Midlands Prospects - Dean Harrison by Tom Podmore Oct 18th 2007

Tom Podmore, in the third part of his Midlands prospect series, looks at the brightest hopes currently fighting out of the heartlands of Britain. He will assess what they've achieved so far, their style and what they can achieve if they continue at the level they've performed at so far. Light-Welterweight: Dean Harrison. Residence: Wolverhampton. Age: 24. Record: 8-0 (1). Trainer: Errol Johnson. http://www.britishboxing.net/boxers_75885-Dean-Harrison.html The Story So Far: Another former unpaid star from the Midlands, Harrison only took up the sport at 15 yet won a plethora of titles and came within two wins of being an ABA senior champion. Coached at amateur level by John Thomas at Wolverhampton ABC, Dean amassed a 31-18 slate that saw him cross swords with the country's best from an early stage. He won the Midland ABAs, reached the ABA semis and was rated in the National top ten before taking a couple of years away from paid combat in 2004. He began training again in the summer of 2006 and signed with Errol Johnson and Paul (PJ) Rowson's ever-growing empire in Wednesbury. Since then, he has impressed all that have seen him with composed, skilful performances. Making his debut against the experienced and heavier Joe Mitchell, Harrison decked the Brummie light-middleweight in the opening session but was made to work hard for the rest of the contest before getting a 38-37 nod – a score that was too close for me. Harrison then won a pair of 40-36 decisions over respected Kristian Laight and Baz Carey to round off a successful 2006 – three wins in his first three months of paid fighting. This year has seen more useful progression up the light-welterweight ladder. He started 2007 by dropping and widely outpointing awkward Danny Thorpe and then impressed promoter Mick Hennessy when outpointing former victim Laight on the undercard of Froch-Tatevosyan in March. Then, at the Dudley Town Hall in April, the Wolverhampton ticket-seller got his first taste of national exposure when his six-round stoppage over gangly Judex Meemea was featured on the Sky Sports-televised undercard of Eastman-Ashira. It wasn't to be all plain sailing, however. Harrison, after dominating the opening three rounds, was felled in the fourth with a cuffing shot to the back of the head. He looked more off-balance than legitimately hurt, however, and in the next round Meemea was decked and in the sixth stopped. Dean then outpointed Jason Rowland-trained Johnny Greaves, a southpaw from London, 60-55 in a six-threes in June to take his record to a perfect seven from seven. He wasn't at his best – suffering from the effects of a heavy cold – but won more than comfortably. Then, on September 21 at the Meadowside Leisure Centre in Burton, Harrison outboxed, outpunched and outpointed durable Brummie Jason Nesbitt over six (60-55) to keep his unbeaten tally intact. Style: Orthodox, measured, well-schooled and with more power than his record suggests, Harrison has impressed so far. He uses exceptional footwork to move in-and-out of range, fast hands to score with quickly and switches attacks between head and body; a part of the anatomy he hits very well. He doesn't rush his work – picking his punches and taking his time. Trainer Errol Johnson, a Midland Junior champion as an amateur, has nurtured his talent well and Harrison, whose eyes are full of concentration at all times, has only conceded two sessions over 38 scheduled rounds. Where Next: Dean squares up against sturdy 83-fight Ukrainian Rakhim Mingaleev in his fourth six-threes at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall next Thursday (October 25). Mingaleev is no stranger to these shores – this will be his thirty-ninth appearance in the United Kingdom – and has extended the likes of WBO interim champ Alex Arthur, WBA champion Gavin Rees, former WBO featherweight boss Scott Harrison and fellow up-and-coming 10st prospect John Fewkes. After that, look for Harrison to fight at least two more times before the year is out before challenging for his first belt, most likely the Midland Area light-welterweight title, sometime in 2008. What He Can Achieve: His skillful, all-action style, coupled with an impressive amateur grounding, means he has the tools to go a very long way. Many sound judges have even gone a step further, proclaiming him as a future holder of a world title. Former WBO world cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson, who also held British and European straps, said Harrison would go far after seeing his impressive performance on the Froch undercard at the Nottingham Arena in the spring. It's pretty safe to say Harrison will be a champion of some description.

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