Brave Eales battles on with broken hand

Ashlee Eales…there’s steel to go with the silky skills

PRO boxers are a tough breed, made from stuff others are not. They endure things others cannot.

Take prospect Ashlee Eales, a big hitting Nuneaton light-middle picked for big things. The flashy moves disguise real steely determination.

I watched Eales peel-off his eight straight win at Solihull’s Planet Ice on June 10 and pondered why he wasn’t detonating the customary bombs.

The tall southpaw used his left hand tentatively, at times almost like a paint brush. Ashlee – a professional dancer before turning to the ring – used the lead as a range finder, he pawed with it. He picked his way to a landslide six round points win over Dale Arrowsmith. He usually blasts his way to victory.

It transpires there was a very good reason for the subdued showing.

Ashlee told me: “What you don’t know is I broke my hand four weeks ago sparring. That’s why, when you watch the fight back, you’ll notice the only time I throw it, I was touching with it.

“Any time I did hit him with the slightest power with my left hand, it felt like glass was going through it.”

The 29-year-old added: “By the new year everything will be sweet. Jon (manager Jon Pegg) has booked me in to see the same doctor who fixed River’s (middleweight contender River Wilson-Bent) hand. He had the same problem and his hand is solid as a rock now.

“Beginning of next year we’ll be title ready. We’re going to stay fit and everyone’s in trouble.”

I have to applaud Eales’ old-fashioned bottle. Can you imagine a professional footballer taking part in a match with a broken foot?

Can you imagine the pain landing a punch would’ve entailed?

Eales career has, worryingly, been blighted by hand injury. His fight against Arrowsmith was the first after a near seven month absence through a damaged mitt.

Hopefully, surgery will solve the problem. Eales is the kind of talent, and provides the kind of excitement, local boxing needs.