Darrel Church has been handed a tough test for his next professional fight.
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Essex light-heavyweight prospect, ‘Dazzling’ Darrel Church (2-1) is due a tough examination in his next outing on March 4th against North East banger, Scott Westgarth (3-1-1).
The bout will take place over four three-minute rounds at the Grays Civic Hall in Essex on a Carl Greaves Promotions show. ‘Dazzling’ is relishing the prospect of fighting such a risky opponent in his return to the ring after nine months out, confidently declaring:
“I’ll make a statement when I beat him and move up the rankings and prove just what I can do.”
Travelling from Newcastle, the heavy-handed 29-year-old, Westgarth is known for fighting away from home and upsetting opponents, previously defeating two debutants from Bristol, both in the second round.
Church, 26-years-old from Tiptree, gets the home advantage but concedes an inch in height to the Geordie fighter.
Despite coming into the fight off the back of a loss and his opponent ranked higher in the 175lbs division, Church exudes confidence in his own abilities:
“My trainer thinks it’s the right fight for me and I’m confident because I just know what I can do.”
2015 proved to be an unfortunate year for the 175lbs prospect, suffering his first loss to Angelo ‘Concrete’ Crowe (3-6), ending a 13 fight winning streak stretching back over six years to the unlicensed circuit.
Unbeaten in 11 fights in the thriving unlicensed boxing scene in Essex, Church turned professional under the guidance of manager, Carl Greaves and debuted in July 2014, defeating Curtis Gargano (0-1-1) on points at the familiar setting for all his pro fights to date – Grays Civic Hall.
He followed up with another points win over debutant Haidar Sadik four months later in November, capping off the year with a decent unbeaten start to a promising pro career.
In what should have been a hat-trick for Church in June last year, he unexpectedly suffered his first loss to Angelo ‘Concrete’ Crowe, losing by just one point. The 175lbs prospect enthused:
“The loss was so hard to take because I had never experienced that feeling before since taking up boxing but it’s definitely made me stronger. The loss has made me think I’m never letting this happen again and I’ve already said that I’ve got a feeling about 2016, it’s going to be my year!”
The father-of-one switched training camps following the defeat to respected boxing coach, Mark Massow in order to be located closer to home and family life.
Massow, a 42-year-old Firefighter and former paratrooper, used to work closely with Frank Maloney and trains a mixture of amateurs and pros in his Witham gym. Church said of the relationship with his new trainer:
“It’s going really well, I’ve never been so happy. We really understand each other and he knows exactly what’s best for me.”
Following the recent move in camps, the six-foot tall Essex boxer is looking ahead to his fourth contest with a renewed optimism and concluded:
“I’m feeling really good about this next fight, I just can’t wait!”
(Image sent in by Tim Rickson)
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