Tag Archives: Lee Markham

It’s make or break for Sharif in rematch on Matchroom fight Pass show

 

When 32 year old Aji Sharif turned professional in 2013 he had high hopes with his sole defeat as an amateur coming at the hands of Olympic Gold Medallist Anthony Joshua.

His professional career started off in good fashion with 3 straight victories including a stoppage. His fourth professional fight was set for December 2013 on a Goodwin Promotions Matchroom fight pass show where he took on 6 foot 9 ins “The Giant” Imantas Davidaitis. Davidaitis had been to the UK shores before knocking out Sheffield prospect David Howe in two rounds.

“It was a fight I was happy to take” said Sharif. I needed to beat the likes of Davidaitis to move onto toSouthern Area title level. However 6 weeks before the fight my trainer Andy Edge decided that he needed to take a break from training and I was left without a professional training establishment. Looking back I should have pulled out of the fight but I stupidly went through with it.” Sharif continued “People around me tried to help but it just was not working”.

Sharif went through with the fight to get knocked down twice in the first round and then getting stopped in the second. “My Manager/Promoter and his family were great afterwards. They all came to my dressing room and I could see they were as upset as me. A week later I went to Steve’s offices and told him I wanted an immediate rematch. Steve was initially reluctant to do this but it is pride. I have to avenge this loss. Steve then went and got me the best training camp which will be revealed after the fight. I am in the best shape both physically and mentally of my life”

Sharif finished by saying “I really need everyone’s support in this rematch as it is a career make or break for me”.

Sharif will be back under the lights on another Matchroom fight Pass show as he goes to avenge the loss. There is no doubt that this is an intriguing undercard clash supporting the Larry Ekundayo v Dale Evans (British Welterweight title eliminator) Lee Markham v Jahmaine Smyle (English Super-Middleweight title) and Johnny Garton v Nathan Weiss (Southern Area Welterweight title) clashes.

The show also features former Premiership professional footballer Leon McKenzie in his first title shot when he takes on Ivan Stupalo from Croatia for the International Masters Super-Middleweight title.

13 fights in all and one of the best non mainstream tv cards to be shown for a long time.

Remaining tickets can be obtained from either www.goodwinpromotions.co.uk or from Aji Sharif himself at www.iboxingtickets.com

Here is the full footage of the first Sharif v Davidiatis fight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gDI9RgNrB0

 

 

British Title Eliminator and English title head fantastic card

Olivia Goodwin is delighted to announce that the 5thanniversary show of Goodwin Boxing will be shown live on Matchroom Fight Pass and features the best card that the Goodwin’s have assembled in celebration of five years in boxing.

 

Aptly called “ULTIMATE GLORY” Joint top of the bill is a British Welterweight title eliminator between Larry “The Natural” Ekundayo (8-0) and Dale Evans (9-1 with 2 draws). Ekundayo is one of the most talented boxers in Britain. After winning Prizefighter in 2012 Larry only had one professional bout in the 18 months afterwards. After teaming up with Ben Gray from World Class Athletes as his Commercial adviser and Steve Goodwin (Promoter/Manager) Ekundayo had two bouts culminating in winning the International Masters title at York Hall in October 2014.

 

Ekundayo is one of the most avoided fighters around so full credit to Dale Evans for stepping up to the plate, Evans has lost only 1 from 12 bout and that was in Prizefighter in January 2013 to Glenn Foot. Evans has beaten the likes of Sam Eggington and Eric Ochieng so will come into this fight with a real belief that he can win this and move onto the British title scene.

 

Co top of the bill is the English Super-Middleweight title between Lee “Banjo” Markham (14-1) and Jahmaine Smyle (11-4 2 draws). Markham has stopped 7 inside the distance and Smyle 4. This is a real 50/50 fight that could easily be one of the fights of the year.

 

The third major title fight on the show features “The Pexican” Johnny Garton (13-1) defending his Southern Area Welterweight strap against fellow Londoner Nathan Weiss (10-4 with 2 draws). Garton won the title with an exciting 8thround stoppage of Adam Battle in December 2013 whilst Weiss will hoping it is third time lucky as he has had two previous losing attempts for the Southern Area title.

