JD NXTGEN YORK HALL PREVIEW

JD NXTGEN YORK HALL PREVIEW

By Jack Price

Matchroom Boxing’s JD NXTGEN returns this Friday night at York Hall in Bethnal Green as some of Britain’s young talent get to showcase their skills live on Sky Sports.

Headlining the show is Conor Benn but you’ve also got the likes of Ted Cheeseman, Craig Richards and Shannon Courtenay in action.

Benn (14-0, 9 KO’s) is facing the best opponent of his career so far in Jussi Koivula (24-6-1, 9 KO’s), a welterweight from Finland who has challenged for the European title and fought at a higher level of competition than the Brit. Benn has showed before that he struggles to stick to his boxing and can easily get dragged into a tear-up which makes me think we may see him in another exciting scrap here.

Like Benn, Koivula looks like has a rough-em-up, come-forward, scrappy style so he isn’t going to shy a way from slugfest either. He most likely feels that this will be his best chance of winning. Benn’s best chance of getting the victory is sticking to his boxing and trying to out-class his opponent. He’s definitely a level above in terms of skill but it levels the playing field if he starts going to toe-to-toe.

I expect Benn to come out with the game-plan to box and move. To throw quick combo’s then angle off. It doesn’t look like Koivula has the fastest footwork or reactions so I think Benn will have a lot of success fighting like this. If it was a 4 or 6 rounder I’d be confident of picking Benn for the win but the WBA Continental welterweight title is on the line for this one meaning it’s a 10 rounder.

This makes me think that Benn will start to tire eventually and Koivula will start to catch up with him in the later rounds. This is where we will see if Benn has learned from his previous mistakes (first fight with Cedric Peynaud) or if he reverts back to type and gets sucked in to a tear-up. I think there’ll be some rocky moments for the 22-year old in the later rounds and we may even see him touch the canvas but hopefully he’s built up a big enough lead early on to win it on the scorecards if it goes the distance. Benn via a close unanimous decision is my prediction.

In the chief supporting bout Ted Cheeseman (15-1, 9 KO’s) returns to action for returns to the ring for the first time since his loss to Sergio Garcia back in February.

He defends his British light-middleweight title against Kieron Conway (12-1, 3 KO’s). Conway has campaigned the majority of his career at the weight above and his one loss came earlier this year in the semi-final of the middleweight Ultimate Boxxer tournament against Derrick Osaze who went on to win the tournament. He’s a slick, good-moving, stylish boxer that will have a size advantage over the champion. It should be a decent test for Cheeseman but one I expect him to come through either via late stoppage or on points.

Also on the card is light-heavyweight Craig Richards who takes on the unbeaten Andre Sterling and female prospect Shannon Courtenay in the third fight of her career so far. It looks set to be a decent night of boxing at York Hall.