Ian Lewison Q&A

John Hoolan (@JohnHoolan) interviews up and coming British heavyweight Ian Lewison...

http://murmuringsofaboxingmad-man.blogspot.co.uk/

Ian "Lay Em Out" Lewison is the 31 year old heavyweight boxer from Brixton, South London. He had a successful career as an amateur, beating both Helenius and Solis, finishing his AM career with a record of 67 wins and 5 losses.

Ian has had 10 pro fights, 7 wins (4 by KO), 2 losses and 1 draw. His last fight was in the semi final of Prizefighter and his next fight is a rematch with Colin Kenna on 13th July.

I was lucky enough to be able to ask Ian some questions lately and here are his answers...

BoxingOpinions Interview: Shane McPhilbin talks Cruiserweight Prizefighter

This weekend Prizefighter returns with 8 well-known British cruiserweights going head-to-head for the winner's rights and the £32,000 prize money at York Hall, Bethnal Green. One man enters the tournament for a second time, this time with even more at stake and more to prove. That men is Bulwell's Shane McPhilbin.

'The Block' (8-6, 5 KO's) got his first break after just 3 fights in the Heavyweight Prizefighter back in 2010. He only reached the semi-final but still became a better and more known fighter from it. Just over a year later his big break came when he defeated Leon Williams in spectacular and dramatic fashion, picking up the British title. However, since that career-high, things haven't quite gone to plan. The 27-year old suffered a controversial loss to Enzo Maccarinelli in his first defense and has also suffered three consecutive defeats since then too. But the motivated fan favourite refuses to give up and has vowed to BoxingOpinions that he will come back strong in this Prizefighter tournament on Saturday night.

Here is what he had to say: 

James McKnight's Monthly Review - February

JamesMcKnight reviews the biggest boxing events to take place in February 2013.

You can follow James McKnight on Twitter: @JamesMcknight83.

"A-FORCE" SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT!  

On the night of February 23, at York Hall in Bethnal Green, the 29th edition of prizefighter served up a treat, with Audley Harrison topping the night off by creating prizefighter history! 

In the lead up to the International Heavyweights III prizefighter tournament, Harrison was in an extremely confident and positive frame of mind. The 41-year-old has the gift of the gab of course, and, as always, was in full flow! He had every right to be confident of his chances to win the trophy though, because he won prizefighter back in 2009 and he looked in fantastic shape as he weighed in at under 17 stones. But, coming in to the tournament, Harrison had been on the receiving end of a vicious knockout to David Price. which ended in just 1 round only 4 months earlier. Many interpreted Harrison's confidence as fear, but many interpreted it as assurance, that he would put the defeat to Price to the back of his mind and would win the trophy for a second time. Of course, there was only one way to find out, and that was to see Harrison back in the ring backing his words up!  

Interview with Mark Thompson!

British welterweight/light-middleweight Mark Thompson (25-3, 15 KO's) recently competed in the welterweight Prizefighter tournament on January 19th. The Heywood-man was eliminated in the semi-final but looked to have only been able to use one hand. At the age of 31 he still believes that there is plenty more to come from in his career. 

You seemed to injure your right hand in the semi-final of Prizefighter on January 19th.. Could you explain the situation to us?

Was in the first fight against Rob Hunt when I injured my hand, but I hadn't put in all the work I did just to have the one fight, and to let all my fans down.

Are you planning to return to the ring anytime soon?

As soon as I can use my hand again, I will be back in the ring.

You've fought for international titles, but never British or Commonwealth.. Are these titles that you believe you can win at welterweight or light-middleweight?

Yes I believe I could win them at any, but I think I would be more comfortable at light-middleweight.

Prizefighter & Kal Yafai Report

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Prizefighter

Well what a way to start off boxing for Sky Sports and Matchroom Boxing in 2013! The 3rd edition of Prizefighter Welterweights gave us exactly what we were expecting and even more! It clearly wasn't the strongest line-up we had ever seen, but I can 100% say that it was the most-action packed tournament I have ever seen.

