The Running Man

A little bit of snow and suddenly the nation is on standby. But I am glad to say that not quite everyone follows the conventional way. While many have been struggling to walk one East London man is going out of his way to run!

Ian Napa has left home to make sure he's in shape for his British bantamweight title defence against Jamie McDonnell at Brentwood Centre on January 22.

The big freeze has meant that Napa hasn't been able to run near his home in East London. Champions do things differently, so yesterday (Monday) off Ian went went with his trainer Brian Lawrence and booked into a hotel.

Drastic measures, maybe but Hackney's Napa (19-7) cannot afford to lose against his Yorkshire rival especially after being nominated to fight Frenchman Jerome Arnould for the vacant European title.
 
His promoter Frank Maloney who thinks it's a good idea said, "It is a wise move by Ian and the gym won't just keep him away from distractions."

"It has full gym facilities with a running machine, so his roadwork will not be neglected. He has been unable to run near his home because of the ice. If he fell over the fight would be off and he would lose the nomination to box Arnould.

"Ian knows that another defeat will end his world title aspirations and he would hate to retire having been one of British boxing's best talents never to challenge for a world title.

"This shows me how serious he is and Ian is even paying for the hotel out of his purse."

It won't be too much of a blow to his pocket if he performs well and wins the fighter of the night, because that will bring £500 his way.

Ironically the purse bids for 31-year-old Napa's fight against Arnold will take place a few hours before he faces McDonnell (12-2-1).

British boxing fans are in for a treat as the undercard of Napa vs McDonnell is stacked with decent matches including Napa's gym mate Ben Murphy 6(3KOs)-2-1 challenging Lee 'Cooky' Cook 12(3)-1(1)-1 for his BBBofC Southern Area lightweight title and unbeaten Ashley Sexton 8(4)-0 and Usman Ahmed 6-2-1 battling it out for the vacant English flyweight crown.

Heavy hitting Larry 'The War Machine' Olubamiwo 6(5)-1 takes a step up against Scott Belshaw 10(7)-3(2) in a six-round heavyweight contest. ABA champ Liam 'Cannonball' Cameron 2-0 takes on Geraint Harvey 7(3)-44(7)-0 at middleweight.

'Dappa' Napa's highly talented stable mate, super-middleweight,  Erick 'The Eagle' Ochieng 2-0 is also in action, against Plymouth's Gavin Brook 1(1)-4(2)-1, at this event.

Southampton's awkward southpaw Tony Hill 3(1)-0 in a middleweight contest against Latvian Alex ‘Pit Bull’ Spitko 6(4)-19(8)-0. Peterborough’s undefeated super-bantamweight Michael Maguire 5(2)-0 takes on another Latvian in Pavels Senkovs 2(2)-11-2.

Featherweight 'Kash The Bash' (Akaash Bhatia) 14(5)-1-0 takes on West Ham's awkward southpaw Mickey Coveney 9(1)-8(2)-0 and Swanley welterweight Martin Walsh 3(1)-0  faces debutant Terry Fletcher.

Also on the card are undefeated duo of heavyweight Tom Dallas 8(6)-0 and super-middleweight George Groves 7(5)-0  as well as former British super-featherweight champion Carl Johanneson 27(19)-4(3)-0.

Tickets can be purchased from frankmaloney.com.