Amar after Area belt by Tom Podmore Oct 12th 2007

Nottingham's Adnan Amar is looking for a shot at the Midland Area title on the undercard of Carl Froch's British title defence against Robin Reid next month (November 9). The twenty-four-year-old former British Masters light-middleweight champion outpointed Worcestershire iron-man Ernie Smith for the fourth time in his six-year paid career at the Nottingham Arena at the weekend and wants to step up next time out. Stourport traveller Smith can be a handful if you box the wrong fight but Amar bullied the aggressive scrapper around, made full use of the ring and ran rings around centurion Ernie for four rounds. Iron-chinned Smith even hit the deck in the second. Now the slippery switch-hitter is targeting a crack at the Midland Area ten-stone-seven or eleven-stone strap when Hennessy Sports promote a show at the Arena in November. Walsall's anvil-chinned Darren Gethin, 8-10-5 (2), who knocked out Amar's stablemate, Nottingham's Tyan Booth, for the vacant strap at the Ice Arena in March, holds the welterweight version of the Midland title and is eager to make his first defence. Worksop-based Iranian Manoo ‘The Terror From Tehran' Salari, 4-3-2 (3), relieved classy southpaw Matt Galer of the belt at light-middleweight and trains at the famed Wincobank Gym in Sheffield alongside Adnan. Amar has challenged for an Area title before, being knocked unconscious by West Bromwich puncher Dean Hickman at Dudley Town Hall in 2004. But that was at light-welterweight and he feels weight-making played the biggest role. He was recently set to fight Telford's Mark Lloyd for the vacant English light-middleweight title in Birmingham last month but pulled out when Andrew Facey decided not to relinquish the strap he has held since 2003. And Adnan, 18-1 (3), who moved from Nottingham to Sheffield to develop a style based on Naseem Hamed's, admits he owes a lot to the Ingles for his choice of career and wants to return to the gym with a respected belt. "I watched all Hamed's fights and picked up what I could," Adnan said. "Brendan taught me the true style of hitting and not getting hit and now I must repay him with a title belt. "Sparring with the likes of Junior Witter is a massive boost and improves my all-round game all the time. When I get another title shot my class will really come out." As previously alluded, he won the vacant British Masters eleven-stone belt with a one-sided six-round stoppage over then-undefeated Brummie Simon Sherrington in Birmingham last year. But the Midland strap is seen as step higher on the ladder. The East Midlander knows he will have to be busier than he has been in the last couple of years if he is to make further inroads and get a shot at one of the top domestic titles, however. He had only one outing in 2005 – a six-round nod over Ernie Smith – two last year (January and February) and only two this year – both at the Nottingham Arena. "Everytime I fight I'm just happy to be stepping through the ropes again," the Dominic Ingle-trained stylist told the Nottingham Evening Post. "I haven't been busy enough; I know that. But I hope to be fighting for an Area title on the Froch-Reid bill next month and that could lead to some more frequent fighting. "I want to build up an Asian fan base now that Jawaid Khaliq, the former Commonwealth and IBO welterweight boss from the famed Robin Hood city, has retired. "Due to Ramadan I only sold 100 tickets for my last fight, but know I will do lots more if I get a chance to fight for a title on the next bill in Nottingham. "Hopefully when I win the Midland Area title it will raise my profile and then more people will come and watch me."

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