The action kicked off with the favorite Mark Thompson scoring a second round stoppage over Rob Hunt. The relentless pressure of the experienced veteran was just simply too much for the over-matched opponent that stood in front of him. The fight of the night came next when youngster Sam Eggington, just 19-years old, stepped into the ring with Dale Evans. Eggington was wobbled early on and looked close to being stopped, but somehow he managed to pull his way back into the fight and make it a close one. With it all even going into the third, Evans was the man who stepped it up that little bit extra and took the fight.

The third quarter-final saw the heavily-hyped Chad Gaynor in with Calum Cooper. This proved to be a big mismatch as Gaynor blasted through his opponent in less than a round. Glen Foot Vs Steven Pearce came up next. Pearce showed a lot of courage but just simply couldn't handle Foot's pressure and was stopped in the second round meaning the semi-final line-up was complete: Mark Thompson Vs Dale Evans & Chad Gaynor Vs Glen Foot.

Prizefighter Lightweights 6/10/12 - Weigh-In

Here is exclusive video footage provided by iFilm London of the weigh-in for the highly anticipated lightweight Prizefighter that takes place this Saturday night...

Crolla looking to become Prizefighter champ!

Former British lightweight champion Anthony Crolla has signed up for Matchroom's Prizefighter tournament on October 6th - completing what is probably the most impressive line-up in the tournament's history. 

Crolla no doubt will be well and truly 100% hyped up for this tournament. Not only does he get to put his name back out there and get people talking about him again, he also gets the chance to avenge his most recent defeat against 'Dirty' Derry Matthews. That's right... Derry Matthews is also in this tournament. Forgetting everyone else.. Even just with these two its probably already one of the most high-profile line-ups in the tournaments short history. 

Matthews picked up the British lightweight title when he defeated Crolla back in April. But he lost it in his first defence just a few months later against Gavin Rees. The Liverpudlian will have the hometown advantage as the event will take place at the Liverpool Olympia. However, Crolla has already been announced as the hot favourite to walk away with the winner's prize of £32,000. But you must remember... This is Prizefighter. The tournament of upsets. 

Matchroom Promoter Eddie Hearn also believes that the eight men selected for the tournament are the strongest group of boxers he has ever put together. 

"Prizefighter is back with a bang with our strongest line-up ever," said Hearn. "I never expected a dream line-up like this and Anthony's inclusion is the icing on the cake." 

"Ideally we would have loved to have this in a 5,000-seater arena but the fans will experience an atmosphere like never before in the Liverpool Olympia... This is a must-see night of boxing." 

The full line-up for the October 6th tournament is as followed: Anthony Crolla, Derry Matthews, Gary Sykes, Stephen Jennings, Terry Needham, Nathan Brough, Kieran Farrell and Liam Patrick Walsh. 

In addition to the Prizefighter action, highly-rated super-middleweight prospect Rocky Fielding will challenge Wayne Reed for the Central area title.

Adamek returns on September 21st...

Polish heavyweight superstar Tomasz Adamek will be back in action at the Prudential Centre in Newark on September 21st. A place where Adamek (46-2, 28 KO's) is a huge fan favourite.

The most likely opponent for 'Goral' at the moment is the heavyweight Prizefighter finalist Kevin Johnson. This fight would be relatively easy to make as I'm sure that Johnson will not ask for too much and Adamek is a pretty reasonable guy. Johnson put on a good performance in the Prizefighter last night (June 20th) but was just not good enough against Tor Hamer in the final.

Adamek also fought recently, beating American heavyweight Eddie Chambers by a close decision. The fight was shown live on NBC Sports and it will be the same for this fight. There will be boxing on NBC on September 21st even if Adamek does not fight.

Adamek has repeatedly requested a fight with WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin but it is highly unlikely that this will be the bout we will be watching on NBC Sports on September 21st. Povetkin is set to fight Hasim Rahman on July 14th and probably won't step in the ring after that until around November.

As long as Adamek and Povetkin do not lose any of their upcoming fights, it is possible that the two men could meet at the beginning of next year.

