Brian Rose vs Carson Jones and Terry Flanagan vs Stephen Ormond: Boxing on TV this weekend

With two packed British cards take place on Saturday night, boxing fans are able to choose from a Prizefighter bill in Blackpool, or an excellent Lightweight main event in Wolverhampton.

Rose vs Jones and the Middleweight Prizefighters, Saturday 7.00pm, Sky Sports 1

The Prizefighter competition is now entering its seventh year, and despite the criticism often received from boxing purists, more often than not produces entertainment.

Many careers have been established from winning Prizefighter, from Martin Rogan to Martin Murray, while Audley Harrison enjoyed two career renaissances from his brace of victories.

This time around, the Middleweights are in action, with five of the eight participants currently undefeated. The bookies favourite is Ireland’s Luke Keeler at 2/1, who is 7-0 with five stoppage wins. He takes on the 8-1 Luke Crowcroft in the quarter-finals, and the 20-year-old is available at 20/1.

Whoever wins that quarter-final will then face the winner of Tom Doran and Craig Cunningham in the semi-finals, and Doran could be an outside bet, although the 11-0 fighter has only competed once since May 2011, so his stamina could be in question across three separate bouts.

open image in gallery

Doran is 9/1 to win the trophy, while Cunningham is 10/1, and the 11-0 Birmingham native has the type of patient style that often gels well within this format.

In the other half of the draw, Blackpool’s hometown hero Jack Arnfield puts his 17-0 record on the line, although the majority of his wins have been against mediocre opponents. Despite having not fought since November 2013, he is the second favourite to win the event, and his fans could sway the judges during close fights.

His opening opponent is 11-0 Mick Hill, who has only stopped one fighter during his career. The winner of that bout will meet with either the powerful Cello Renda, who lost in the final of Prizefighter back in 2008 against Martin Murray, or Liam Conroy, who is the underdog in the entire competition.

Also on the bill in Blackpool, former world title challenger Brian Rose has the 30th fight of his career against America’s Carson Jones, who gave Kell Brook a very tough match in 2012 before being dismantled by the Sheffield man a year later. Rose is a fundamentally sound boxer, who has probably reached his level in boxing, and a win against Jones, who has not had an impressive performance since that first Brook fight will tell us very little about his future potential.

Flanagan vs Ormond, Saturday 7.00pm, BoxNation

British lightweight champion Terry Flanagan holds one of the longest undefeated records in this country, having won his first 26 bouts as a professional. The 25-year-old was initially set to face Stephen Ormond earlier late last year, but the bout was rescheduled and now takes place for the WBO European lightweight title.

Dublin’s 17-1 Ormond is a very exciting boxer, and has performed excellently during his past few matches, beating the likes of Derry Matthews, and Adam Dingsdale. Despite a fairly modest 44% stoppage record, he packs power, and Flanagan will have to be wary for all ten rounds of their fight.

Flanagan lacks a name like Matthews on his resume, but because of his attritional style is the favourite with the bookies at 8/15, with Ormond a 2/1 underdog. Considering the stability of both boxers, either man on points would be the sensible bet depending on your favourite.

Also in Wolverhampton, the mercurial 17-0 Jamie Cox returns against Alistair Warren, exciting prospect Joe Costello competes with Sandor Horvath, while undefeated pair Craig Evans and Tommy Langford will also be looking for victory in their matches.