Foot Headlines Summer Rumble In Sunderland

As July approaches it means one thing for Northeast fight fans .... the ‘Summer Rumble’ is just around the corner, and this year’s show promises to be the best yet.

Jeffries’ flagship promotion is usually the biggest and best show of the year for the region’s fans and, although last year’s card didn’t have the headline fight that Jeffries wanted, it was still a superb show with the area’s brightest talent putting on some great performances.

This year’s Stadium of Light show, which takes place on Sunday July 16, has some mouth-watering bouts confirmed already, with more to come. Topping the bill is Sunderland’s hugely popular Glenn Foot, who defends his English super lightweight title against Gloucester’s unbeaten Akeem Brown. Foot won the title last time out against Philip Bowes, and the former Prizefighter champion will be looking to cement his position as one of the UK’s best fighters by pressing on for the British title soon. Brown has won all eight contests to date and is known as a slick boxer who will also be coming with his own obvious ambitions.

Also on the bill is Thornley’s Darren Surtees defending his Northern Area super lightweight title against Horden’s Anthony Hardy in a real ‘pick ‘em’ contest. Surtees took his unbeaten record to 7-0 last time out when he stopped Ross Jameson after six pulsating rounds, and the more experienced Hardy has stepped up to stake his claim in a guaranteed action fight.

Speaking about the two headline contests, Jeffries enthused: “The Summer Rumble is always my favourite show of the year and it’s already looking like our biggest and best one yet. Last year we were hoping to get Glenn Foot against Lee Mould on, which would have been a cracker. I offered the local lads at Glenn’s weight the chance to box for the title but nobody stepped up so we looked at other options and Akeem Brown has taken his chance. We did the same with Darren and as soon as it was offered, Anthony took the fight, and this one is hard to pick a winner. These are the type of fights that the fans want.”

As well as the headline fights, some of the region’s best talent will be on show. Isaac Macleod will take on experienced William Warburton, who is known as one of the best ’away fighters’ in the country. Macleod has looked superb since changing trainers to Graeme Rutherford and, provided he gets past Warburton, will be looking to bring titles home to Sunderland. Other fighters already confirmed for the show include upcoming European super-bantamweight title challenger Martin Ward, Peter Cope from Neil Fannan’s gym, and Surtees’ team mates from East Durham College Jay Hughes and Chris Wallace. Tom Walsh will be looking to build on his excellent debut and we will see the return of Newcastle’s big punching Basi Razaq. Middlesbrough’s exciting Troy Williams has also been added to the show.