Newcastle’s road warrior Dougie ‘The Bullet’ Curran tops a professional boxing bill at the O2 Academy in Newcastle tomorrow, fighting at home for an International Masters Bronze title.
The super-featherweight fights the majority of his bouts on the road and a lot of them come at very short notice. That explains his losing 8-17-3 record, despite the fact that he is a good boxer with good amateur experience.
There has been plenty of time for Curran to prepare for this one though, as he returns home to headline Steve Wraith’s (Wraith Promotions) third show in Tyneside.
Curran will be looking to capture a title at the fourth time of asking after previously losing attempts for the International Masters, the British Masters, and the English super featherweight crowns. This time, unlike the others, Curran has home advantage though and at only 24-years-old has time on his side.
The last time he fought in his hometown was in September of last year when he appeared on Wraith’s promotional debut show at the same venue. He was impressive that night against Leroy Smedley, winning via a third round stoppage.
The poster will tell you his opponent is Redcar’s Gavin Reid but that original highly anticipated all-North East clash had to be scrapped after Reid lost via a stoppage on the undercard of Amir Khan’s fight in Sheffield.
Instead Wraith has brought in Pavel Senkovs, a Latvian fighting out of Mansfield with a record 2-57-5.
That record would suggest Curran goes in as favourite, but records don’t always tell the full story and so Curran will have to be at his best if he is to win.
The undercard is stacked with talent from in and around Tyneside including the return of Andrew Buchanan after seven years out.
Buchanan left the sport in 2005 with a 4-1 winning record; his last fight a win over Howard Clarke in Spennymoor, Durham.
He returns after taking time away from the sport to get a full-time job and support his young family but admitted it was always in the back of his mind to return to boxing when asked by Sky Tyne and Wear.
Now at 33, Buchanan is back for another shot in the paid ranks and he sounds very excited to be back. He returns at super-middleweight to fight Dean Walker, Sheffield, 12-36-3, who hasn’t won a bout since 2007.
Buchanan is trained by Micky Duncan and so too is exciting cruiserweight Paul O’Hagan who appears on the bill against Jody Meikle.
Meikle is an entertaining journeyman with a 5-33-1 record and is often seen playing with the crowd in between rounds.
O’Hagan, who has followed Wraith over from the white-collar side of the sport, has made a great start to the professional ranks. He excited in his 28 white-collar bouts winning 24, 17 by stoppage.
As a pro he has won both of his first two bouts via stoppages, firstly beating fellow Tynesider Akash Hussein in 91 seconds and then went on the road to beat Chris Healey in Manchester in March.
One weight down at light-heavyweight unbeaten prospect Rob Ismay will look to move to 8-0 in his contest with Simeon Cover.
Cover, boxing out of Worksop with a 16-55-2 record, may be familiar to North East boxing fans because he fought David Dolan at last year’s Summer Rumble show, losing on points.
‘Issy’ hasn’t boxed since last September after being forced to withdraw from Wraith’s second pro show in November due to injury. It will be interesting to see how he copes with any potential ring rust.
Also currently 7-0, Craig Dixon – boxing under the name Robert – will appear on a bill in Newcastle for the very first time.
The bill is rounded up by Davey Ferguson (boxing under the name Karl) who is making his return after losing his debut fight against William Warburton on Steve’s first show in September.
Akash Hussein was due to be on the bill as well but a cut in sparring forced the Newcastle boxer to have to withdraw. He said he will be back in July where he’ll box on the Summer Rumble bill.
Doors at the O2 Academy in Newcastle open at 4pm with boxing due to commence at 5:15pm. Tickets will be available on the door priced at £30.
*Steve Wraith is keeping busy. Tonight he hosts a dinner show at the Grosvenor Casino in Newcastle, with the special guest speaker none other than heavyweight great David Haye. Upcoming talk shows include Riddick Bowe, Frank Bruno and Evander Holyfield. For tickets and/or more information visit www.wraithpromotions.com
Wear Boxing 