Hill closes in on title shot
Tony Hill has put himself on the verge of a title shot after an explosive victory over Paul Samuels.
The Southampton southpaw has jumped up to fifth in the British rankings after stopping his opponent after less than four minutes of their clash in Kent.
Hill took control of the fight early on against Samuels, a veteran in age and with a wealth of experience under his belt having fought the best middleweights in the country.
He was also ranked two places higher than Hill before the contest.
But, after taking stock, Hill unleashed early in the second and the referee jumped in to stop the contest 42 seconds into the round.
Hill’s delighted trainer, Wayne Batten, said: “We talked before the fight about what we wanted to do and Tony went out and did exactly that.
“Tony is an intelligent fighter and can read fights in the ring and he started out using his jab and then the left started coming over.
“We had a chat after the first round and Tony just went out and delivered.
“Samuels wasn’t very happy with the stoppage but Tony had him against the ropes and had thrown six to eight unanswered punches and that gave the referee a difficult decision.
“Tony looked so strong and so confident that I think he would have put him down quickly had it continued.”
The only disappointment for Hill over the weekend was the news that Martin Murray is taking on Nick Blackwell for the vacant British middleweight title, which has been vacated by Darren Barker.
Blackwell, aged only 20, is lower down the rankings than Hill and certainly doesn’t have opponents of the quality of Samuels and Kevin Concepcion on his record, as the 25-year-old from Southampton boasts.
Hill’s camp are just trying to remain focussed, hoping his crack at a belt is only just around the corner.
“We just have to keep working hard, doing the right things and believing we will get a shot,” said Batten.
“Tony is just getting better and better and we are ready, as long as we have the notice, for a title shot now.
“We have had offers to fight George Groves at super middle- weight and Matthew Macklin, but at a couple of days’ notice, which just isn’t enough.
“We are ready to fight anybody now on a level playing field.
“Tony has never looked more confident and said he felt so strong against Samuels, which is in part down to the work he has done with our conditioning coach, Simon Weatherall.
“The whole team around Tony is so strong as well at the moment, with the likes of Frank Hopkins in the corner on the night, and as always he had a great following from his fans, who we are really grateful to.”