Griffiths wants to be BCB’s next big name

Ryan Griffiths…Dudley newcomer unbeaten in two

BLACK Country apprentice pro may well be the dark horse of Tommy Owens’ eight man lightweight Top Boxer tournament.

The 22-year-old has only two contests under his belt, but I watched him outpoint Karl Sampson at Dudley Town Hall in June and was impressed. He applied intelligent pressure against a strong, tough opponent.

On September 9, at Solihull’s Planet Ice, Dudley’s Griffiths risks his “0” in Top Boxer. If he wins it, he’ll walk away with £6,000.

At yesterday’s press conference, held at Planet Ice, Griffiths oozed confidence.

He said: “(Manager) Errol Johnson (BCB boss) knows how these tournaments work, you’ll get the best out of me.

“In fights of three rounds, three minutes each round, you’ve got to be on your game from the get go.”

He told me: “My last opponent was Karl Sampson. I know he’s been around, but he still comes to win, he’s taken the ‘0’ from prospects. I surprised myself how well I did.

“I went on holiday for a week and when I came back, Errol said, ‘there’s a prize-fighter type tournament if you want it’. I’m not scared of losing my ‘0’. I don’t want the traditional route of going in with guys I know I’ll beat.

“Most of these guys (in Top Boxer) are undefeated. If I didn’t take this, I wouldn’t be fighting guys like this until 10 or 11 fights in. I’ve sparred the like of Gully Powar. Liam Davies is in training camp with me. Tyler Denny is in training camp with me, so is Zak Parker.

“Liam is very skilful, Tyler is always working, even when there’s not a fight coming up, the way he approaches conditioning work…I take something from all of them.

“I want to be the next BCB boxer to put their name on the map.”

If Griffiths wins Top Boxer, he’ll take a big step towards achieving that.