Chad Sugden is excited about returning to the scene of his debut on September 24th at Walsall Town Hall on Black Country Boxing’s ‘High Stakes’ show, sponsored by Grosvenor Casino Walsall writes James Eley.
‘2 Slick’ turned professional earlier this year after switching from kick boxing where he achieved world honours. Now, after a solid start to life in the professional ranks, Sugden takes on Stoke’s Chris Nixon looking to continue his winning streak.
“I think I will feel a lot more comfortable now than I did on my first fight there!” he joked. “The fight will be key for me and I am looking forward to it. My ranking shows how tough my opponents have been and how high ranked they are because I am up to 27 and I have only had three fights.
“There are people that have had a lot more fights than me who are below me. I have fought whoever has been put in front of me and it is about beating everyone if I want to get to the top.
“I expected to adapt easily (from kick boxing) but having the style of fighters I have had and having people pull out it has made it a little bit more complicated. But it has made me learn that you can’t train for your opponent and you have to train to be as good as you can be and I am good at adapting so when I am in there I can adapt quickly to the situation so it works well for me.”
The unbeaten super middleweight has three wins under his belt, the previous victory being a six round points decision against the tough Cristian Hoskin-Gomez late last month. Sugden was pleased with the victory and felt he showed people a different side to his game.
“Hoskins-Gomez was a tough guy,” he added. “He did push me the whole six rounds. A lot of people saw a different side to me as I was pushing him back and using my strength as well as my skills so it was a nice and exciting fight. I don’t think there was a period where there wasn’t any punches thrown so I think the crowd enjoyed it that is for sure. He came to win and he gave it a real go and that made it exciting for the fans. Working off him was a nice change because my first two opponents were reserved so I had to push the fight a lot more. This time I pushed but I was able to work off him so it was a great fight to see how I can deal under pressure. I think people can now see I am more versatile than they expected and I can take that with me into my next fight.”
The 22-year-old has been fighting regularly since his debut in March and he believes preparation is perfect yet again for his upcoming bout which is now headlined by a Birmingham’s Paul Holt taking on Tamworth’s Louis Fielding for the vacant Midlands Area Super Featherweight Title.
“Everything is going well with preparation. Obviously it has only been a few weeks since my last fight so I am just making sure I keep in shape. We have some good sparring partners lined up and the training and weight is all going to plan.”
As well as Holt versus Fielding and Sugden versus Nixon, a host of Black Country boxers are in action.
Midlands cruiserweight pair – Wolverhampton’s Joshua Burke and Coventry’s Dilly Singh – feature alongside undefeated Old Hill lightweight, Manny Zaber.
Undefeated West Bromwich middleweight, Tom Stokes, will be looking to record an eighth straight win and is joined by fellow West Bromwich fighter, Tommy Loach. The welterweight is set to make his professional debut.
Undefeated Birmingham super welterweight, Luke Heron (Walker), completes the card.
Tickets are priced at £30 (general admission) and £60 (VIP Ringside), and can be purchased by calling 0845 111 2900 or directly from any boxer on the bill.
The weigh-in and aftershow (over 18’s only) take place at Grosvenor Casino Walsall, Bentley Mill Way, Walsall WS2 0LE (just off junction 10 of the M6). GC Walsall will have a presence at the Town Hall on the evening and have linked up with local taxi firm, Yellow Taxi’s, to supply a number of free taxi’s to take guests from the Town Hall to the casino post-fight.
Find out more about Grosvenor Casino Walsall here: http://www.grosvenorcasinos.com/local-casinos/walsall/
