On the big York Hall bill on Saturday, January 31, a cracking-looking match takes place between Brixton banger Ted Bami and Jozsef Matolsci, the Hungarian who floored and extended James Hare in a WBF welterweight title challenge last year.
Bami, a former WBF light-welterweight champ, will be conceding natural weight to his opponent, though fought at welter for much of his early career and will fancy his chances of licking the third Hungarian he will meet within a year: he stopped Laszlo Herczeg in nine rounds for the WBF title last April and, last time out in October, won on cuts in three rounds against Zoltan Surman at Bristol (a cut opened by a long right from Bami).
Still, the weight disparity explains the distance for this one: a six threes.
Bami, 14-2 [8], is rebuilding from a shock setback to South Africa's Samuel Malinga, who ripped the WBF light-welterweight title from him in just three rounds last July at Plymouth. Malinga, who had earlier trounced the formerly unbeaten Colin Lynes over here (who also appears on the York Hall bill), landed a vicious right in the third that sent the champion crashing to the canvas. Ted made it to his feet, but his legs were wobbly and referee John Coyle had no choice but to call it off. He was so dazed he believed he had been butted and wasn't convinced otherwise till he viewed the ending on a television monitor.
A real bolt out of the blue.
So it's back to the drawing board for the 25-year-old London barber who can undoubtedly bang, but clearly needs to improve his defence. His left arm was dangling dangerously when Malinga found the match-winning shot.
And opponent Matolsci showed good power in his brave WBF title challenge a weight up against James Hare last year. The unbeaten "Robertown Rocket" as Hare is nicknamed had won the vacant WBF welterweight title with an impressive points win over tough Ukrainian Roman Dzuman last June and defended it with a surprisingly-easy stoppage of former WBU champion Jan Bergman in two rounds in September. So he was right on top of his game, and there was even talk of an IBF title shot at Corey Spinks, when he made a seemingly routine second defence against unheralded Matolsci on the Brodie-Chi undercard in Manchester in October.
Best laid plans, as they say.
Well, not quite. Matolsci pushed Hare all the way before the referee finally spared the champion's blushes with a 10th round stoppage. But Matolsci had raised clear doubts about Hare's freshness (it was a sixth consecutive title fight for the Brit in just over 12 months), which Mexico's Cosme Rivera would exploit a fight - and just seven weeks - later (he stopped James in the 10th).
The Hungarian champion troubled Hare from the start, particularly with body shots - and dropped him with a left hook to the body in the fourth round, shortly after he had been floored himself. "The kid was tough and durable," admitted Hare afterwards. "If I'm honest, I left some of my sharpness in the gym."
"That's one of the lessons I can learn from this fight."
He didn't.
Matolsci, a 27-year-old from Debrecen in Hungary, is nicknamed "Shatter Machine" and brings a highly respectable 17-4 (12) record to the table. He represented his country in the world junior and European senior championships as an amateur, and, as a pro, challenged Michel Trabant for the European welterweight title in August 2002 in Berlin, losing in five rounds to a man later to put up a terrific fight for the vacant WBA welterweight title against Jose Antonio Rivera (losing on a majority verdict).
His two other defeats came in the States on points early in his career.
So it's clear the Hungarian is much better than his record suggests, and has a deserved reputation as a banger. He won the Hungarian welterweight title with a second round destruction of of Ferenc Szakállas in 2001. He seemed to rock Hare every time he hit him.
Physically, Matolsci looked a big welter against Hare (admittedly, not a big welter himself), and the stocky Bami may find himself muscled around in the clinches, or even in trouble if they both land big shots simultaneously.
Whatever happens, it should be a thriller.