With Josh Wale picking up career win 31 on February 21 in his hometown of Barnsley, beating Tanzania’s Iddi Kayumba (pictured) at the Metrodome, promoter Dennis Hobson is excited about the 31-year-old’s future now he has moved up to featherweight. With a June show planned for the same venue, could ‘The Outlaw’ – the former British Bantamweight Champion – ultimately end up contesting world honours?
On the undercard for the show, there were also wins for Rotherham heavyweight Kash Ali, as well as Sheffield fighters Sufyaan Ahmed, Keanen Wainwright and Perry Howe. The only disappointing result for the home corner saw Germany’s Cheyenne Hanson controversially lose on her UK debut.
Here, Hobson reflects on all the action:
“Josh set out his intentions early, and he wanted to make a statement in his home town, which he did. No matter what people say about Josh’s mixed record, because he lost a few early ones on the road, they don’t come any gamer than him. He’s a devastating body puncher and you can never write Josh off. He’s also an exciting fighter, he’s on your chest and he’ll be there for 12 rounds.
“He took Kayumba out early because he wasn’t nearly as strong as Josh, and he didn’t give him a chance to get set and use his southpaw boxing skills. No matter who’s in front of you, you have to get them out of there, and that’s what Josh is doing. We’ve got a show planned in June for Josh, and we’re trying to get him a title fight for that. I’ll meet Josh and his Dad this week to see which way we’re going to go.
“I wasn’t too happy with Josh Sandland pulling out against Kash Ali at late notice. They asked for the fight. If Sandland has flu then he has flu, but three days before the fight, I’m sure he could have let us know a bit earlier. That obviously disrupted our plans, and we had to get a late replacement in for Kash [Kamil Sokolowski]. Kash struggled but mentally it’s always difficult when you get a late substitute, especially in place of a needle fight, because the Sandland fight was a local derby. Kash had to keep himself up mentally. He did the job, showed glimpses, but it wasn’t the performance that we thought we might get against Sandland. It was a comfortable win for him though, and I’m hoping to get Kash in some kind of title bout in the next couple of fights.
“Perry Howe got his first win. He’s a big character, great to work with, he’s working hard and learning all the time. We’re matching him carefully because he’s learning his trade as he goes along, but he got the win, and he has great support.
“Both Keanen Wainwright and Sufyaan are starting to look more polished. So, two great wins there for fighters in our stable. They both move onwards and upwards, they’re a pair for the future and in the next 12-18 months, I think they’ll be involved in titles, or eliminators. I’m looking forward to seeing them develop.
“Lastly, I don’t know what the referee was watching in Cheyenne’s fight! I just didn’t see that result and don’t know how he managed to get it. Her opponent was strong, but Cheyenne landed more punches and I just cannot see how she lost. It wasn’t her best performance, and she had flu in the lead up but she wanted to fight. She definitely did enough for me to win. She didn’t get beat up though, in our eyes she won, and we move on and learn from it. She’s a lovely girl to work with and I’m looking forward to working with her in the future.”
(Photo Credit: Sporting Captures)