 

Another fight which will be making headlines will be former professional footballer’s Leon McKenzie (undefeated in 6) first 10 round title fight when he takes on Croatian Ivan Stupalo (10-9) for the International Masters Super-Middleweight title). There has been substantial national press and radio interest in this bout with many from the sporting world attending to see what they hope will be Leon’s big night.

 

Someone never in a dull fight in “Smokin” Joe Mullender (7-1) and he fights for the International Masters Middleweight title when he takes on Gyorgy Varga from  Hungary.        .

 

Before the BIG FIVE there are some exciting talents returning to the ring and some future stars at the beginning of their careers.

 

Former English Flyweight Champion Ashley Sexton makes his return to the ring after 2 years out. Ash has now signed with the Goodwin’s and will be keen to get his career back on track.

 

Former decorated amateur star featherweight Josh Kennedy was devastating in his first bout when he blew away an opponent in 40 seconds who had previously lost only once in 8 fights. Kennedy has his second pro contest.

 

Tilbury’s Matt McCarthy is aiming for a crack at an area title later this year and has an 8 round contest against the tough Stanislav Nenkov from Bulgaria.

 

Jose “The Look” Lopes is described by his trainer Don Charles as the next David Haye. He is 2 from 2 so far and has his third contest.

 

The show will feature the eagerly awaited debut of flyweight Prince Patel. Patel had an excellent amateur career despite his style being more suited to the pro’s. He will be aiming to make a massive statement as he believes he is a future World Champion.

 

In the December show “The General” Aji Sharif suffered his first professional loss at the hands of Imantas Davidatis when he was stopped in the 2nd round. The week after the fight Sharif told his manager Steve Goodwin that he wanted nothing other than an immediate rematch and with Goodwin fulfilling Aji’s wishes it is on but don’t blink!!!!!!!

 

Another eagerly anticipated debut is for Heavyweight “Superman” Louie Darling. Louie won all 35 bouts as an unlicensed fighter winning 31 inside the distance. He has a massive fan base and will be desperate to impress everyone at York Hall and prove he will be a real contender in the future of the heavyweight division.

 

There is also a battle of the undefeated Ashley Hill (2-0) takes on Michael Waldron (1-0) in what will be an exciting tear up.

 

Cruiserweight Adam “Shrek” Hart has amazing power and demonstrated that in his debut. His second opponent Marko Rupcic will need to be on his guard.

 

Former three time Southern Area title challenger Kris Agyei-Dua has a 6 round contest whilst aiming for a fourth crack at the title in 2015.

 

This is without doubt one of the best shows the Goodwin’s have ever promoted and is befitting of the five year celebration.

 

All VIP and Ringside tickets have been sold out and only a limited amount of standard £35 tickets remain which are available from any of the boxers or onwww.iboxingtickets.com

MARKHAM GETS ENGLISH TITLE SHOT; Heads 6 title fight card on Goodwin’s Ultimate Glory celebration on March 14th

Lee “The Banjo” Markham finally gets his big title chance and a potential breakthrough into the big time when he challenges Jahmaine Smyle for the English Super-Middleweight title on the Olivia Goodwin promoted “Ultimate Glory” bill at York Hall on Saturday 14th March.

 

The show marks the Goodwin’s fifth anniversary into boxing promoting and managing. The event is befitting of this celebration with no less than 6 title fights and some of London’s top prospects on the undercard.

 

For Markham this is the culmination of a short period of frustration for himself and his manager Steve Goodwin. Firstly Markham was moved into a mandatory position to challenge Frank Buglioni for the Southern Area strap only for Buglioni to vacate the day before purse bids were due to be opened.  Markham was then made mandatory for Callum Smith’s English title. Promoter Goodwin won the purse bids but Callum Smith was forced to vacate due to injury.

