The Contenders: Langford, Speight & Day – Wales and Devon Fights Next?
Picture of Tommy Langford (c) Queensberry Promotions; Picture of Jamie Speight (c)Sport South Devon/Matt Green
There are three championship boxers from Devon, all flying the flag for the home county – Bideford’s Tommy Langford, Kingsteington’s Jamie Speight and Teignmouth’s Ben Day.
All three Devonians have moved away from home to further their boxing careers and each one has achieved title glory by doing so and plan to challenge for more belts this year.
The Contenders will keep you updated with a monthly column exclusive to Sport South Devon on their respective journeys to the top of the world.
Bideford’s Tommy Langford:
TOMMY LANGFORD
“The show for my next fight has now been announced, set to be at the Cardiff Ice Arena on July 16th.
It’s a big venue for me as Cardiff is right in the middle of Devon – where I grew up – and the Midlands – where I currently reside.
There’ll be some great fights on the show topped by Welshman Liam Williams defending his British title and also Bradley Skeete in a maiden defense of his Lonsdale belt.
It’s going to be a star-studded line-up featuring the up-and-coming talent coming through for Frank Warren.
It’s as close as you can get to watch me fight for the Devon fans; just half the distance and an easier drive than usual when I’m fighting in the Midlands.
I know I’ll be in with tough opposition at this stage now where every fight will be hard. The learning phases are over now, it’s all about upping the grade and pushing on to world level.
“It’s as close as you can get to watch me fight for the Devon fans; just half the distance and an easier drive than when I’m fighting in the Midlands.” – Tommy Langford
“I’ve been sparring WBO World super-welterweight champ Liam Smith and his brother Callum, who is mandatory for the WBC World super-middleweight title; the preparation doesn’t get better than that.
The World title is what I want, I just need a couple of more tough fights and then it’s all about getting that shot, which I know Frank will deliver for me.
So, hopefully next year, Devon could have a world champion!”
Kingsteington’s Jamie Speight:
JAMIE SPEIGHT
“There’s not a lot been going in the world of Jamie Speight, I’m afraid!
It’s been almost three months since my last fight, so it’s the longest layoff I’ve ever had as a professional boxer!
I haven’t completely been away from boxing: been coaching kids and adults in the gym and attending boxing shows. It’s actually been a bit weird being a regular human again and taking sandwiches to work, as normally it’s salad and pre-prepared diet food in a Tupperware box!
I’ve enjoyed the break but in the last three weeks, my feet have been itching and, as bad as it sounds, I’ve been wanting to get back to punching people! It is nice when you hit someone with a good shot and watch them grimace!
I went up to watch Lee Haskins fight in Cardiff as I helped him spar in the build-up to his IBF World bantamweight title defense to Ivan Morales who won widely on points to retain his world crown..
“It’s been a bit weird being a regular human again and taking sandwiches to work, as normally it’s salad and pre-prepared diet food in a Tupperware box!” – Jamie Speight
“Tonight was the first night back in the gym, hitting the pads. Sooner the better for me; I’ll fight whenever but it’s got to be a fight that gets me excited. I’m still the Southern Area champ at featherweight and there’s a few good boxers in that division that will want to win that prestigious title.
Ideally, the next fight would be local. I’ve mentioned it to Goodwin Promotions and there’s an interest there.
The English Riviera Centre in Torquay is the perfect venue and holds 1,200; it’s where I won my first title – the International Masters light-welterweight belt.
What the area needs is to get behind professional boxing shows so that we can get events back here regularly and prove to the promoters that we can sell out venues”
To follow the contenders’ progress via Twitter, click the relevant link:
@Tommy_Langford1
@boxerjayspeight
@benday32
