Kane Baker and Liam Davies will be looking to enhance their title credentials for 2020 by adding another win to their respective ledgers next month.
Former Midlands lightweight champion Baker is targeting another shot at national honours, while hot prospect Davies has his sights set on area glory at super bantam.
Both will occupy the home corner when BCB Promotions are back in the Stadium Suite at the Banks’s Stadium, Walsall Football Club, on Friday February 14.
Birmingham’s Baker, from Bartley Green, relinquished the Midlands crown without making a defence to get a shot at English boss Myron Mills.
He was outpointed by Mills by majority decision, with three judges after 10 rounds. Two lodged tallies of 98-92 and 97-94, with the third going for a 95-95 draw.
Baker has since bounced back and got another six rounds under his belt, vanquishing Joe Beeden. He’s now determined to have his hand raised again, for the 13th time as a pro.
His best scalp remains against Ishamel Ellis for the area strap, squeezing past him by a point, and his six defeats have all come when facing top-level opposition.
Conor Benn, Gary Cully, Sanjeev Sahota, Sam Maxwell and Darren Surtees were unbeaten and have retained that status since.
Davies, a proud resident of Donnington in Telford, is chasing the vacant Midlands super bantamweight title, with Brett Fidoe a potential co-challenger.
The promising Shropshire starlet has six wins, with two TKOs, and no defeats or draws. He got the full six rounds under his belt, for the first time, last time out.
His most recent opponent, Stefan Nicolae, did pinch a round off him but lost the other five, Davies a wide 60-55 victor.
A previous tussle with Jose Aguilar was scheduled for six, but was over in the fourth when Davies took him out, having halted Pablo Narvaez in two prior to that.
Two of Davies’ other adversaries, Edward Bjorklund and Stefan Slavchev, were put down but climbed off the canvas and clung on, seeing out the distance.
Davies turned over at the end of 2018 with a points whitewash over Khvicha Gigolashvili, who had his nose bloodied in the process.
The second generation fighter is the son of ex-pro Tristan Davies, a former Midlands champion himself, and represented his father’s Donnington Boxing Club in the unpaid ranks.
He racked up exactly 100 contests, coming out on top 78 times, and was an ABA Schoolboys national champion in 2010. He went on to represent England at youth level.
The Stadium Suite show has been aptly titled ‘St Valentine’s Day Massacre’ and there will be no love lost when two West Midlands derbies get underway.
Clayton Bricknell and Daryl Pearce will attempt to arrest winless streaks, at the expense of each other, when they clash in a lightweight contest.
Bricknell, from Whitmore Reans in Wolverhampton, was last surprisingly beaten by Stu Greener, by a 39-38 scoreline in a point decision, last October.
He’s also completed six rounds in a losing effort to Tion Gibbs, who took his ‘0’ and remained unbeaten himself by a 60-56 verdict.
Bricknell had previously been frustrated by a technical draw with Youssef Al Hamidi, who was pulled out after less than a round due to injuring himself.
That came after two wins during his introductory year in 2018, where he outpointed Jamie Quinn and Dylan Draper after a decent amateur grounding.
In 27 unpaid bouts, he recorded 17 wins and claimed two area titles in national competition, representing Wolverhampton Boxing Club and Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter gym.
Brummie Pearce may only have one victory from eight pro fights, but he’s only failed to complete the duration once.
He boxed seven times last year and only Sam Noakes could get him out of there early, as he went down by third round stoppage.
Pearce, from Rednal, does additionally have a solitary success on his pro record, defeating Mohamed Mahmoud by a 39-37 margin on his 2018 bow.
Also on a collision course in a super middleweight affair is Kearon Thomas and Ryan Whitehead, the latter making his pro debut.
Thomas sees pro action in his hometown for the first time, still searching for his maiden win at the eighth attempt.
He’s been on the road ever since his bow, with six losses (two TKOs) but mostly to foes with a winning record. He did draw with Cory Hardy along the way.
Whitehead, from Telford, will be determined to see Thomas that does not break his duck come fight night. He’s another graduate of Donnington Boxing Club.
Completing the line-up is West Bromwich’s Matt Gordon, the big heavyweight who steps back through the ropes intent on ramping up his ring return.
He’s been a pro since 2015, but spent three years out of the sport after a draw with Lukas Horak. He’d previously outpointed James Oliphant and Jindrich Velecky.
Gordon returned in November, away from home in London, but was removed in less than a round by heavy-handed Ukranian Dorin Krasmaru.
Tickets for the bill in the Stadium Suite are on sale now, priced at £35 standard or £65 VIP with buffet, and can be purchased by calling the BCB Box Office on 07493 582 261.
