Derbyshire boxing duo looking to shine in domestic spotlight

Ryan Fields and Russell Henshaw, under the tutelage of Spire coach Robbie Sivyer, are ready to push their way up the rankings towards the domestic glory they both crave.

Both Fields and Henshaw will be in action on Friday night, as part of Dave Coldwell’s Men of Steel show and both are prepared to make big statements.

Sivyer said: “We haven’t had any news on opponents yet, but that doesn’t matter to these two, as they will get in with anyone.

“Things have been going fantastic. I couldn’t ask for two better lads in Ryan and Russ, because they both train tremendously hard.

“Preparation has been great and I genuinely couldn’t ask for more. They are both really up for it as well, and they’re both good ticket sellers, which will keep Dave happy!”

Fields is the bigger name, and will enter the ring at Ice Sheffield with a 4-2 record, but he recorded a good victory over Ramon Levy-Vassie back in September.

The Belper welterweight also has the experience of fighting abroad, when he travelled to Denmark to take on 2012 Olympian Anthony Yigit in February this year.

Fields was happy with his last performance and is looking to head towards domestic titles this season.

He said: “It was a good performance against that last kid. He did catch me early, but I recovered and won it pretty easily in the end.

“I made a mistake early on, but I didn’t panic and was just too good for him in the end. It’s been a good few months for me, especially after stopping Matt Seawright the fight before, because not many people manage to stop him.

“I want to see how far I can go this year, so I’m going to give it 100 per cent and see where I go. If I do well, I can keep moving up the rankings. I want to fight some good kids and I can gradually start stepping up the rounds, then whatever happens, happens.”

As for Ilkeston’s Henshaw, Friday night will be the first time he enters the ring as a professional fighter. The experienced amateur will be looking to enter the pro ranks with a bang and says it’s all guns blazing from here.

“I’m buzzing for it,” he said. “I can’t tell you how excited I am. Preparation has been perfect. I’ve had a good dietician in and worked out a good diet plan, which I thought would be the hardest bit, but I’ve enjoyed it. I’m going in there, all guns blazing because that’s how I roll.”

Despite not having had a single professional fight, Henshaw certainly doesn’t lack in confidence, as he has already had some world class sparring with world title challenger, Tony Bellew.

Sivyer said of the sparring: “That was Russ’ baptism into the pro game. We decided to turn him pro and I rang Dave up and asked if he had any sparring for a cruiserweight and he said I’ve got Tony Bellew.

“I wasn’t sure but I rang Russ and offered him the chance and he jumped at it. You’ve got to take your hat off to him for that. Dave said people have avoided sparring Bellew, but Russ took the morning off work and had a real good go at him.”

Sivyer is confident that he can lead both fighters towards title glory and believes that both their paths to the top of the domestic rankings will begin on Friday.

He added: “Russ will put bums on seats, he’s an exciting cruiserweight.”

“He isn’t looking to get in there and survive the fight, he wants to get in there and do some damage.

“We’re looking for Ryan to move towards title, possibly starting with the Central Area. We’ll take it one step at a time, similar to what Curtis Woodhouse did and he ended up winning the British title.

“The area titles are what we are looking for at the minute, but there is no reason why Ryan Fields cannot fight for a British title, I rate him that highly.”