Abubaker has tasty test on Saturday bill

Abubaker demolishes Hill for Midlands title. Picture: Inga Zulyte

MIDLANDS light-middle champ Amir Abubaker – a man with the power to smash holes in a safe – has copped a very interesting fight this Saturday.

On manager Anthony Manning’s show at the Eastside Rooms, the Kurdish KO artist will face Nicaraguan Robin Zamora.

And unless southpaw Zamora has slipped or the match is made way beyond the welterweight division where the visitor is at his best, this could prove Abubaker’s toughest test to date.

The Coventry barber, unbeaten and dangerous, has cut down five of his seven opponents inside distance.

Last time out, the 25-year-old unleashed thunderous body shots to halt Callum Hill in five for the vacant 11st belt.

He may find Zamora a much harder man to dismiss.

Forget the patchy record of 21 wins, 36 losses, Zamora has given Midlands fighters all the trouble they can handle.

He outpointed Dylan Cheema, who was being groomed for big things, in 2023 and also gave outstanding Owen Cooper all the trouble he could handle before losing on points.

Results since suggest 26-year-old Zamora, who fights out of Spain, is not the force he once was, that the ambition is ebbing. He lost all 12 contests since the Cheema upset and, ominously, former fine amateur Luke McCormack demolished him with a body shot in two rounds.

Abubaker hits very hard to the body.

Manager Manning may have made the fight at the right time.

He admitted: “I think I’ve matched Amir quite well. He hasn’t faced a southpaw yet, so we thought, why not?

“I see him improving at different stages, consistency is the thing he is now looking for.”

Stopping Zamora would be a statement, but Manning insisted: “I think you don’t look for a stoppage as a trainer because you are trying to develop a fighter. But if Amir smell blood…Fighters don’t get paid for over-time.”

If successful on Saturday, Abubaker will be gunning for a crack at the English title. “It’s tied-up at the moment,” Manning added. Junaid Bostan and Bilal Fawaz are set to again fight for the belt after their first encounter ended in a draw.

“But we are looking at that title and watching it closely.”