Hardman Ben back on the trail for titles

Ben Fields (right in poster) faces a fresh East End test

FOR Ben Fields, granite tough and truly battle hardened, the chance to re-enter the title race has come swiftly.

Just two months after the first stoppage loss of his career – and a shocking, one punch KO at that – the Digbeth fighting machine competes in a 10 round English title eliminator.

At York Hall, Bethnal Green, on Saturday, the 33-year-old meets George Hennon at his true fighting weight – light-welter (10 stone).

Ben will look to erase the memory of the most conclusive loss on his 28 fight record (11 wins, four draws) – and he’s gone back to the scene of that setback to do it.

In April, at York Hall, Jamie Robinson flattened Fields in three: he downed a man who had, until that moment, possessed a chin of iron.

How Ben has reacted to that night is the key to Saturday night. Some boxers are forever dented: the realisation they are not invincible dowses down the old fire.

Others, learn from the mistake and come back stronger.

Hennon, from Kent, looks good, not exceptional. The Kent 28-year-old possesses no more or no less than a string of prospects that have lost their unbeaten records to former Midlands champ Fields. And there’s nothing to suggest he carries concussive power, with only two stoppages to his name.

Ben, perpetual motion in the ring, dragged them all into a meat-grinder, denying them the time or space to land classy combinations.

Hennon has won eight of nine, but faced fairly low level opposition. Only one of his opponents had winnings records – and Hennon came a cropper in that one.

Sam Ball – 5-0 going into the contest – stopped Hennon in the third of an up-and-down encounter. Sam was down in the first, but floored George in the following two sessions.

Hennon has won his last two inside distance, which suggests he’s hitting with more authority, but the opposition was modest: Teodor Nikolov is 5-46-4, Iliyan Markov 6-24-2.

Make no mistake, Hennon hasn’t faced anyone like Fields before.

Make no mistake, Fields, switched-on and confident, can register another upset.

Manage Jon Pegg stressed the stoppage to Robinson should be put into perspective and his man may emerge a better boxer because of it.

“Robinson is a welterweight and he even came in over what he should’ve been,” he said. “It showed there are weight divisions for a reason.

“Even people as hard as Ben can’t bounce between divisions. You are rolling the dice, taking a gamble, when you fight in a division where you don’t belong. For Ben, the gamble didn’t pay off.

“Hennon is a nice boxer who’s had it much his own way. There’s nothing Ben hasn’t faced five or six times before, nothing Ben hasn’t beaten before.

“I think it (the Robinson defeat) has fired him up again. I think Ben’s so tough he’s gone into fights thinking, ‘I can just walk in because no one can stop me’. I think it’s switched him on a bit.”

On Saturday, Fields again has the chance of making a mockery of the odds against him.

And his record shows the folly of betting against Birmingham’s bundle of fury.