Nathan Heaney vs Brad Pauls 2 – Who wins the rematch?
Nathan ‘Hitman’ Heaney (18-0-1, 6KO) will rematch with Brad ‘The Newquay Bomb’ Pauls (18-1-1, 10KO) on Saturday, July 20, on a Queensberry Promotions show in Birmingham, live on TNT Sports.
The middleweights will clash once again for Heaney’s British belt, which he won from Denzel Bentley eight months ago in November 2023.
That night, Heaney was the underdog but kept the powerful Battersea boxer away with sharp jabs and one-twos on the backfoot, staying busy and disciplined, rhythmic and mobile, as Bentley became more and more frustrated, overloading, jumping in, looking for the knockout.
But it was Heaney that night who took home the Lord Lonsdale belt, fulfilling a lifelong dream with two scorecards of 117-111 and 116-113 rendering the surprisingly even 114-114 result worthless.
Riding a wave, the in-form Stoke showman made his first defence only four months later, eager to continue the rollercoaster ride.
The first ever challenger to his throne was a Southern Area and English middleweight champion taking the next natural step up the ladder to the British – Brad Pauls.
Trained by Terry Steward in Essex, ‘The Newquay Bomb’ from Cornwall has only one defeat on his record to Tyler Denny, halfway through the West Midlander’s unexpected, incredible run that has culminated in him winning the European title and defending it against Felix Cash last month.
But plucky Pauls bounced back just seven weeks later on a small hall show to get back to winning ways, then claimed the English title to finish 2023 strongly, in position for the British title shot, which took place four months ago in March at the same venue – the Resorts World Arena – and it was a fantastic advert for a British title fight.
‘Gruelling’ was the buzzword that was used copiously by the commentary team on the night.
The defending champion, trained by Steve Woodvine, started brighter, dominating most of the first half of the contest, but both boxers were busy with their shots and successful, closely-matched, so there wasn’t a lot in it during most of the rounds.
The challenger was always looking to land his big left hooks and was mostly on the front foot, even his jabs looked painful and was able to draw blood from the champion’s nose after an accurate lead left in the eighth. Seconds later, a big counter right hand knocked Heaney flying backwards, causing him to stagger all over the ring, forced into survival mode, but was able to buy some time after his gumshield fell out.
31-year-old Pauls was able to stagger Heaney again and was looking to finish the champion off in the 11th round, but once more he survived the onslaught and even hurt Pauls back in the final moments of that penultimate round, which was one of the best rounds of the year.
By those championship rounds, the 35-year-old Heaney was running on empty but no matter what Pauls threw at him, the champion refused to go down.
Heaney hung on to his title by the skin of his teeth, with scores of 116-113, 114-115 against, and an even 114-114.
The Hitman reflected afterwards that he believed he was boxing lovely for the first seven rounds, then got caught by some silly shots, which is a brief but fairly accurate assessment.
But Pauls was always there, looming, threatening to do damage from the first round to the last. Admittedly, it took him a few rounds to find his range, timing and accuracy, but when he did, his powerful bombs caused all sorts of problems.
As the challenger, up at the highest level he had ever experienced, Pauls showed he can box, he can punch, he can do the full 12 championship rounds, and that he is a credible British title level fighter.
Heaney displayed his heart, stamina, punch resistance and ability to dig deep when in the trenches. He was able to outbox Pauls early, but not able to maintain the lead he had built.
So fight number two between the closely-matched contestants is set to be an exciting, highly-anticipated prospect for fight fans, and will hopefully deliver another honourable advert for British boxing. If the first fight is anything to go by, then excitement and drama is guaranteed.
Betting Odds
1/2 Heaney
7/4 Pauls
16/1 Draw
Prediction
It was a close contest the first time around, so I fully expect the same again. Heaney was in control for the first seven rounds, despite Pauls always threatening with his big counters.
Despite being labelled as the underdog once again, Pauls is confident he has a good chance to become British champion because he knows he has the power to hurt Heaney, and has already been able to match him for ability and skill over 12 rounds.
In the rematch, Heaney will need to use his size and reach advantage to keep the powerful Pauls away and not allow him to get into a rhythm, just like he did during the Bentley fight.
Out of the two contenders, I just feel that Heaney has more room for improvement and able to come back stronger than Pauls has the capacity to.
However, Heaney will need to be the most disciplined he has ever been, utilising his jab and long-range punches, and needs to be busier than Pauls, moving laterally and constantly keeping him off-rhythm so he isn’t able to set himself for those big left hooks and long right hands.
My prediction is for the favourite, Nathan Heaney, to learn from his mistakes and win on points.