York Hall At The Double

By Frank Warren

BEFORE WE MAKE our Return to Riyadh for Ring of Fire, the Fight of the Century between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk on May 18 with the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world on the line, we’ve got a cracking assortment of humdinger fights in Bethnal Green to look forward to first.

We make two visits to the Old Ford Road ahead of our voyage to Boulevard World and, in truth, a few of the fights lined up for York Hall would not look out of place at the Kingdom Arena.

The next visit to the old venue comes on April 20 when, at the top of the bill, Sam Noakes is in for a real tough test against the veteran campaigner Yvan Mendy.

Sam is on a remarkable run where, in the space of six fights, he has built up a collection of six title belts, culminating in his British lightweight title success against Lewis Sylvester in February. The others, for the record, are the WBC International Silver, the WBO International and Commonwealth belts.

It is wrong for people to mock the international titles because they serve a real purpose. While Sam and the others rightly want to hone in on the British title, picking up those international honours in the process gives you a valuable world ranking so when you are ready to step it up you are generally only a fight or two away from a No.1 spot or mandatory position.

To go from just a British title with no previous ranking would be a lengthy and probably very frustrating process.

Sam has now got another coveted belt to go for on the 20th in the EBU European title, which is now vacant following Gavin Gwynne’s defeat to Mark Chamberlain.

He is up against a tough customer in Mendy, who is a veteran of some 55 fights as a professional and has not suffered a stoppage in his six defeats. We know Sam likes a stoppage - with 13 out of 13 - but he might just have to bide his time on this occasion.

Mendy actually fought for the European title on our show in December 2022 and was outpointed by Denys Berinchyk at Tottenham Hotspur, his only defeat in nine since Luke Campbell got his revenge in 2018. Berinchyk is fighting for the world title next against Emanuel Navarrete on May 18 in a fight that Sam and his team will be taking a keen interest in.

Also featuring at York Hall on the 20th is Henry Turner in a defence of his WBC International Silver title. He was supposed to be up against the unbeaten Bradley Townsend, but he has picked up an injury and we will be naming a replacement opponent imminently.

Henry is a class act at super lightweight, a division that seems to be in the news recently with all the shenanigans surrounding Dalton Smith - the British and WBC Silver champion - being ordered to fight Adam Azim, who is now the former European champion. It is a weight class that also boasts Pierce O’Leary is WBC International title holder and Jack Rafferty, the unbeaten Commonwealth champion.

I think that Henry is really not very far away from being right in the mix with all of the above names and he has stated himself that winning the British is his principal goal for this year.

He is such a clever fighter with skills to spare and, at just 23 years of age, he can be a big player in the division for many years to come.

Another fighter I am particularly looking forward to seeing on the night is Andrew Cain, who is making his return to the ring after the serious hand injury he sustained against Ionut Baluta last time out.

It was a disputed decision loss and I do believe Andrew did enough to win the fight, but the fact he took it to the wire with such a severe fracture speaks volumes about his character.

He is a ferocious operator and, in my book, a future world champion for sure. He has dropped down to bantamweight and, once he gets this comeback fight done, there is a tasty little fight against the new British champion Ashley Lane waiting for him if he is up for it.

Also, on the first night of our York Hall double, we’ve got four fighters making their first appearance under the Queensberry banner, with two of them making professional debuts.

Two Irishmen in Steven Cairns and Eoghan Lavin, plus Jack Olephant and Joe Cooper will be introducing themselves and I am excited by the prospect of seeing all of them in action because they are top talents who come with glowing references.

On our second trip east on May 11, we’ve got a terrific fight treble at the top of the card, with a potential middleweight classic between Denzel Bentley and Danny Dignum, a crossroads fight if ever there was one.

I like and admire the attitude of Denzel who, after his shock British title loss to Nathan Heaney, stated clearly that he would rather not fight than come back in a nothing eight-rounder or similar.

He wants to be in proper fights only and he has got just that against an equally determined Danny, who has struggled for activity since his own tilt at Janibek Alimkhanuly, an opponent he has in common with Denzel.

British and Commonwealth featherweight champion Nathaniel Collins gets the chance to put some European currency in his account with a challenge for the EBU Silver title against the Italian champion Francesco Grandelli, who holds two victories over Brits in Kane Baker and the now British super featherweight champ, Reece Bellotti.

And, talking of super featherweights, we’ve got an absolute banger of a fight in prospect when our pet Piranha, Ryan Garner, takes on the recent British champion Liam Dillon with Ryan’s WBC International belt on the line.

It will be a proper, proper tear-up and it is a fight that I feel could really be the making of Ryan, who I have long believed is an exceptional talent. Should be get through this one in style then I think it will truly and finally be feeding time for the Piranha.