By Ben Carey
Essex battler Tom Glover will be out to dethrone another Nottingham champion in the form of English welterweight title holder, Adnan Amar, on the undercard of local hero Carl Froch’s Super Six WBC super-middleweight scrap with Andre Dirrell at the Trent Arena tonight.
While the eyes of the boxing World will be on Froch’s showdown with Dirrell for Glover and Amar it will also be a huge night in their respective careers. Reigning title holder Amar will be looking to put a frustrating year and a half of inactivity behind him while Glover will be looking to bounce back from his Commonwealth title defeat to John O’Donnell last month.
On that occasion a brave but outgunned Glover was rescued by the referee while still on his feet in the sixth round after O’Donnell had broken his nose in the second round with a vicious uppercut. However Glover is adamant that the setback has only made him more determined to succeed against Amar.
“Let’s be honest at the start of the year very few people would have predicted I’d go on to fight the Commonwealth champ,” said Glover who has enjoyed a remarkable turnaround in his career. Just over 12 months ago the 28-year-old bricklayer was considered to be a journeyman pro but high profile wins over leading contenders such as Jon Thaxton and Nadeem Siddique have seen his stock rise considerably.
“Obviously I was disappointed at the result against O’Donnell but it hasn’t discouraged me in the least, if anything it’s just made me hungrier for success,” revealed the Maldon native. “It was a fantastic experience to headline a live TV card and box such a great champion and I want more of that. I’ve no excuses, O’Donnell’s an excellent fighter. I knew going into the fight that it was a hard task but the broken nose made it impossible and he did what he had to do in there.”
Glover doesn’t believe the nose injury will be a factor when he steps into the ring to face Amar. “I took a week off from the gym after the fight and obviously I didn’t spar for a bit because I was wary of my nose but I’ve had the all clear from the doctor so I’m raring to go again. This was too good an opportunity to turn down for me. It’s a chance to get my hands on the English title belt and I wasn’t going to let one defeat ruin what’s already been a great year for me.”
Amar is a product of the famous Ingle Gym in Sheffield but having already upset Amar’s gym mates Jon Thaxton and Nadeem Siddique earlier in the year Glover is confident of making it a hat trick of wins.
“I’ve faced the speed and skill of O’Donnell and the power of Thaxton and I’m very familiar with the Ingle style now so I can’t see what Amar can bring to the ring that will faze me. We were due to meet back in March and he actually got injured after we had weighed in but I feel I’m in an even better position to beat him now.
“I’ve won three of four since then and the wins have come against good lads like Thaxton, Siddique and Chas Symonds. I’ve had plenty of competitive action while he’s been inactive for nearly 18 months now and I think I can use that to my advantage.”
The fleet footed Amar is likely to race into an early lead, but as Nadeem Siddique discovered, the determined Glover provides stubborn opposition at this level. The Essex Cinderella man can shade another tight one on points as Amar fades down the stretch.
New satellite channel Primetime (Sky channel 480) will broadcast the opening night of the Super Six tournament event live on pay per view in the UK and Ireland with a knockout double header from Nottingham and Berlin. In addition to screening Glover-Amar and Froch-Dirrell, the channel will also televise the opening Super Six tournament clash between Arthur Abraham and Jermain Taylor live from Germany.
For details of how to order this event, now priced at £14.95, go to channel 480 or log on to http://www.primetimelive.co.uk.
