Rowson warns Harrison of potent Brew by Tom Podmore Feb 27th 2008

Sedgley Park-based promoter Paul (PJ) Rowson has warned Black Country light-welterweight Dean Harrison to be wary of the potency of his little-know but dangerous opponent, Ghanaian punching sensation Alex ‘Wild' Brew, on Thursday evening (February 28). Touted Harrison goes nose-to-nose with the Accra-domiciled former West African and Ghanaian title challenger, 9-2-1 (7), over eight-threes on First Team's (Rowson and Errol Johnson's promotional company) eight-fight card at Wolverhampton Civic Hall tomorrow and has been alerted to the difficulty of the task. And the enigmatic promoter has candidly admitted this isn't the fight he wanted to put the skilful Wolverhampton prospect, a former Midland ABA champion, ABA semi-finalist and top ten-rated performer for Wolverhampton ABC, in at this stage of his 17-month paid career. Although 24-year-old Harrison is unbeaten in ten outings (two quickly), scoring a one-sided five-round stoppage win over Ramon Guevara the night before Ricky Hatton-Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas, his promoter wanted to take things at a more leisurely, relaxed pace. "I really didn't want Dean to take this fight at all," confessed Rowson, who put on 11 well-attended, well-matched professional cards throughout the Midlands (and even one in Middlesborough) during the previous 12 months. "It's really as simple as that. "We would have preferred him to have had another routine-ish fight, one that he would have learned from but with the odds stacked in his favour. We wanted to take it slowly with him, but he has said to Errol (Johnson, trainer, matchmaker and co-promoter) and I that he wants to be tested. "Dean has stressed that he needs a challenge to raise his game. He has definitely got that against Brew. It's a sizeable risk putting your unbeaten fighter – someone who can go a long way with time – in with a one-punch banger like the African and it is a risk that I would have preferred to have taken later on. "But he is adamant that it is the contest he wants," continued the Black Country-based promoter over the phone," and you have to give him a lot of credit for his willingness to take on someone who presents this amount of danger only 16 months after making his professional debut. "We offered him three different opponents and he chose the hardest one available to him. He said that he wants to box people who are above him in the ratings, doesn't want to fight any journeymen and will only box international opponents if they are going to come to England to win. "He wants to be a British champion in the next couple of years and he is going to have to give everything he has got to get there. This eight-round contest against Brew will be a serious indication if he has got it in him to do accomplish that. "I think he has." Walsall's Matty Hough, 7-2-1 (1), tops First Team's bill when he goes in against Chelmsley Wood's Max Maxwell, 6-1 (1), in a Black Country vs Birmingham grudge match for the vacant Midland Area middleweight title. It's a 50-50 10-rounder with genuine bad feeling. Brierley Hill's Martin Gordon, 0-4-1, will look to get his first pro win when he goes over four against Tamworth's Matt Ceawright, 0-5, and unbeaten Wolverhampton pair Rob Kenney, 4-0-1 (0), and Lyndsey Scragg, 3-0 (2), see action over six-twos. The bill also includes Stafford light-welterweight Rob Hunt, 7-0 (1), Halesowen lightweight Scott Evans, 2-0 (1), and Birmingham heavyweight Neil Perkins, who makes his paid bow after an 11-fight (nine wins) amateur career with Dudley's Priory Park ABC.

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