Maxwell sets up title fight with two round win by Tom Podmore Jan 27th 2008

Birmingham's Max Maxwell warmed up for his crack at the vacant Midland Area middleweight title in Wolverhampton next month with an impressive two-round dismissal of Bolton's Johnny Enigma at a packed Holiday Inn, Birmingham, on Friday (January 25). The ending was sudden, with Enigma's eyes glazing when trapped in Max's corner in the second. He hadn't had too bad an opening round, getting through with the odd hook and straight right as an eager Max, boxing in front of his homecity fans, went looking for his prey. Maxwell hadn't registered a single stoppage as a paid fighter in six fights entering but showed improved power, really sitting on his punches during the short-lived six-threes. His up-coming title fight was a 50-50 affair in my eyes beforehand and now the manner in which Max went about his work reinforces that belief. Even though he will be the naturally smaller man – probably the underdog on his opponent's show – he showed he isn't short of power in the gloves when he feels the need to use it. Max had displayed power on his debut in 2006, losing a four-round decision by a point against Crawley's Anthony Young (challenging for the British Masters welterweight title next month) in Wolverhampton, but was wild that night. In subsequent contests he toned down the power to work exclusively behind his long jab. Ernie Smith, Peter Dunn, Sherman Alleyne, former Midland Area and British Masters boss Matt Scriven and Duncan Cottier were all then heartily outpointed and tamed by the long lead, with the Chelmsley Wood-based boxer dropping only two sessions along the way (30 scheduled). This was his first six-threes but now feels he has had a long enough education and is ready to step up to ten-round level, to step up to fight for titles. He hopes the Midland Area middleweight belt will be the first of many in the coming few years. The fighter from Greater Manchester lost to another man from the Second City, former British Masters champion Tony Randell, in June and it was his instance on trying to trade with the hard-hitting Brummie that led to his downfall. He tried that against Max – coming off second once more. To the fight, and displaying the same L-shaped foot-placement we've come to expect from Daniel Ponce de Leon, the brick-fisted WBO super-bantamweight champion from Mexico, Enigma (12st) walked forward and caught his taller, long-limbed opponent with a few sharp rights in the early stages of the opening session. Max never seemed rattled by the shots, however, and trebled his jab as the round advanced. By the last minute it was Enigma that was eating the most leather, forced to concede ground after a long and accurate straight right bounced off his jaw. Despite giving away 10lbs to his opponent, the Richie Woodhall-trained stylist (11st 4lbs) showed himself to be the stronger man, the harder-hitting man and the quicker man in the second. And the three-fight middleweight couldn't do anything about it. The Bolton fighter, forced in to the Jamaican-born boxer's corner by a solid right, was now in desperate trouble. Max stepped it up, switched hooks to the body, moved the punches back to the head and crashed a left to the temple – sending him back in a delayed motion, eyes rolling. Muscled Max, who had moved out of range after the attack, saw his man was in trouble and came wading back in with both hands (left-rights and uppercuts), prompting referee John Keane (referee throughout) to call time on the scheduled six after 1-29 of the second. Enigma, real name Johnny Nelson and now 1-2 (0), spent time on a stool in his opponent's corner but was, after five minutes of sitting, well enough to congratulate Maxwell and leave the ring on his own steam. He is due to have his next contest in Plymouth next month. Maxwell later took part in a staredown with his next opponent, Walsall's Matty Hough, 7-2-1 (1), who meet for the vacant Midland Area middleweight title, vacated by Dudley's Darren McDermott, at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall on February 28. Paul (PJ) Rowson (Hough's manager/promoter), whose show the ten-rounder will appear on, and Richie Woodhall (Max's trainer/manager) also signed contracts for the fight to take place. Then the head-to-head staredown got a bit too heated and the two almost came to blows. Save it for February 28, boys. “I was pleased with the showing and happy I finished it early,” said Maxwell, now 6-1 (1), after the fight.” I can't wait to fight for the Midland belt next month. Hough was in attendance and now he knows what I am capable of doing.” The most intriguing-looking of all the bouts on this excellent Pugilist Promotions (Jon Pegg and John Costello) dinner show was the four-threes between Birmingham's Hamed Jamali and Sale puncher Mark Nielsen, won by the former by a score of 39-37 from Mr Keane. For what it's worth, I had Hamed winning a good-value contest by a wider margin of 40-37. It was an impressive showing from Jamali, back in competitive action after 16 months out and with new trainer Richie Woodhall in his corner. The former WBC super-middleweight champion looks to have added a more measured approach to the Iranian-born iron-man's game. The strong, muscled fighter from Greater Manchester had all the advantages going in: younger (29 to 34) taller (6ft to 5'10), naturally bigger (light-heavy to super-middle), more active (seven fights in the time Jamali has been away) and a puncher (two early in six). Bob Shannon-trained, Wally Dixon-promoted Mark also had an advantage of weight on his side when they stepped into the ring, weighing 12st 11lbs to the local man's 12st 7lbs. And Nielsen brought to Birmingham a 6-2 (2) ledger that saw both of defeats come against class acts: former