Top of the bill at the Vale Sports Arena on Saturday, June 1st, features Newport’s Ryan Pocock (5-1) taking on orthodox fighter Ethan George (5-1) for the Welsh super middleweight title over 10 rounds.
It is a typical Welsh super middleweight fight; both men are ready for that next step, both have identical records, and its East vs West Wales.
Pocock, suffered a perforated eardrum in a sparring session which forced the fight to move from its original date of March 2nd where it seemed George would still fight on.
However, the man from Llanelli proceeded not to fight on the March 2nd card which was headlined by Conor McIntosh as event organisers Sanigar worked towards a new date for this 50/50 title fight.
In the last 30 years, only two Welsh super middleweight Champions have been made.
May 5th 1995 at Brangwyn Hall, Swansea on the undercard of Floyd Havard’s super featherweight British title fight, Darron Griffiths (Pontypridd) put aside Wayne Ellis to become the first ever super middleweight Welsh Champion.
Griffiths later moved up to cruiserweight and became a multiple weight Welsh Champion after knocking out Tim Redman in the seventh round.
18 years after the first champion, Tobias Webb (Swansea) won the prestigious belt at the Oceana after Lewis Patterson retired in the fourth.
There was a lot of confusion involved as referee Wynford Jones incorrectly called the contest a technical draw, but Board inspector Ron Pavett declared Webb the winner after a discussion at ringside.
In October 2021, Pocock made his professional debut where he got brutally stopped by Keoron Thomas in the very first round. Since then the 34-year-old has won five on the bounce and has one stoppage win over Steve Davies.
The man from Llanelli comes into the fight on the back of a stoppage win over southpaw Alex Branson-Cole at the famous York Hall. George made his first outing as a pro just over a month after his opponent for June 1st, where he won every single round against Vasif Mamedov.
This is the type of evenly matched domestic showdowns that have not been a constent in professional boxing in Wales and hopefully this is the kick start for many more Welsh title fights in 2024.
Words By Harry Tovey
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