Richard Towers - The Forgotten Man Of British Boxing?

Time for a reminder...

Richard Towers

Richard "The Inferno" Towers is the forgotten man of British boxing, who had some rare headlines this week, thanks to uncertainty surrounding the Price Vs Thompson fight. Towers claims he was offered the fight at a few days notice for peanuts and quite rightly turned it down. A fight against Price would need a couple of months preparation, to have taken it at a few days would have been just asking for a defeat to be added to your record. It turns out that Maloney was covering his bases in case Thompson's medical records didn't arrive in time.   

Frank Maloney

Richard Towers is the 33 year old current undefeated EU Heavyweight Champion based in Yorkshire with a record of 14 fights, 14 wins with 11 KOs. His last fight, in June 2012, was against the Former French champion Gregory Tony, who Towers stopped in the 9th round. Tony had previously been in with both Perez and Helenius and was a big step up for Towers, who although rocked slightly in the 5th did well to recover and win.

Towers is a very good cagey fighter with some tremendous power in his punches. This would be one of the reasons why he is a regular sparring partner for the Klitschkos and why he is currently ranked number 13 in the world by the WBA. He was also due to fight Lucas Browne in Dec 2012 in an eliminator for David Price's commonwealth title. A fight Towers was forced to pull out of due to an injury.

Towers & Browne

What lies ahead for Towers? Currently he is "between" fights. I would like to see him fight Browne in the rescheduled commonwealth eliminator. Price is likely to relinquish the title to pursue his quest for a shot at the title, so a fight between Browne and Towers could be for the actual title. There was some mentions of Francesco Pianeta as a possible opponent back in October, this could also be an option.

David Price Commonwealth Champion

Whatever his next fight is and wherever it leads him, after the personal problems Richard had in the past and has overcome, I think his boxing career will be a walk in the park in comparison.

I wish him well...

Manuel Charr - Could He Be The Real Deal?

Can he back up his comments and claims?

Manuel Charr

Manuel Charr ranked 8th in the world by the WBC has a record of 22 fights, winning 21 of which 12 were by KO. His only loss was to Vitali Klitschko when he was stopped in the 4th round from a cut after being put on the canvas in 2nd round. That was 2 fights ago. He won his comeback fight Vs Konstantin Airich by a first round KO. A great way to bounce back from a loss by stoppage.

Charr stopping Airich

In recent weeks Charr has taken to twitter to "call out" some names including Fury and Haye for elimination fights so he can get another shot at Vitali. The loss to Vitali is something that clearly eats away at Charr and one which he truly belives he can avenge. 

There was mention of a possible fight with Chisora, but Charr has declined that offer saying he would only consider Haye. There was also a spat on twitter against "contender" (I use that description in it's loosest sense) Deontay Wilder, with Charr quite rightly dismissing Wilder's claims for a shot. 

Charr said about Wilder “I don’t even know who that guy is. I didn’t know he is a fighter. Nobody in Europe has ever heard about him. I checked his record and now I know why nobody knows or cares about Wilder. He should start fighting people with a pulse before calling me out. I want a rematch with Vitali Klitschko. I don’t think beating up a guy like Wilder will bring me any closer to that goal. But if he wants to come to Europe I might even give him a shot at my title. I am not ducking anybody and not running away.” Charr is right, Wilder has fought nobody and will get found out at some point this year I believe."

Wilder - Still some way to go.

Charr's next fight is against Yakup Saglam for Charr's WBC International Silver Heavyweight Title in Romania on Feb 22nd. How Charr believes this will take him nearer to another shot at Vitali I have no idea however, it is more than likely a case of keeping himself busy against a fighter with a good record as he tries to get a fight with one of the top 10 boxers. The problem for Charr and for many of the top heavyweights in the world at the moment is that they can sense the fall and/or possible retirement of Vitali and want to be in the best possible position to be able to claim his title, which means the big fights won't happen for a while sadly.

This may hinder Charr's chances of a rematch which is, as I've already said, really eating Manuel up. 

Charr Vs Vitali Klitschko

He said “Vitali knows how it feels when you are stopped by a cut in a world title fight. He also knows how it feels if the guy you want to beat retires and doesn’t give you a second chance. I hope that he doesn’t make the same mistake Lennox Lewis made some years ago. I really hope that he gives me another shot so I can prove to him, the world and myself that I am his legitimate successor. I want to be the best and I want to beat the best to get there.”

Could Charr be the real deal? In a word - YES. 

Very much so, he has power and can hit hard to the body. He needs to perhaps work on his combination shots in order to get some guys with better defences out quicker, but his body work is among the best in the division. I don't think he'll get his shot at Vitali anytime soon. There are others such as Haye and Fury already infront of him, but should the Heavyweight division splinter then he is more than capable of picking up a belt.

I wish Manuel well....

(EDIT:- Charr beat Saglam in the second round of their fight)

(Further Edit:- On 28th April it was confirmed that Manuel Charr will fight David Haye on 29th June at the MEN)

(Even further EDIT:- David Haye pulled out through "Injury")