Doran benefits from move to Hattons
Sunday December 5th is getting better and better all the time for the city's long suffering boxing fans. Connahs Quay light-middleweight Tom Doran has been added to the bill and will be fighting in his home town (roughly) for the first time in over a year, looking to show his loyal fans exactly what they have been missing. Since many last saw him live, the man many are calling ‘the new Calzaghe’ has moved on to 7-0 and has been snapped up by Hatton Promotions, a real sign of what those in the know believe he can achieve.
The homecoming means a lot to the affable Doran.
“It’s great to be getting one close to home. There are a lot of fans who for one reason or another are unable to travel round the country watching me, so I really want to put on a good performance for them. The fans mean so much to me.”
Doran is fresh off scoring his first knockout victory, smashing Birmingham’s Terry Adams to defeat in one round. It was a performance that impressed the youngster.
“I was made up to get the stoppage. I hit him early and he never really recovered. I then kept the pressure on and the referee stopped it. Some people may look at the record and think I don’t hit that hard, but look at the guys I have been fighting; these are hard lads who cover up well. Johnny Musgrave had never been dropped and I did it and nearly stopped him.”
It is true. Terry Adams, with all due respect, was the first guy Doran would be expected to stop. Not only did he do it, he did it in one round. Doran is doing everything that has been asked, and more. His education has been far more effective than throwing him in with knock over jobs, he is actually learning, and this will stand him in good stead for the years ahead. Teaming up with the Hatton’s has helped Doran even further according to the prospect.
“I have been getting great sparring down the Hattons' gym. I had a really enjoyable spar with Commonwealth champ Denton Vassell. It nice to be able to go toe-to –toe with someone, not many people can do that against me, it really helped. He has a fight coming up and so do I and I hear he wants to do some more sparring for those; that will be brilliant.”
Though one suspects that Doran will be involved in many top match ups over the course of his career, one fight stands out to the city's boxing fans as one they want to see, sooner rather than later. The name of cross city rival Omar Gumati, who will also be appearing on the show, looms large in the distance, with many people considering the possible match up as a real test of how good Doran actually is, some even picking Gumati as the man who will run this bandwagon off the road. It is a fight that certainly interests Doran.
“That would be an interesting one. I really hoped he would get the British Masters title so I could fight him for it, but he didn’t (Gumati gaining a hotly disputed draw against current champ Alex Matvienko) It’s a fight that should be for a title, a good local match that would spark interest. It wouldn’t be a good fight though; I have far too much for him. But people will get chance to see for themselves when we both fight on the 5th.”
The matter of fact way in which Doran says he is levels above Gumati shows that this isn’t hype, he genuinely believes it. What is equally certain is that the Gumati camp, and Gumati’s loyal fans will not agree with this assessment for a second. Boiling point has not been reached, it’s not even close, but it does seem as though the kettle has just been switched on.
So after a very successful year in the life of Tom Doran, what has the next year got in store for the ‘Dazzlin’ one? Tom has no concrete plans for what he wants to see happen, but certainly has a rough guide.
"I have no specific targets, but in the new year I want to have a couple 6x3’s and then I want to be going for titles. I want to have a big year ahead of me. My stamina is coming on all the time, I could have done the distance last time, I didn’t need to as I blasted him out, but it was there if I needed it.”
First stop is the Chester Racecourse on December 5th. The fans will get a chance to see all the improvements that have been made. One suspects that they will not go home disappointed.
