Gould nears end of ring apprenticeship
Liam Gould…in action at Dudley Town Hall on Saturday
LIAM Gould is set to bring his four round apprenticeship to an end when he steps through the ropes at Dudley Town Hall on Saturday.
Gould looks to register his fourth straight victory on the BCB show after reeling off three spotless points successes since turning pro last year.
Uncle Jimmy Gould trains him, the two working together at Gymmies Fitness and Boxing gym in Tipton.
The 24-year-old welter, from Coseley, came into the pro ranks after 37 amateur bouts, with 19 victories for William Perry Boxing Club in Tipton.
He ended up facing a southpaw on his pro bow, with late replacement MJ Hall losing every round, 40-36.
Gould moved on to tackle George Rogers in his last appearance of 2022 and eased to another 40-36 verdict against an opponent who adopted spoiling tactics.
A hat-trick of landslide points successes was completed with March’s defeat of Petar Alexsandrov, which Gould rated as the best fight of the three.
He said: “Training has gone well since then. I pretty much just carried my fitness on from my last fight. I had a week off to rest and then I was back in the gym.
“I kept myself ticking over, until I got a date for my next one, and I’ve been pushing on since. I do a fair bit of sparring against other pro lads of my size and experience, too.
“Zachary (Evans) is a pressure fighter, who throws lots of punches and Jake Melvin is more like me in that he likes to stand off and box.
“I’ve won every round that I’ve been in since turning pro, and I can’t really ask for any more than that. As I go on, I’m sure that a TKO will come along, too.
“It’s probably better, in the long run, to get the rounds in and I think that I’ve handled each opponent pretty well. The last one came to have a go, which brought more out of me.
“When I left it long, he couldn’t touch me and I was getting the better of exchanges at the times when I did get involved. I felt like I’d hurt him, as well, right towards the end.
“I’m a counter puncher and I was waiting for him to properly open up, which didn’t happen until the final 10 seconds of the fight when I caught him a couple of times.
“He was supposed to be a step up for me, whereas the other two opponents were quite negative. That gave me the chance to show a bit of quality.
“I’m having another four-rounder and I’ll look at going for six. I want to see how far I can go. There are good welterweights coming through, with me, who will be looking at the area title.”
*Tickets for the Town Hall bill are available, priced at £40 standard or £75 VIP ringside, directly from the boxers or by visiting myfighttickets.com.