 

Goodwin then was able to negotiate with Smyle’s team and the fight was agreed within 2 hours. “I would like to thank Clifton Mitchell and Jahmaine’s team” said Goodwin. “We do not impose any re-match or ongoing restrictive contractual clauses so it was easy to make and Clifton was great to deal with”.

 

“It is a great fight” said Olivia Goodwin “This is a celebration of our five years in boxing. My father only came into boxing because I wanted to do it and we never dreamed we would expand like this. It is fitting to have Lee topping the bill and having this opportunity as Lee is the first boxer my father managed”.

 

Markham came to Goodwin with 3 wins and a loss after losing to Gary Boulden. Under Goodwin, Markham has racked up 9 straight wins with 6 stoppages winning 5 Masters titles along the way.

 

There is no doubt this is Markham’s toughest fight to date “This is a harder fight than Buglioni” says Lee “I know this is going to be a tough fight and I would not want it any other way”.

 

First Lee must overcome Lewis Van Poetsch on tomorrow’sMatchroom O2 show which is a 6 round warm up. Manager/Promoter Goodwin has formed a relationship with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom being one of the few promoters working with them on the new Fight Pass project and is grateful for Matchroom for giving Lee and his boxers the platform on the big shows and televised fight pass opportunities.

 

Larry “The Natural” Ekundayo will have the biggest fight of his career with a 10 round fight which is currently being finalised.

 

Johnny “The Pexican” Garton will be defending his Southern Area Welterweight strap with the opponent being announced next week.

 

Former Professional footballer Leon McKenzie has his first title fight when he battles for the International Masters Super-Middleweight strap (formerly held by Markham). Leon takes on Ivan Stupalo from Croatia. Leon has an army of support coming including many pro footballers on what is a massive night for him.

 

“Smokin” Joe Mullender (Middleweight) and Kris Agyei-Dua (Light-Middleweight) both have International title fights.

 

On the undercard Tilbury’s Matt McCarthy (10-1) takes on Stanislav Nenkov (12-10) over 8 rounds whilst former English Champion Ashley Sexton (14-2-2) makes his long awaited return to the ring at Featherweight.

 

Highly touted Cruiserweights Adam Hart (1-0) and Jose Lopes (2-0) continue their development. Former K1 champion Hart was devastating in his first contest and now moves up to 6 rounds whilst Lopes trained by Don Charles and described by his trainer as the new David Haye looks for another spectacular stoppage following his one round demolition of Jon Weeks last time out.

 

Former decorated amateur star Josh Kennedy was another who was devastating on his debut. Kennedy took on an opponent who had lost only once in 8 fights. Many thought this may be a step too far but after only 40 seconds Kennedy proved that false and he stopped his opponent in great style.

 

In the battle of the undefeated Ashley Hill (2-0) takes on Michael Waldron (1-0) at Light-Middleweight. Hill has looked good in his first two contests and is trained by Markham’s trainer Lenny Butcher who has high hopes for him.

 

The enigmatic Prince Patel has his debut at flyweight. Love him or love him fans will get to know this charismatic character. Patel takes his name from the original Pronce Naseem and hopes to follow in his footsteps and win world titles in due course. Patel is another signed to Goodwin’s management joining the fastest growing team in the country.

 

Promoter Olivis was full of praise for another of the undercard fighter’s “The General” Aji Sharif. Sharif lost in 2 rounds to 6 foot 8 ins Imantas Daviditus. After the fight Sharif said all he wanted to do was put things right and his manager Steve Goodwin arranged a re-match for the next show. “Aji has a heart of a lion and we hope he obtains revenge and moves on to titles by the end of 2015. It will be another great fight on a great bill.”

 

Completing the card is former unlicensed star Heavyweight “Superman” Louie Darling. Darling racked up 35 undefeated bouts in the unlicensed scene stopping 31 opponents. Many wanted to sign Darling but he chose the Goodwin’s to handle his career. “I could not wish for anyone better than Steve to manage me. We are going to the top together” said Darling. First Louie (trained by John Cole in Kent) must overcome war horse Moses Matovu on his debut.

 

Tickets for this fantastic show can be obtained atwww.iboxingtickets.com or by calling 01525 851150