Harrison ends debut year with Mingaleev test by Tom Podmore Oct 23rd 2007

Dean Harrison celebrates his first year in professional boxing on Thursday night (October 25) with a fight against a gritty European veteran who has taken on the cream of top class talents in the last ten years. The undefeated Wolverhampton ten-stone prospect competes in his fourth six-threes against respected 83-fight Ukrainian Rakhim Mingaleev at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall on the undercard of Darren McDermott's latest title challenge this week. And the iron-chinned Eastern European hasn't been halted quickly since Bulgaria's Tontcho Tontchev, a former Olympic silver medallist and European professional champion, cut him up in 2005. However, calm and calculated Harrison is highly confident of win number nine after impressing all who have seen him in his first twelve months as a paid fighter. Making his debut at Wolverhampton Racecourse on October 6, 2006, Dean faced up to 21-fight Joe Mitchell. The Brummie had boxed as high as middleweight and picked himself off the floor early to push the former top class amateur hard. Nuneaton's Kristian Laight was outpointed 40-36 three weeks later and then Coventry's Baz Carey, famous for being the only British boxer to have taken Amir Khan the distance so far, was shut-out at the Wolverhampton Civic before Christmas. Slippery Ingle-schooled Daniel Thorpe, a former Central Area champion, was then decked and heartily outpointed in a four-rounder at the Dudley Town Hall in February. Harrison easily outscored Laight again on the undercard of Froch-Tatevosyan in Nottingham in March – earning praise from ringsider Johnny Nelson, the former WBO world cruiserweight champion. Then came the scrap with London-based Mauritian Judex Meemea, which saw both on the floor before the Black Country prospect emerged with his hand raised after a final round stoppage in his maiden six-threes. Jason Rowland-trained southpaw Johnny Greaves was next, outpointed over six. Birmingham's Jason Nesbitt was recently (September 21) outscored over the same distance at the Meadowside Leisure Centre in Burton. And Dean, who reached an ABA semi-final in the colours of Wolverhampton ABC, can look back on his first year in the professional ranks with fondness. He said: “Looking back on my first year as a pro, I'm happy that I'm still unbeaten and that I've put on good showings. But I won't sit back and admire what I've done and will continue to press on. “I've had eight good fights, all of which have taught me something new. Some fights I've cruised in, others I've had to step up the gear a little, but I still have weapons I've yet to show. “Judex Meemea, of the eight paid fights I've been involved with, was a good performance in respect of me getting in the trenches and showing I could punch when I needed to. “He (Meemea) had been in with the likes of Scott Lawton, Dave Stewart, Martin Gethin and, with the exception of Gethin, gave them all a good scrap. But I busted him up and stopped him. “Neither Lawton or Stewart, both of whom have boxed for the British title, could stop him – and that gives me confidence in my power and ability, “ he continued. “Sure, I was dropped by a silly shot to the back of the head that caught me off-balance in the fifth, but I won every round before and after. “That has definitely been the highlight of my first 12 months,” said Harrison of the Meemea contest that was shown on a Sky Sports broadcast from Dudley Town Hall in April. “I wasn't expecting it to be shown but it ended up being a cracker. I admit it wasn't my most stylish showing but I dug in and was in control from the start. “Boxing-wise, the performance against durable Jason Nesbitt was my best, however. “Jason can punch hard and is solid when it comes to skills, but I used angles to make him miss and then dug in some hard hooks to the body that hurt him, especially in the last couple of rounds. “As I've said, he can crack, and he caught me with a really solid right hand at the start of the third, but I totally outboxed him. “That said, I did pick out some negatives from the performance,” Harrison, a real student of boxing, admitted. “I got a little eager at times, especially when I hurt him with bodyshots, and was caught with some daft punches. “The positives outweighed the negatives, however. I got another six-threes under my belt, stayed unbeaten and didn't lose a round on the way to another decent scalp.” But the Errol Johnson-trained Midlander admits the hardest fight he's been given in his fledgling career wasn't against mallet-fisted Nesbitt or awkward Meemea, but against Birmingham's Joe Mitchell just over a year ago. “The hardest scrap I've had so far was against Joe Mitchell on my debut at Dunstall Racecourse last October,” the Wolverhampton born and bred fighter disclosed. “Mitchell was naturally bigger and stronger than me, had a lot more experience than me, had to come to win and my nerves and eagerness to please my supporters almost cost me the win. “I put him on the floor in the first round but he used his experience and greater strength to tire me out in the last couple. I learned a lot in that fight and it probably helped me more than fighting someone who hadn't come to win.” Now the 24-year-old former top ten-rated amateur meets his trickiest foe to date – former two-weight Ukrainian champion Mingaleev, 39. The Philippe Fondu-trained warhorse has met, amongst others, current WBA ten-stone boss Gavin Rees, reigning WBO super-feather champ Alex Arthur, former European nine-stone king Nicky Cook, Michael Gomez, former WBO champ Scott Harrison, former IBF champion Paul Ingle, Justin Juuko, Phillip N'Dou… Need I go any further? Taking on prospects with a combined record of 718-134-23, Rakhim has never had an easy night – and isn't likely to get one against Harrison, who slides from side-to-side like Ricky Hatton before digging the body with precision and power. But his experience of fighting at twelve-round level, going the championship distance on three occasions, means it's a decent test for the local ticket-seller. In fact, the Serov native has been ten rounds or more on ten separate occasions. Remember, the most the skilful Wolverhampton boxer has been is six (18 minutes). Nethertheless, Dean goes into his third fight in his home-city certain his well-schooled boxing will defuse any greater experience in the light-welterweight six-rounder on the First Team-promoted show in the heart of the Black Country. Even though he expects a rough ride against the boxer from the north of the country, Harrison told me: “I anticipate the fight to go the distance but I will have too much boxing ability for him. “I'm expecting a really tough fight on Thursday. Mingaleev has been in with loads of European and world champions and isn't stopped often. But if you want to go anywhere in this sport, you are expected to come through well against these type of opponents. “To beat him, I will just have to do what I've done in my previous eight fights – keep moving around, varying shots between head and body and covering up when he tries to take my head off.” Undefeated at 8-0 (1), orthodox, measured Dean has made countless improvements since the baptism of fire against Trevor Smith-trained Mitchell last winter. Tall, well-schooled and with more power than his record suggests, Harrison is impressing. 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. The future is looking extremely bright, some would say orange, for the die-hard Wolverhampton Wanderers supporter. With time on his side, the PJ Rowson-promoted former Midland ABA champion knows he doesn't have to rush through the ranks, taking his time and learning his trade with fights that are right for his development. However, he would like to have a belt strapped round his waist by this time next year. “I'm extremely happy with my progress since last October. Errol (Johnson, trainer) has added loads to my armoury and I'm fitter and stronger than I've ever been. “I rushed my work on my debut but seven fights later I'm taking my time, looking for angles to get my bodyshots off and picking my punches so that I don't waste any unnecessary energy. “I'm due to fight again at the end of November, so by the end of the year I would like to be 10-0, be ready to make a step-up in class in the next year and maybe even get a title under my belt. “A crack at the English ten-stone title would be perfect for this time next year,” said the quiet but confident bricklayer. “I've only just turned 24, so there is no need to rush. I want to be British champion at some time but an English title fight next year will set me up for that perfectly. “And a win against Mingaleev on Thursday evening will see me stay on course.”

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