YESTERDAY’S announcement that Jersey will host a live televised world title fight eliminator, on 31 January, is certainly making the boxing world sit up and take notice.
And not only in Europe, but also in the USA. The headline IBF light-heavyweight title eliminator, with former champion and world ranked No 4 Clinton Woods forced to meet the next available ranked fighter – naturalised American Elvir Muriqi – will focus serious interest on Jersey from all over the globe.
Woods v the Kosovo Kid (Muriqi was born in Kosovo, as an Albanian national) is a fight with a lot more at stake than just the division’s International Belt (the honour below champion), with the winner being able to demand space at the sport’s top table.
There was, of course, a huge cry for more of the same following October’s English super featherweight contest at the Hotel de France, with highly respected names like top trainer Brendan Ingles saying the evening had ‘put Jersey on the boxing map’. But even though challenger Ryan Barrett’s third-round knockout of Femi Fehintola (talks are on for a rematch), was of a quality never seen in in the Island before, this latest offering from Dennis Hobson is quite astonishing.
• Picture: Former IBF light-heavyweight champion Clinton Woods training at South Hill Gym, during one of his regular visits to Jersey
