Upbeat James Beech ready for a stiff test against Raza Hamza

Beech, 14-3-0, takes on Birmingham’s undefeated Raza Hamza, in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, near Coventry. Despite coming off a loss to Denis McCann, Beech sees all of his experience against top fighters such as McCann and Brad Foster as an advantage for him.

He said: “Taking the McCann loss was a bit harder (than the Foster loss)... but he’s a special kid and fair play to him, I just got caught with one.”

“I haven’t looked much into Raza’s record, but I don’t think he’s ever done a 10-rounder, I know he’ll be fit and he’ll be prepared, but so will I, and I’ll be confident too.”

Having watched Raza, and sparred him before for previous training camps, James thinks that: “He has a good jab and a good counter backhand, but he doesn’t put them together like McCann or Foster and I don’t think he’s as strong either, but we will see come the night.”

“I feel confident for this one really, I don’t want to put Raza down but it’s a bit of a step down in level.

“I’ve lost my last one to Denis McCann, but I don’t believe Raza’s that level, so I’m excited for it, really.

“I don’t think Raza’s justified his hype yet, he hasn’t boxed anybody to be able to justify it yet, it might be his fault it might not be his fault.” Despite being confident James knows the reality of the fight, saying: “It’s definitely a 50/50 fight, we both need to be on our top games to beat each other.”

As a box-fighter, James has a dynamic style where he can be elusive and technical but also find himself in high paced scraps, where more often than not he proves to be the better man.

For this fight James has said: “There’s no specific game plan but I think I’ll be setting a high pace, and making him work. I think I could out tough him too if it came to it.”

For the fight James has had tough sparring with big names such as former opponent Brad Foster and fan favourite ‘Mexi’-Kane Baker. James believes this sparring will set him up perfectly for the fight. It’s been Brad and Kane mainly for sparring, and it’s good sparring, it’s been sharp sparring, fast pace sparring, probably a faster pace than the fight will be so, it’s what I really need.”