Campbell and Hosea may set new record!

Hosea Stewart…his bout may be heaviest of all time in Britain

MIDLANDS fight fans could see a record-breaking heavyweight fight in Cannock next week, writes Matt Bozeat.

The Ken Buchanan Cup will be at stake when fighters from Scotland and England meet on Thursday, November 30, on Scott Murray’s Excelsior Sporting Club dinner show.

Top of the bill is a heavyweight clash between Scottish champion Nick Campbell and Hosea Stewart, from Wolverhampton.

There’s a chance the fight could go into the record books as the heaviest in British boxing history.

Stewart is Britain’s heaviest pro boxer at around 24 stones – and Campbell is expected to tip the scales at around 20 stones.

In 2001, at Wembley Conference Centre, Eric Esch – better known as ‘Butterbean’ - weighed 25st 13lbs and opponent Shane Woollas was 19st 1lb for a combined weight of 45 stones when they fought.

‘Butterbean’ won in the first round.

At the York Hall in Bethnal Green in January, 1998, the late Danny Watts (18st 2lbs) and Stephen Cranston (20st 12 ¾ lbs) had a combined weight of 39st 3/4lbs for a fight that Watts won by knockout.

According to the Ultimate Encyclopedia of World Boxing, the greatest combined weight for a world title fight was 42 stones and 2lbs when Nikolay Valuev (23 stones) fought Jameel McCline (19st 2lbs) in Switzerland in 2007

Mike Goodall, from Evesham, owns the Ring Craft business that puts up boxing rings around the country and says the referee needs to be firm to prevent an accident.

He said: “The problem is when they lean on the ropes. That would put a lot of strain on that side of the ring.

“The referee has to keep them off the ropes. He needs to keep them fighting in the centre of the ring because if someone of that size starts leaning back on the ropes there could be trouble.”