I don't think that Adamek will be fighting a top class fighter in September but I think it will at least be a half-decent opponent. A fight with Kevin Johnson would be good for both men. If Adamek wins, he will beat yet another 'good' fighter and if Johnson wins it would give his career the boost that it needs at this moment in time.

The Prediction League has returned! Enter Here!

Hamer wins Prizefighter!

Last night (June 20th) there was a heavyweight Prizefighter held at York Hall in Bethnal Green. It followed the same pattern as most of the previous Prizefighter tournaments. A lot of excitement and action but not much skill involved.

The winner in the end was 29-year old Tor Hamer (18-1, 11 KO's). He upset the odds by beating the tournament favourite, Kevin Johnson in the final. During the final three rounds of the tournament, Hamer stepped up the pace and took advantage of Johnson's lazy fighting style, making it almost completely ineffective. He won by scorecards of 30-27, 30-28 and 29-28.

The American also pocketed the famous Prizefighter trophy a long with a bonus £32,000.

On his route to the final, Hamer looked very good and just outclassed the rest of the fighters. In the quarter final he unleashed bombs from the first round to get a shout-out victory over Marcelo Luiz Nascimento. And then his semi-final bout was even more impressive. He overwhelmed the house favourite, Tom Dallas, and stopped him in just one round.

This is no doubt a very good achievement and a very good boost for Hamer's career. I know that the competition wasn't too great, but there were still some tough fighters he had to get past on the way to the top.

Overall, it was another great Prizefighter tournament given to us by Eddie Hearn of Matchroom sport. Once again it provided the fans with non-stop excitement all the way through, even if there wasn't much boxing involved.

The Prediction League has returned! Enter Here!

Prizefighter returns on June 20th!

On June 20th, the popular British Prizefighter tournament returns with a bang as eight heavyweights will battle it out to be crowned champ at the York Hall. In case any of you haven't seen one of these tournaments before, it consists of eight fighters, seven fighters and one winner. And to make it all better, it all happens in one night!

Here is a list of the eight men that will take part in the tournament:

Tom Dallas (15-2, 11 KO)

Tom Little (3-0, 0 KO's)

Noureddine Meddoune (4-1, 4 KO)

Marcelo Luiz Nascimento (16-3, 14 KO)

Albert Sosnowski (46-4-2, 28 KO)

Tor Hamer (15-1, 10 KO)

Maurice Harris (25-16-2, 11 KO)

Kevin Johnson (26-1-1, 12 KO)

There's a few 'decent' boxers that you might recognise from that list, but to be honest, Prizefighter is exciting no matter who they have in it. 

Just a few years ago the man at the top of the list, Tom Dallas, was considered to be a rising prospect on the British scene. However, now he is considered a 'has been' or someone who will 'never quite make it' after he has looked terrible in his last three fights. He won a very controversial decision over American journeyman Zack Page and then he suffered two devastating beat downs to British heavyweights David Price and Matt Skelton. This tournament could be the perfect opportunity for him to make a comeback but it is highly unlikely.

Another notable fighter is Kevin Johnson. The 32-year old suffered an embarrassing loss to Vitali Klitschko back in 2009, but there is still some hype about him in the States. Since the fight with Klitschko he has won four fights, including 9th round TKO over Alex Leapai back in April. 'Kevbo' does talk a lot of smack and is probably the favourite to win on June 20th.

The only two fighters that have really never been hear of are Tom Little and Noureddine Meddoune and they are probably the two men that are there just to make up the numbers. The other four are decent fighters but are not expected to win the tournament. However, this is Prizefighter and there is usually a couple of upsets during the tournament.

Prizefighter reaches new success!

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Last night (May 5th) the only recently created tournament Prizefighter reached a new success and a huge increase in popularity. It was the largest ever crowd for a Prizefighter tournament with over 4,000 fans crammed into the Kings Hall in Belfast.

