Stuart Hall v Ian Napa
Ian Napa tries to haul himself out of the pit of failure and on to the road to international glory once again on Friday night, by trying to claim the British title for the third time as he takes on undefeated Stuart Hall at Pertelee Leisure Centre in Tyne and Wear.
Last time "Dappa" was in action he fell to a career-wobbling defeat to Jamie McDonnell. It looked all over for the one time prospect as he lost his mandatory European shot as well and his dreams of a world title appeared have gone up in smoke.
It was the eighth career defeat for the Hackney slickster and many thought that might be it, but now Napa intends to prove the smaller they are, the bigger the heart. He has the perfect tonic for that defeat and can immediately claim back his lost belt tonight, which is vacant after McDonnell discarded it.
Dappa has now undoubtedly been served his final drink in the pub a quarter of a mile past the last-chance saloon and the bell has rung for final orders. Defeat tonight and it’s all over.
In Hall he is facing something of an unknown quantity. The 30-year old from County Durham has only fought seven fights so far in his career, has a record of 7-0-0 with three knockouts and can boast honest pro Martin Power as a scalp.
This bout may see Napa let out a lot of frustration as he didn’t deserve to lose his January encounter with McDonnell and he can count himself hard done by. Anyone watching that day would have seen Napa come through the match-up with a polished counterpunching performance, although McDonnell upped the pace somewhat in the later rounds Napa had clearly done enough. Yet he lost by split decision.
Dave Parris even scored it 112-117 and you wonder if the veteran referee’s eyesight is going the same way as his hairline.
As a result of his defeat Napa missed out on a chance to claim back that European belt he briefly held three years ago. To rub salt in the wounds McDonnell went on to claim it for himself and actually chose to relinquish his British belt rather than fight Napa in a rematch. This has enraged Dappa and he has insisted that he will not rest until he extracts revenge from his rival.
It’s no surprise to see the BBBofC move quickly to put Napa straight back in after that farce and they have been quite kind with the opposition.
Hall has got that result against Power, boxes well and can muster half-decent power for a bantamweight, however at the moment though he is not in Napa’s league. Dappa has fought a much higher calibre of competitor in his career and this should be little more than a tune-up fight for the Zimbabwe-born bantamweight.
Having burst on the scene full of potential there is a genuine risk Dappa may retire having failed to shine as brightly as he could. At times in his career he hasn’t stepped up when he needed to and has been a bit inconsistent. A boxing anomaly standing at 5ft 1in, it’s no surprise the diminutive fighter doesn’t pack much power, but he is almost Floyd Mayweather-like in his defence and is a tricky customer to face, like trying to catch a circumspect, greased-up Tasmanian devil.
Hall will probably set out to blast Napa away, there’s no point trying to out-box the little man so he needs to try and rough him up. However Napa is elusive and should have no problem staying out of the inexperienced Hall’s shots.
This is now surely Napa’s last run at glory. At 32 years of age his time is running out, he needs this to get back on the European circuit, claim the title and launch himself on the world scene. He has a lot to prove having chased this international dream for several years now and you start to wonder if his time has passed.
Then again look at Audley Harrison; you would have got 100000-1 a couple of years ago that he would get into world-title recognition and he’s back in the mix now.
Napa has fallen into the trap of looking to far ahead before though, his eyes will firmly be on Hall and a third British title as he intends to prove that it’s never too late to conquer the world.
Prediction: Ian Napa unanimous decision
Napa hasn’t got the power to blast Hall away for a knockout, but he will be too fast and too slick for his rival. Despite having seven inches on the diminutive fighter, Hall will find himself being hit a lot more than he lands and he is in for a frustrating night.
Napa might be a bit cautious knowing that this is surely his last chance, but really he should only drop one or two rounds at most and hopefully will be back in with McDonnell soon.
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