Birmingham v The North on Friday night by Tom Podmore Jan 24th 2008

Question time: Fighters are always brought back slowly after an extended absence away from the ring and given a nice easy fight to get them back in the groove. Right or wrong? Wrong – in this particular case at least. Hamed Jamali, out of professional action for almost a year and a half, goes straight into a 50-50 contest with powerfully-built Sale puncher Mark Nielsen in Birmingham on Friday night (January 25). Pugilist Promotions (Jon Pegg and John Costello) promote a well-matched bill at the Second City's Holiday Inn. The bill has also has a bit of a Birmingham vs ‘The North' feel to it, with two of the away boxers from Yorkshire and the other two from Greater Manchester. The most intriguing-looking of all the pairings is the six-twos light-heavyweight meeting between Birmingham-based Iranian Jamali, 8-4 (1), and hard-hitting Mancunian Nielsen, 6-2 (2), a tattooed scrapper who has boxed in the Midlands on three occasions (two wins, one defeat). Both men have lost their last two outings, albeit in good company. Hamed suffered his most recent losses to former ABA champ Dan Guthrie (cuts in three) and current British Masters middleweight boss Cello Renda (stoppage in one). Nielsen has blotted his copybook with defeats to former Commonwealth light-heavyweight champion Ovill McKenzie (stoppage in one) and former WBU boss Ruben Groenewald (points, six). Jamali has, in fact, lost four of his previous five (the other losses to Nottinghamshire's Simeon Cover and solid-hitting Lee Blundell, both points), though he feels those reversals were down to a serious lack of motivation on his part rather than any lack of talent. However, he is now settled with Richie Woodhall at the spacious gym in Aston and raring to get back into competitive action. He admits the nine-fight (eight wins) spell with Pat Cowdell and a three-bout (no wins) time with Errol Johnson were not the happiest times of his life. “Both Pat and Errol are good trainers but, for some reason or another, I couldn't really settle with either,” said the 34-year-old. “I'm settled with Richie and he has got me boxing the way I want to box: behind the jab.” Nielsen, meanwhile, did his stock no harm with a courageous performance against South African Groenewald at the end of last year. Although he ended up the wrong end of a 59-56 decision, the strong Sale boxer performed with honour and even rattled the former champion in the last couple of rounds. The 29-year-old Bob Shannon-trained, Wally Dixon-promoted puncher probably needed that performance, especially after being starched so quickly against Ovil McKenzie in Derby. A win against the Brummie on Friday night will be another step on the road back to his first title fight. Though Hamed pushed Carl Froch all the way as an amateur, he has rarely shown that quality in the pro ranks despite winning his first seven paid outings, including a win over now-streaking JJ Ojuederie. He came unstuck in his eighth, however, when losing a controversial ten-round decision (96-95) to Ingle-trained switcher Simeon Cover – a man he'd previously outscored – for the British Masters 12st belt in 2004. That loss seemed to take something away from the iron-chinned Persian-Brummie veteran, who fought over 200 times in the vest. He hopes to get his career back in the right direction and could be in title action, be it Midland Area or British Masters, in the next 12 months. Who wins? As previously alluded, it's 50-50, a pick'em. However, I'm going for the younger, fresher man to squeak by the tough, older, experienced but rusty Midlander after the 12-minute battle has reached it's conclusion. Birmingham's Max Maxwell, 5-1 (0), who headlines the four-fight dinner show, takes on Bolton's Johnny Enigma, with a reputation in the North West as a crowdpleaser, over six-threes. This will be the first time either man has boxed over 18 minutes. Richie Woodhall-trained Max will then box Walsall's Matty Hough for the vacant Midland Area middleweight title at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall on February 28. He knows his sixth paid victory is a must if he wants to keep those title plans on track. Enigma, real name Johnny Nelson but already more of an entertainer than his former world champion namesake, only has two fights to his name (one win, one loss) but is fit, ambitious and willing to fight a more experienced opponent on away ground. He'll need to show more class and less face if he is to scalp the skilful Brummie, however. Interestingly, Johnny's sole loss came against another man from the Second City, former British Masters middleweight champion Tony Randell. His one and only win came over martial arts expert Paul Royston, originally slated to face the tall boxer from Chelmsley Wood on this show, on his pro bow last year. Although wild and untidy when he lost a close decision on his debut in Wolverhampton, Maxwell has been measured since; taking his time and counter-punching in wins over former Midland Area and British Masters champ Matt Scriven, durable Duncan Cottier and Worcestershire ironman Ernie Smith. Maxwell is the pick to make it six out of seven and then move on to that Area title fight four weeks later. Promising Birmingham banger Eddie ‘Braveheart' McIntosh looks to take his professional ledger to three from three when he boxes Phil Callaghan, the flabby Leeds-based puncher trained by former British welterweight boss Derek ‘The Rebel' Roche, over a light-heavyweight four. Scottish-rooted McIntosh, trained by former WBC world super-middleweight champion Richie Woodhall, will look to celebrate Burns Night with an impressive victory at the site of his debut knockout win. And he will be aiming for another inside-the-distance victory to please his blood-thirsty supporters. Though yet to register a victory in seven outings (one draw), aggressive Callaghan holds a draw with Nottingham's hard-hitting Rod Anderton and dropped Telford's then-unbeaten Lee Jones, also trained by Richie Woodhall, in Birmingham 11 months ago. But Bartley Green's McIntosh has been tipped to win the British 12st title by Woodhall after flattening Nicky Taylor on his debut and then taking a routine 40-36 win over Mark Philips, the British Masters light-heavyweight champ at the time, in November. “He definitely has the skills and punch to win a British title at some stage,” said the Birmingham-born, Telford-based trainer of his exciting charge. “We'll take our time with him but he has the tools, the hunger and the requisite temperament to do the business.” The local ticket-seller, who shifted tickets to the value of £12,000 (12 tables) on his last appearance at the venue and has sold 20 tables for this fight, can make it an unblemished three from three and add a second stoppage win to his record by the third. Tommy ‘The Gun' Owens returns to the ring for the first time since a crushing two-round stoppage defeat late in 2007 (he was left unconscious beneath the bottom rope) when he goes nose-to-nose with durable Pudsey veteran Lee Mountford, 35, over a heavyweight six-twos. The 24-year-old Birmingham cruiserweight needs to be handled with kid gloves after that unexpected setback against Darlington switch-hitter Bob Ajisafe on a snowy Sunday in November. He looks pretty safe against 25-fight (four wins, three draws) Mountford, who hasn't registered a victory for three years and 10 fights. Tommy is certainly a fighter desperate to get back to winning ways, to show the class he'd displayed against Tony Booth, the hard-hitting Hull dangerman who was outpointed (40-36) at this venue in June. The Northfield big man looked excellent that night. Owens, 1-2 (0), against Booth and in sparring with Pele Reid and Jerome Benjamin, had shown a good jab, solid skills, nice movement and a good temperament. He looked cumbersome, flat-footed, straight-backed and slow in his last paid bout at the Custard Factory. Still, the Richie Woodhall-trained fighter should, save for cuts around his paper-thin eyebrows, punch out win two on points.

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