Karl Place- Long Overdue

Karl Place- Long Overdue, September 17th Manchester Velodrome
By Jamie Albrecht

Clayton’s own fighting pride Karl Place will be looking to extend his impressive unbeaten campaign to the ring when he faces Mauritius’ Michael Frontin in what will be his first outing at Light-Welterweight, he intends to drop back down in weight after this one.

Karl has been very impressive in the run up to his latest confrontation, stopping the extremely game lightweight Steve Saville in 2 rounds (aired on SKY TV). The fight looked to be a difficult assignment for Place from the off, with Saville looking to rush in and pressurise with the primary intention of unsettling his man. When questioned over the effectiveness of this strategy, Place appeared unfazed; “If an opponent wants to rush in like that, I prefer it because it means he is making a fight of it and it entertains the fans”. Such an attitude will no doubt endear him to the boxing faithful as his career develops further.

When asked about the strategy for his next fight, Place expressed a confidence that he would come out on top. The 32 year old Frontin’s record does not overly suggest a tough night for Place, with only 2 wins on his ledger, but the home fighter remains cautious, “We know he has beaten some good lads like Ben Murphy (who at the time was an undefeated hot prospect) but we have a game-plan all worked out for him, so as long as I can stick to that I should come out with the win”.

Top prospect Karl also expressed a desire to get some rounds under his belt, and did seem to be overly concerned with getting the knock-out victory; “when your boxing in front of the SKY cameras, there’s always the pressure of getting the knockout and ending it early, because you want to put on a show good enough to get you noticed, whereas otherwise I can just settle down and get the rounds and experience I need to test myself”.

With Karl moving up in weight for this contest, the biggest question will surely centre on whether he can retain the considerable power that has brought him 5 KO victories in his 8 undefeated battles at Light-weight. This doesn’t look to be a serious worry though, as place is tall for lightweight (at 5”11) so should be able to carry the power up to a higher weight fairly easily.

Of course only time will tell with this particular point and the next chapter of Karl Place’s rising career, to be seen at the Manchester Velodrome on Friday, September 17th will go some way towards providing the answer.

Tickets for the “Long Overdue” VIP promotions show at the Manchester Velodrome on Friday, September 17th are priced at £30 (General Admission) and £50 (Ringside) Tickets available from WWW.VIPBE.CO.UK Doors open at 7.00pm, boxing commences 7.30pm