The all-Irish tournament started off with an all-out brawl between the two favourites Eamonn O'Kane and Anthony Fitzgerald. O'Kane won the fight by two rounds to one and the crowd was already going crazy after just one out of eight fights. Ryan Greenem JJ McDonagh and Joe Rea were the three other fighters to join the tournament favourite Eamonn O'Kane in the semi-final.

After all four quarter finals the odds had changed dramatically, with O'Kane and JJ McDonagh both heavy favourites whilst Greene and Rea had odds of 17/1 and 6/1.

The first semi-final was between only two undefeated fighters of the tournament (O'Kane and Green) and someone's '0' had to go. O'Kane proved to be too strong for an overwhelmed Greene who was stopped by the referee late into the first round. The second semi-final was a little closer but McDonagh was still the clear winner as Rea just simply didn't do enough to persuade the judges.

The final was set up to be one of the best in the tournament's history but it just ended up very scrappy as both fighters were extremely tired and didn't have the energy to fight in the way that they usually do. O'Kane did just enough to get the result and became the first Prizefighter middleweight champion.

Corley hurt McCloskey on many occasions.

In the main event between Paul McCloskey and Demarcus Corley we saw one of the upsets of the year. It was set out to be a routine victory for McCloskey as he was facing a 'has-been' fighter. However, it was very different to how everyone had planned. Corley came out and outclassed 'Dudey' in the first few rounds but he did start to slow in the mid-stage of the fight. But, then to everybody's surprise, Corley threw a devastating right hand that made McCloskey shake from head to toe which caused the referee to step in and stop the contest.

I hate to say it but this has most likely ended any chances of McCloskey becoming a world contender as Corley is well past his best and is nothing compared to the big guys in the division such as Amir Khan, Juan Manuel Marquez and Lamont Peterson

Advertising scan on O'Kane's pants!

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Irish Prizefighter contender Eamonn O'Kane will trial a new marketing technique that encourages punters to sacn his crotch at the weigh-in for the tournament in Belfast on Saturday.

This has never been seen before as far as I know. O'Kane will weigh in wearing specially designed boxers by the event sponsors BetFair. The smalls boast a QR code on the front of the pants, which when photographed by a smartphone takes you straight to the boxing betting markets on Betafir.

"I’ve never thought of myself as an underwear model, but maybe I could have a second career when I retire from boxing," said the tournament favourite Eamonn O'Kane.

This is what BetFair's Alex Bake had to say about the new advertising technique: "The weigh-in is an important part of any fight and, from a betting perspective, will have an impact on our exchange prices. As the early favourite for the Middleweights crown all eyes will be on Eamonn, so any punter wanting to place a bet need just scan his pants." 

This advertising scheme has never been used in the world of boxing but it has been used in other sports. Zara Dampney and Shauna Mullin had the QR code printed on their bikini bottoms at the beach volleyball championships.

Martin Rogan discusses tomorrow night and the Heavyweight Prizefighter

@IFILMLONDON

Martin Rogan returns to the ring tomorrow night for a "tune-up" before he enters the anticipated heavyweight Prizefighter on February 23rd. 

Ian lewison: "I go in there with the intention to hurt!"

@MatchroomBoxing

Ian Lewison enters the International Heavyweight Prizefighter this weekend with only 8 fights on his professional record. The successful amateur faces a big challenge against former world contenders and experienced champions, but he believes that with his new found "desire" and preparation he can knock out the competitors. 

Audley harrison discusses Prizefighter: "The fire is still burning. More than ever"!

@MatchroomBoxing

Audley Harrison attempts to resurrect his career once again this weekend when he enters the highly competitive International Heavyweight Prizefighter tournament. 

David Haye reacts to Audley Harrison Prizefighter win and David Price KO

@IFILMLONDON

Audley Harrison Post-Tournament Interview!

@IFILMLONDON

Last night's Heavyweight Prizefighter champion chats to iFilm London once the action is over. 

Danny Connor interviews Erin Arif for iFilm London about upcoming Prizefighter!

@IFILMLONDON

Danny Connor talks upcoming Prizefighter, future fights & gym move!

@IFILMLONDON