Injury forces Eales to vacate Midlands title

Ashlee Eales...big-hitter cursed by fragile hands

ASHLEE Eales, one of the game’s true showmen, has relinquished his Midlands light-middleweight title.

And that reluctant decision – made after Eales suffered yet another hand injury - has buried the mouth-watering all Coventry championship clash with thunderous punching Amir Abubaker. That was an explosive meeting of two men with mighty wallops.

Former dancer Ashlee was to make the first defence of his belt against Kurdish KO king Amir – as ordered by the Boxing Board of Control – in December. Abubaker’s manager Anthony Manning won the purse bids to stage the fight.

But a broken right hand, the latest in a line of fractures to Eales’s fists, has forced the fighter and his team to re-assess their plans.

They couldn’t gamble on Eales being fully healed by the time the 10 rounder came around. Put simply, the Nuneaton switch-hitter, a real box-of-tricks in the ring, hits harder than his fragile, slender fingers and knuckles can take.

Manager Jon Pegg said: “What we didn’t want to do was pull out two weeks, a week before the fight. Do that and you look terrible.”

Pegg added: “The fight was also too far away.”

Amir Abubaker...fighter who possesses frightening power

That meant Ashlee, a boxer with lofty ambitions, was committed to staying at Midlands level until the end of 2024: he couldn’t plan ahead. “He just wants to move forward,” Pegg stressed.

I like 30-year-old Eales, a larger-than-life individual who loves to hold court with the press. The media needs more motor-mouths like Eales. He knows how to sell a contest, every sentence is a social media gem.

He once informed me: “Let’s get this pretty face on TV and watch me whupp more ass. From the start, people have looked down on me and said I couldn’t do the things I’ve done. Everything I’ve said I’d do, I’ve done.”

We knew he could talk the talk. In March, Ashlee showed he could walk the walk by entering favourite Stanley Stannard’s backyard and taking the Midlands belt.

Last time out, however, Eales tasted defeat for the first time after 10 straight wins. He dropped a decision to tough Panamanian Omir Rodriguez in June and suffered a broken hand in the process.

I like Abubaker, a Coventry barber who has wasted no time cutting down the opposition. Unbeaten in six, he possesses frightening power and, last time out, detonated a pile-driving right uppercut to destroy usually durable Serge Ambomo.

In boxing, there are bulls and matadors. Abubaker is a bull.

Eales-Abubaker was a great fight for the sky blue city. It’s now not going to happen, leaving fans to argue about the possible outcome.

Who would prevail? The bull that is Abubaker or the matador, Eales? Let me know.