An injury to the WBO World lightweight champion, Terry Flanagan has resulted in a postponement for Tommy Langford’s Commonwealth belt bid, rescheduled from 13th February to 12th March, still at the Liverpool Echo Arena with the main event and undercard all set to remain the same.
________________________________________________________________________________
The event, titled ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, between Manchester’s Terry ‘Turbo’ Flanagan (29-0) and Liverpool’s ‘Dirty’ Derry Mathews was just weeks away until the reigning World titleholder suffered severe tendonitis in his left foot that consequently left him unable to train for the big shoot-out.
The 28-year-old from Ancoats will immediately start treatment to ensure he’ll be fit and ready for the new date slated for mid-March.
The red-hot middleweight prospect from Birmingham, Tommy Langford (15-0), was due to tackle top-10 ranked English middleweight champion, Lewis Taylor (18-1-1) in just two week’s time until the unexpected news was announced by Frank Warren on January 27th.
Langford, originally from Devon, commented on the rearrangement:
“I took it really well to start with but now that it’s sinking in, I’m feeling more gutted. I was flying in training and ready to go so six weeks away is such a long time to me. It’s not as simple as just carrying on training for an extra month, I was feeling ready, I was so sharp and almost peaking but now I’ll have to taper it down, take a week off to let my body rejuvenate and stop all sparring.”
He added:
“It’s a little disappointing but it is what it is. I’m in the business of boxing and you have to live with this sort of thing all the time. I’m lucky that this has only happened to me once before in my professional career.”
The original WBO World middleweight title clash between the former champion Andy Lee and then challenger, Billy Joe Saunders was first scheduled on September 19th in Limerick last year before a virus struck down the Irishman and scrapped the show that Langford was due to provide chief support on.
Instead, Langford headlined for the first time in the following month in his native West Midlands, defending his WBO Inter-Continental title successfully whilst Lee and Saunders saw another show lost, this time due to a cut sustained by the Londoner.
The final time that the date was deferred to December 19th, it proved to be third time lucky with Saunders alleviating Lee of the World title and Langford appearing on the same bill to defend his title effectively for the second time:
“You get used to it. There’s always cancellations and for any number of reasons in the build up to a fight. I’m a professional, so I just accept it and move on to prepare for the new date in March. Regardless of the date, I will be Commonwealth champion! Different date, same result!”
The Birmingham-based boxer will continue to lay his belt and unbeaten record on the line when he battles Dronfield’s Taylor for the vacant Commonwealth middleweight title.
Although Langford and Taylor have 33 wins between them they have only scored a combined total of eight victories inside the distance although both fighters’ records suggest there is strong, accumulative power in their punches, as well as the ability to finish the fight when the instinct is there.
Taylor’s last four wins have all come via the fifth round and Langford has stopped three of his last four opponents when stepping up to 10-rounders. The March date will provide Langford with the first 12-round contest of his career.
The Commonwealth title up for grabs was most recently held by Billy Joe Saunders (23-0) who defended it six times after winning the vacant prize against Tony Hill (13-3-1) with a first round stoppage back in 2012.
The southpaw from Hatfield then went on to win British, European and world honours. Perhaps a good omen, stats show that 11 of the last 12 British boxers to be Commonwealth champion progressed on to World title success. Included within that list is fellow Brummie and Baggies fan, Richie Woodhall.
Also a favourite at The Hawthorns and avid Baggies fan, Langford admits to needing a few profile-building wins before he can challenge for a world title:
“Like any professional who is in the sport to be the best, if the offer comes along then I’d take it at a drop of a hat. But in reality, I’m a few fights off it because I need to establish myself as a viable contender. I would say three more fights against good opposition, domestic and international, and I’ll be more than ready.”
Tickets purchased with the original date printed on the face will be valid for use on the new date of Saturday 12th March.
(Images sent in by Tim Rickson)
The post Tommy Langford’s Commonwealth Title Fight Postponed, New Date Confirmed appeared first on %%Boxing News and Views/%%.
