STEVIE ADAMS JNR
They all want a piece of the champ
On February 22nd at the Hull Ice Arena
in front of an adoring crowd,
Curtis Woodhouse fulfilled his career long
dream by defeating Darren Hamilton via
split-decision to lift the British light
welterweight title.
It wasn’t only about being the champion
for the Driffield man, though. It was about
keeping the promise that he made to his
beloved father, Bernard, on his deathbed,
almost seven years earlier.
For everything his father had done for
him during his childhood, to becoming
a Premiership footballer, and supporting
him when he made the decision to ditch
the boots for the boxing gloves,
Woodhouse swore that he would one day
win the beautiful Lord Lonsdale challenge
belt and dedicate it to Bernard’s
memory.
He kept his promise and earned the
respect of a nation in doing so.
In the build-up to the Hamilton fight, the
33-year-old insisted that he would retire
from the prize ring whether he won, lost
or drew. Thankfully he has gone back on
that statement, and his story will continue
for a little while longer.
There has been speculation as to who
the new champion will face on his return,
with Tommy Coyle, Willie Limond and
Darren Hamilton being the most popular
options for his first defense.
They 14
all
want a piece
champ
For the last few years, Woodhouse and
Coyle have exchanged insults and
“banter” on twitter, and they openly
admit that there is no love lost between
the two of them. With both men residing
in East Yorkshire and both having a hefty
following in that part of the world, it would
be an easy fight to make and an even
easier fight to sell.
Coyle has campaigned mainly as a
lightweight so far in his career, but with
the modern diets and nutritionists in the
sport, a step up to 140lbs. shouldn’t
cause too many problems for the
24-year-old.
The popular Hull fighter introduced
himself to the boxing fraternity in July
of 2013, when he comprehensively out
boxed the Liverpudlian warhorse, Derry
Mathews, live on Sky Sports. It was a
terrific display of boxing ability from the
man known as ‘Boom Boom’ and he
was miles ahead on the scorecards when
Mathews detonated a countering left hook
in the tenth round. The shot left Coyle flat
on his back without his senses, and the
fight was over in the blink of an eye.
That could’ve been described as a brief
blip for Coyle. Perhaps it was just a lack
of concentration that he was severely
punished for. It could happen to anybody
in the sport of boxing.
However, there are rumo \