Commonwealth light-heavyweight champion Ovil McKenzie and former WBU boss Ruben Groenewald. He was the favourite to move to 7-2 for me. However, Jamali showed the class that saw him push Carl Froch all the way in the amateur code. When I had seen him before – five occasions – he had been marching forward and pumping out his fists, neglecting his skills in favour of brawling. Boxing-minded Woodhall has changed that. It looks as if Hamed, formerly trained by Pat Cowdell and then Errol Johnson, can put a few wins together and look at a second title shot, be it British Masters (vacant at light-heavy) or Midland Area (Tyrone Wright, Nottingham, 7-1-1), in the coming 12 months. After a quiet opening round spent sizing the other up – neither doing any serious punching of note – Jamali sprung in to life in the second three minutes. Nielsen was always reaching with his jab, out of range, but Jamali was nippy, in and out with his and continually beat the well-built banger to the punch with jabs to the body and rights to the head. The third saw much of the same: confident Hamed boxing on the front foot, beating Mark, 6-3 (3), to the punch and stinging him with hard shots to the body. In truth, the man from Manchester couldn't deal with the speed, precision or skill of the man from the Second City. Although there was a lot of holding in the last round, Jamali was the man punching with the greater accuracy and authority. The Persian-Brummie veteran continued to move in and out of range and although he copped a few of Nielsen's desperation rights, he never looked in trouble and moves to 9-4 (1). Bartley Green light-heavyweight Eddie ‘Braveheart' McIntosh went on last and delighted his vociferous faithful with an entertaining win over durable Phil Callaghan, Mr Keane deservedly marking Eddie a 40-35 winner. The Scottish-rooted Birmingham banger sold 20 tables and celebrated Burns Night in impressive fashion by decking the aggressive Leeds fighter, who dropped then-unbeaten Lee Jones in Birmingham 11 months ago and holds a draw with Nottingham puncher Rod Anderton, with a fast-handed flurry in the third. Eddie, now 3-0 (1), is showing a little bit more of his armoury with every fight. On his debut we saw he could punch. His second fight we saw he could box. Last night we saw he could do both in the same contest and then added speed of hand to his ever-growing list of talents. The pattern was similar throughout the four-threes: Richie Woodhall-trained McIntosh would take the centre of the ring, spear his jab for a while before storming forward with fast-handed left-rights. Callaghan was decked in the third by a stinging left-right-left and that underlined the Birmingham man's superiority. A lesser man that Callaghan, still to get off the mark after eight contests (one draw), would have folded on several occasions. He deserves praise for taking his lumps and trying to fire back. Both weighed 12st 5lbs. Birmingham's Tommy ‘The Gun' Owens (13st 7lbs) showed noticeable improvements from his last contest – flattened in two rounds by switch-hitting Bob Ajisafe – to take a 60-55 win over durable Pudsey veteran Lee Mountford (16st 2lbs) in the six-twos show-opener. Confusion reigned before the start of the fight, with Mike Goodhall announcing it as a four-threes, then a four-twos, then a six-twos and then back to four-twos. After consultation with matchmaker and co-promoter Jon Pegg, Goodhall announced it was, in fact, a six-twos. And Richie Woodhall-trained Owens shrugged off a near three-stone weight disadvantage to pound Mountford throughout a cracking scrap. The Northfield cruiserweight even looked like he might bring a premature halt to proceedings in rounds two and three. Although caught a few times by winging rights, the 24-year-old Brummie worked well behind the jab, showed excellent head movement and had the Yorkshire veteran in serious trouble with right uppercuts and right hooks in the second. Mr Keane loomed large and the bell probably saved the Derek Roche-trained 35-year-old. Tommy pumped his jab in the remaining four rounds and brought a solid right hand in to play that saw Lee finish the contest with a scarlet-coloured nose and red face. Owens moves to 2-2 (0).

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50-50 about right Jan 28th 2008, 06:22:10 by ian edwards yep, agreed, Max's long arms may negate any size advantage Hough has, Hough will need to avoid max's good jab on his way in to throw combinations. really looking forward to it, I'll see you there mate.   Good-looking, 50-50 fight Jan 28th 2008, 03:47:21 by tom-podmore It's a 50-50 fight for me. Hough will be the naturally bigger man in the ring, coming down from super-middleweight, whereas Max was hoping to ply his trade at light-middle. That said, most of his fights have come around the middleweight division. Hough was taller and bigger when they had the staredown on Friday. If he can bring his power and strength down with him to middleweight – and Matty has never made the 11st 6lbs limit before – then I have a feeling he could be a bit of a banger. The Walsall man has also been sitting down on his punches in recent times. I’ve always said that Matty isn’t big enough for super-middleweight. Max will have the speed on his side. He has always had power but toned it down after his debut. The Brummie is the longer-limbed fighter, however, and Hough could easily be caught on the way in if he goes storming forward like he usually does. I’m looking forward to it, especially as its Birmingham vs the Black Country.   Maxwell - Hough Jan 27th 2008, 08:07:01 by ian edwards Tom: I think Max should beat Hough but it's an intriguing matchup. what are your thoughts? interesting to see Max sitting down on his shots more i think he'll have an advantage there come February 28th