The draw for Prizefighter ‘The Super Bantamweights’ took place yesterday evening at the Wembley Arena before the Premier League Darts Finals. Dart’s legend, Phil “The Power” Taylor pulled the names out of the hat and set up four mouth watering quarter finals. The lead up to the latest installment of the Prizefighter series has been dogged by pullouts including former world champion, Wayne McCullough, who was forced to withdraw due to a hand injury. The St. Helens boxer, Craig Lyon also withdrew due to a rumoured British Title opportunity on the horizon. However, replacements have been found in Irishman, Willie Casey and Scotsman, Jamie Arthur so the show must go on.
Kicking off the show next Saturday at the famous York Hall, Bethnal Green will be Willie “Big Bang” Casey 5-0 (4 KO) and Mark Moran 11-1 (3 KO). Limerick native, Casey will be hoping to seize the opportunity of his late call up to the tournament and will see this as the perfect stage to introduce himself to the wider boxing public. His confidence will be high having recently traveled to Canada to stop another undefeated prospect, Tyson Cave. Moran, on the other hand has not fought for 13 months when he was stopped by current British Super Bantamweight champion, Jason Booth. The Liverpudlian will be hoping that he can get his career back on track after suffering his first professional defeat over a year ago while also having to endure a career saving operation to remove a tumour from his spinal cord.
Former Commonwealth, British and European champion Esham “Brown Sugar” Pickering 34-9 (13 KO) is by far the most experienced man in the tournament. He will be hoping to use his 14 years of ring work to capture the £32,000 top prize. The popular Nottingham boxer has had to listen to calls for him to retire for a number of years and he will be hoping to silence his critics. Standing in Pickering’s way will be the relatively inexperienced Yorkshire man, Josh Wale 9-2 (5 KO) who will be eager to send Pickering one step closer to retirement. Wale was narrowly beaten by Matthew Marsh for the English title last September but in his most recent outing stopped tough journeyman Marc Callaghan. Wale will know that he can make a name for himself by beating Pickering and he will be quite happy being the underdog.
The other side of the draw sees Commonwealth gold medalist Jamie Arthur 16-3 (4 KO) stand opposite Welshman Robbie Turley 7-2 (1 KO). The Welsh based Scotsman, Arthur will be hoping to use Prizefighter as a springboard to push himself back up the rankings having lost a wide decision to Martin Lindsey for the British featherweight title in March. His opponent Robbie Turley will be aware of Arthurs ability and vice verse as the two fighters regularly appear on cards together in Newport, Wales. Turley’s young career has been somewhat stop-start thus far but he will try to use his slick boxing skills to outwork Arthur and surprise those who have already written him off.
The final quarter final sees bookmakers favourite, Ricky Owen 11-0 (4 KO) taking on the tough Yorkshire based Scotsman, Gavin Reid 6-5 (3 KO). The stylish Welsh southpaw, Owen will be using Prizefighter to propel himself into a British title opportunity but won’t be underestimating Reid who is coming off a close decision loss to Davey Savage for the Scottish Super Bantamweight title. Like his compatriot Turley, Owen’s career has been very stop-start and has been riddled with inactivity, fighting only once in nearly two years. The Prizefighter format does not allow boxers the opportunity to shake off any ring rust and Reid will be hoping to capitalise on this.
Despite the late notice withdrawals of McCullough and Lyon this is a very evenly matched up Prizefighter and each of the eight boxers will believe they have a decent opportunity and the required skills and capabilities to grasp the £32,000 prize. Prizefighter ‘The Super Bantamweights’ will be broadcast on Sky Sports 1 from 9pm this Saturday the 29th of May.
THE DRAW
Quarter-finals
Mark Moran v Willie Casey
Esham Pickering v Josh Wale
Robbie Turley v Jamie Arthur
Gavin Reid v Ricky Owen
Semi-finals
Moran/Casey v Pickering/Wale
Turley/Arthur v Reid/Owen
Left to right: Robbie Turley, Mark Moran, Willie Casey, Esham Pickering, Jamie Arthur, Ricky Owen, Josh Wale, Gavin Reid
