Tom Doran - Calzaghe's successor?
When Tom Doran makes his professional appearance at the Deeside Leisure Centre in Queensferry on November 28th, the whole of the North West, if not the country will be watching. (To be fair, some might be watching Barker v Elcock on ITV4 but I love the optimism - Ed.) This man, according to many, is one of the most sure-fire prospects to turn pro in many a year. A Stellar amateur, he has been labelled in certain quarters as ‘the best Welsh prospect since Joe Calzaghe’. Fine praise for the 21-year-old light-middleweight from Connahs Quay.
“It’s nice for people to say things like that. Yes, it’s going to bring some extra pressure but that’s not a bad thing is it?”
Doran, who also works as an aircraft fitter, speaks with a self assuredness of a man who knows full well, that if he reaches his potential he will be going far. Since he turned pro, his performances have captured the public's imagination and only justified his tag as 'Calzaghe's successor'.
It has been a long journey, since he first laced on those gloves many years ago.
“I started when I was six. I went down the gym with my Dad who was training at the time. I always worked hard but a lot of people said I was a natural.”
And boy, was he. Tom went on to become one of the finest Welsh amateurs in recent years. Fighting out of Shotton ABC, the roll call of his achievements is mightily impressive and has brought him to the attention of fans and promoters alike.
“I had a good amateur career. It would be better to speak to Shane (Thomas, Doran’s amateur and professional trainer) I stopped counting ages ago. But I know I won two Welsh championships at schoolboy level. One as a youth and one as a senior, that was this year. I won a Silver medal at the four nations; I think that was in 2005. I lost a majority decision to Amir Khan, but I think we were only 12 at the time!”
Shane Thomas has stated that Tom had ’78 fights as an amateur and winning 68, and some of those defeats were when he started out as a schoolboy’.
This was a quote taken before this year’s Welsh Championships which Doran dominated. On the way to the final he beat well respected Michael Innes before, before defeating Ian Jenkins 9-5 in the final. It was the perfect way to end his career in the vest and head guard and a new chapter in his life was due to begin. This chapter would open with a meeting with Oliver Harrison, the man who guided Amir Khan for the first few years of his professional life.
“I’m with Oliver Harrison. I spoke to him after the championships. I went down there and I liked what I saw. He has some good lads and I went with him.”
Harrison always seemed a perfect choice as mentor for Doran. Oliver already has close ties with a number of Chester fighters and has regularly been promoting shows in the historic City. Not only will he get to learn with some great match-making, he will get to do it at regular intervals in front of his home fans.
Obviously, as his profile increases new fans will come to see the Welsh fighter, so what should they expect, style wise? At the moment they have a wealth of choice depending on what they like. They have stylists such as Chris Goodwin and Omar Gumati (a man many feel is very unlucky not be a Masters champion after his hotly disputed draw against Alex Matvienko). They also have pressure fighters such as Paul Economides( when he gets back from first round KO loss to Stephen Russell) and Kevin Buckley (when Buckley gets back from his latest injury setback of course) Doran feels he has a bit of everything.
“My style will of course depend on what the fight is like. But I do like the counter-boxing and then working in bursts. I have to say I am more of a stylist than a brawler. However, since I have turned pro I have made big strides, I am punching so much harder, I have to wear so much tape now! My guard has become tighter, not that it wasn't that tight anyway. And I'm also picking up the work rate, becoming much busier.”
Tom knows however, that when he steps into the ring against Gethin that he is in for a hard night. Despite not having the best of records, if you dig a bit deeper you will see that he has beaten guys like Tyan Booth and Craig Dickson. A superb learning curve, acknowledged by the youngster.
“I know he works hard, comes to win and he's tough. Mark Thompson once gave me a DVD of his fights, I had a look and low and behold his match against Gethin was there, the first one where he won over six rounds, that's really gonna help.”
So, the question is, how far does Tom Doran think he can go? And what are his plans for the next twelve months? Doran is very clear on what he can do and where he wants to go.
“I can go all the way. I just want to keep on winning, move up to six round fights and then I want to start fighting for titles, maybe an area or Welsh one”
What strikes me when I speak to Doran is that there is never any bragging, never any threats to opponents, never anything that ever implies that he is nervous. There is just a clinical attitude, an acceptance that he has the power to do something very special with his career, now it is all about proving it, and that work starts with Darren Gethin.
