BACK ON THE BRUM BEAT WITH FEATHERWEIGHT CRACKER

The BP Pulse Live Arena is the place to be on Saturday for a night on the bash in Brum, with a clutch of domestic crackers that rarely fail to deliver the goods.

None more so than in our main event, where Telford favourite Liam Davies continues his mission to become dominant at featherweight after his major successes at super bantamweight.

Liam is a world class operator, no doubt about it. He simply stayed at 122lbs for a fight too long and paid the price when he came up against Shabaz Masoud late 2024. It was a blow because he was really looking the part and pretty much unbeatable as he ploughed through the division.

He should have spoken up before the fight, but it is history now and we have similar business to get through at featherweight. Liam has made a strong start at his new weight and put in impressive performances against Kurt Walker and Francesco Grandelli. Old habits die hard and Liam has already picked up the IBF and WBO Intercontinental titles, along with the coveted European title belt.

Liam must have some collection of belts by now!

Now is the time to return him to his Midlands roots, a short hop from Telford, to have him back in front of his army of fans for the challenge presented by Nathaniel Collins.

Nathaniel is a class act and he himself was on the brink of a world title shot before he took a first career defeat last time out against Cristobal Lorente.

Nathaniel didn’t do too much wrong in two fights against the Spaniard in what were WBC final eliminators, but it was Lorente who just proved to be wrong for him and he wasn’t his usual self, for whatever reason.

Sometimes this just happens and an opponent has got your number. It won’t make him any less dangerous against Liam and Liam knows he is in for one tough night.

On the night we will bid a fond farewell to Nathan Heaney, who will be having his final fight of a storied career and journey. He is going up against Gerome Warburton in a rematch of their fight in March.

It has been a genuine pleasure to work with Nathan for the last six or seven years and I have always found him to be a true gent. We both worked so hard and so much wanted to get him his fight at Stoke City, but it was not to be in the end. A lot of parts need to fall into place and we couldn’t quite crack it, but it was not for the want of trying.

What we did have was a remarkable and special night up in Manchester, where Nathan became British middleweight champion. It was the stuff of dreams for Nathan and I for one will never forget his reaction when he was declared champion.

Nathan wants to go out with both a win and a belt and I hope he gets his wishes. I’d also like to pay tribute to Nathan’s fans, who have been a joy to be around over the years and have made his fight nights so memorable.

Also on the card we’ve got a British title collision at super welterweight between Luke McCormack and Kay Prospere, plus an IBF International middleweight strap between two men from Coventry - Bradley Goldsmith and Amir Abubaker.

Don’t miss out on the action from Birmingham, live on DAZN from 7pm