Ringside Report Takes a Closer Look at Boxer Kieron Conway
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By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart
According to a recent interview he did in Boxing News, the surprising thing about Kieron Conway, 14-1-1, 3 KO’s, is that he can speak a bit of Polish. What is unsurprising is the effect he has had on the British boxing scene.
Having started at the game form age 11 he has built up a very decent record and is one of the lesser well know names that shall herald the return of boxing in the UK as he takes the ring against Navid Mansouri for the British title and the vacant WBA intercontinental super welterweight belt in one of Matchroom’s fight camps.
Eddie Hearn of Matchroom and DAZN, not having a bubble like Bob Arum, nor a BT studio like Frank warren is doing all of his fights, literally, in the back garden. It may sound like folly to do all of your comeback contests in the open air in a country famed for its rain, but Hearn likes the unconventional and this is certainly it.
As boxing returns not just to the UK but the world, there are a number of questions being asked – rightly of is place and how shall we be able – safely – to do it. If the organization goes under the spotlight, then so do the fighters. Conway represents, for me, the bright young prospects with a bit of a blemish on their record who could have been tempted to give it all up. That he has not is testimony to many things, not least himself.
The bills that are being promoted behind closed doors in the UK have about 5 or 6 fights in them and are under the banner headline of one main fight. Conway won’t headline but one of the major tests of any boxing card is the quality of the undercard. Now volume won’t make up for the lack of competitive edge in the ring. We need truly genuine spectacle. There needs to be a lack of avoiding people like we had before. Conway epitomizes that as a man who made his debut in a small hall in Bedworth, England, against Sonny Whiting on the 25th February 2017 should.
We all got to sit up and pay attention to Conway when he took the once unstoppable Ted Cheeseman – another fighter going to be in the ring and on show in Hearn’s back garden, and scored a draw in a British title fight. Cheeseman has come refreshingly clean about the problems he was facing at the time he was one of the biggest prospects – the gambling – but he was a machine and everyone was very positive about his future. By the time he shared a ring with Conway he had already lost to Sergio Garcia in a European title fight so we were a little less enamored by his progress but Conway was a test, a stepping stone but he turned out to be far more than that – he was stone stuck in his shoe, stopping him from marching on.
Cheeseman was convinced at the end of the fight that he had done enough but he came up against a guy who not only fought his socks off but was a slick operator. It ended with scores of 116-113 (Conway), 115-114 (Cheeseman) and 114-114. Cheeseman had proven that he had the skills but his relentless high work-rate, particularly late on, seemed to suggest he might just take it on points as Conway was tiring but having done his work early on, Conway managing to take the onslaught particularly a big uppercut in the final round and hold onto the draw.
Conway had a very decent 2019 and the hope was clearly that he would kick on and make his international splash sometime n 2020 but there was that COVID thing and things went much slower for him. At the tail end of 2019 he took on Craig O’Brien, the Irish champion, at York Halland got a points win it capped a year where he beat Konrad Stempkowski on points in Newcastle, was part of the Ultimate Boxxer series that is fronted by Paulie Malignaggi and Ricky Hatton where boxers go through a knockout tournament in one night but fell at the semi final stage to derrick Osaze, having beaten Kaan Hawes in the quarter final. Around these exciting and highly public outings he managed to do the business against Harry Mathews in his home town of Northampton and Gabor Gorbics in Peterborough. He is now facing a very competent and dangerous opponent in Mansouri – we shall see what his mettle is truly about.
As Ali once said, it is not the losses but the recovery and Conway has been highly impressive in taking the loss, getting that draw and is now on the cusp of a British title. Just 23 years old, the future does look particularly bright. He is a hungry guy as he showed in an interview before his fight with Irishman O’Brian. “I 100 percent want another fight for the British title in 2020. I just have to keep winning fights, and I will be in position.”
He certainly has managed that and now we shall see if he can manage that mountain and then decide what mountain to climb next. We have a contest here – long may it continue…
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