European Title challenger will face Ghana’s Felix Williams, 27-1 (20) for the IBO International Featherweight crown.
“You can’t buy experience. You can’t look at his record and think ‘he’s got a lot of losses’, because he’s also got all that ring experience,” emphasised Rhodes. “He’s Mexican too, and we know what they’re like, and he also seems to travel well, so he won’t be worried about coming over here.
“It has all the ingredients of a great fight for the fans. It’s going to be a great night and fingers crossed we get the result we want before moving onto bigger and better things next year.”
Dennis Hobson Promotions, in association with JJ Crump, present an evening of boxing at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge Arena on November 29. Topping the bill will be Sheffield’s Tommy Frank and Barnsley’s Josh Wale.
Appearing on the undercard will be Rotherham’s Kash Ali, and Sheffield’s Nicolie Campbell, Sufyaan Ahmed, Perry Howe and Kane Salvin.
For ticket information, call 0114 243 4443.
The show will be televised live on Freesports (Freeview 64; Sky 422; Virgin 553; Freesat 252; TalkTalk 64; BT 64).