Ash: When I put my mind to it, no one on the planet beats me

That winning feeling…Eales and Jon Pegg with the Midlands belt

TWO of the area’s most exciting fighters have been handed title bouts in their own city.

Both Ashlee Eales and Jess Barry are in 10 round championship action on GBM’s big June 8 bill at the Sport Connexion Centre.

Eales, one of the game’s true showmen, makes his first defence of the Midlands light-middle title against Scunthorpe’s James Richardson.

Before you ask, yes – Lincolnshire does fall within the Boxing Board of Control’s Midlands boundaries.

“Banshee” Barry will attempt to take the super-feather belt from Potteries champ Beccy Ferguson.

Nuneaton’s Eales is a compelling, if something of a Marmite, character. You either love the flash, swagger and boasts or you buy tickets to see someone humble him.

Either way, you buy tickets.

The 29-year-old former dancer has – as you’d imagine – excellent footwork, but also carries a mighty wallop.

More importantly, there’s substance to back the stream of bold statements. Considered an underdog, last month he caused something of an upset by outpointing Stanley Stannard for the vacant title. That was his 10th win on the spin.

In James Richardson he faces a 27-year-old with a long and fine amateur record.

As a pro, everything seemed to be going to plan until Richardson faced Edvinas Puplauskas last November.

On paper, it looked an undemanding outing against a Lithuanian who had won only eight of 41 going into the fight.

Richardson was shockingly stopped in three. He’s bounced back with a win, but that sole setback in eight fights is a shocker.

It was either a one night blip – even the best have suffered such upsets - or signs of a flaw in Richardson’s fighting make-up.

Eales, never one to hide his light under a bushel, has already begun beating the drum for June’s defence. He is, as always, supremely confident.

“I’m going to knock his head off,” he said. “There are levels to this game and it’s my time.

“I don’t know too much about him, I know he had a lot of amateurs. I’ve watched a couple of his fights – he’s hands up, come forward.

“I can’t see it going many rounds. He’s a bit stiff and predictable. He’d better keep his dukes up because I’m going to be coming for him.

Eales, manager Jon Pegg says, is a man who learned, through the Stannard win, the importance of hard, sustained graft in the gym.

The champ agrees.

“Before I was just having a camp, fight and then there would be lots of time off,” he said. “A four or five week camp, then lots of time off.

“If I’d trained like I train now, all the nine fights before Stannard would’ve been knockouts. The levels I’ve come up since that fight are ridiculous. I’m a different fighter.

“People thought I’d lose because of my lack of experience, but when I put my mind to it, there’s not a person on the planet who can beat me.

“He (Stannard) is a good fighter, but I knew I had the beating of him.”

Eales is hungry for more big fights, more glorious nights.

“I would love the English (title),” he added, “but there are a lot of belts out there.”

First Ashlee has overcome Richardson. That, he believes, is something that shouldn’t take too long.