DARREN SURTEES TO BOX FOR THE BRITISH CHALLENGE BELT

Phil Jefferies and Fighting Chance are excited to announce that Darren Surtees will box Luke Keleher for the British Challenge title at Rainton Meadows Arena on December 3rd.

The matchup is the second title bout to be announced so far for the co-promoted ‘Christmas Cracker’ card, joining the Northern Area Title clash between Lewis Ritson and Jordan Ellison.

Darren Surtees is unbeaten in his four-fight professional career, and impressed most recently on Fighting Chances ‘Invincible’ show with a dominant victory over the more experienced Marek Laskowski. In a bout which saw his opponent having to weather heavy onslaughts in the final two rounds, Surtees showed brilliant composure and displayed a boxing maturity far greater than a four fight record would suggest.

Having forced stoppages in two of his four fights, Darren Surtees will be looking to bring his aggressive style and frantic pace to the bout on December the 3rd.

A 50% knockout average will do little to intimidate Luke Keleher however who has not been stopped in his eight fight career. This is especially impressive considering the high calibre opponents Keleher’s shared the ring with - his last outing being against the highly-touted Conor Benn, with Benn only taking the victory via a points decision. 

Keleher also battled to a hard fought draw against Glaswegian prospect Stewart Burt, and showed a stubborn resilience in both bouts.

Fighting for the British Challenge title will be exactly that for Surtees - a challenge; but no doubt one he will embrace in front of a lively home crowd. The County Durham boxer will be looking to secure his first title in what many expect to be an illustrious career, and will aim to use this bout to catapult himself into the domestic scene for the start of the new year.

The fight will take place on a packed end-of-year card at Rainton Meadows Arena, with former world title challenger Martin Ward hoping to cap off an unbeaten 2016, and local prospects Lee Mould and Mark White also aiming to impress and put themselves firmly into the mix for a title challenge of their own.

AUTHOR: Declan Bell