Denton Vassell v Lee Purdy Friday fight night
With the likes of Kell Brook, Frankie Gavin and even Matthew Hatton stepping out of his brother’s shadow, the current batch of young British welterweights is something of a golden crop. Another fighter looking to add his name to that list is Denton Vassell, who is rising to prominence as a genuine star for the future.
Vassell is taking the latest step up in his career by facing another exciting prospect, Lee Purdy for the vacant Commonwealth welterweight title.
As an exciting fledgling talent you wouldn’t want to pile too much pressure on to Vassell’s shoulders, but comparisons that his style is reminiscent to a former legend are not unfounded. Indeed there is definitely something Mike Tyson-like about him. He has a short stocky stature for his weight class, boxes on the front foot and moves his head in the bullish fashion you used to see from “Iron Mike”.
The Manchester-born pugilist is undefeated in 14, has a ferocious punch and can switch-up his stances. No-one would relish taking on an all-round package like that. If he can add Tyson’s aggression then he will be an unstoppable force.
The former ABA champion has been working the circuit for a few years now building up his in-ring experience against journeymen and in terms of quality, Purdy is the next level for Vassell
In his last fight Vassell forced Kevin McAuley to retire after two rounds, the Mancunian overwhelming his opponent with sheer power. The hapless McAuley is actually a mutual opponent, having faced Purdy late last year, again losing by way of KO in the second.
Purdy does have a blot to his name, a point’s-decision defeat to the vastly experienced Irishman Peter McDonagh. Just a case of being schooled by a veteran on the day. An early career defeat isn’t that bad, it proves nothing really and is all part of the learning curve. Bernard Hopkins lost his first fight and he hasn’t done to badly for himself has he?
Despite being around three years younger than Vassell, Purdy has fought tougher and more established fighters than Vassell has. He is the more experienced of the pair, having fought 69 rounds to Vassell's 52. Also by suffering defeat early in his career Purdy has taken away that stigma of losing that is attached to many fighters who are unbeaten.
There is no way that this will be a cagey affair. Purdy is an aggressive fighter who loves to throw down, he will get in Vassell's face and try and rattle him with big punches. Vassell will welcome this and take the fight back to Purdy. It could be a real humdinger.
In his last outing, Purdy fought an aggressive high-tempo scrap with Mark Douglas, and although things got a bit sloppy, the Colchester fighter showed heart, strength and power to match an extremely psyched-up opponent.
Douglas didn’t let up, taking it to the inside and unleashing a barrage of hooks and swings that Purdy responded to in kind. In the end Purdy was fortuitous, he almost punched himself out but luckily Douglas suffered a sickening dislocated shoulder in the fourth. If Purdy produces the same tempo against Vassell it could be an interesting night.
Vassell will go into the bout as the clear favourite, he just has a bit more about him, but it will be a lesson for the 25-year old. Purdy can bring his added experience and exuberance, if he shows a bit more control than he did in the Douglas fight, but keeps the tempo, he is in with a decent chance. Both fighter have similar knockout records and this is also the first time Vassell has gone eight rounds where as Purdy has gone 10 on two previous occasions.
Prediction: Vassell in the fifth
Purdy may be the more experienced fighter, but Vassell has a touch more class about him and is more accurate with his shots. Purdy could catch him with a few wild windmills but Vassell will be looking to end things as soon as possible and possesses slightly more power, which could prove the difference.
Craig Watson v Badru Lusambya
The Vassell and Purdy fight was supposed to be a double-header with the Commonwealth light-middleweight title. However, something very strange has happened.
It was supposed to be Thomas McDonagh against Gary Woolcombe, but Woolcombe picked up a hand injury in training which he has failed to recover from. He was therefore hastily replaced by little-known Ugandan Badru Lusambya, which McDonagh didn’t fancy and so he has now been replaced by Craig Watson.
Alright it might not be the WBC title, but is this really the best the Commonwealth organisers could manage? What a shambles.
What’s McDonagh ducking Lusambya for anyway? Has he got that much to lose? He’s lucky he’s even getting a shot having lost his last two fights.
Watson isn’t even a light-middleweight, he’s a welterweight. He has got some calibre to be fair, having won the commonwealth belt at 140lbs, still it’s a big jump up the divisions.
Lusambya was over for a non-title fight against Lee Edwards. To be fair he has both an awesome nickname in “Mr Crush” and an awesome knockout record of 19 from 21 victories out of his 24 fights. However his only defeat came in one of his four appearances on British soil, against Scot Gary McMillan.
Expect anything from this fight, realistically a welterweight against a light-middleweight wouldn’t fair too well, but Watson has reasonable experience and neither of them have had any time to train specifically for this fight, even thought they were both in training anyway. A complete enigma of a bout, I don’t really understand why they are bothering.
Prediction: Who knows?
As the bigger man you would favour Lusambya, they don’t call him Mr Crush for nothing.
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