Big Bang

The Matchroom Sports promoted “Prizefighter” series has seen fighters given the exposure and chance to either resurrect their career, as in the case of Audley Harrison or a chance to really make a name for themselves, as shown by Martin Rogan and Willie “Big Bang” Casey. On Saturday (07/08) Casey fights for the second time since his May triumph in the Prizefighter Super Bantamweight tournament and looks to improve his unbeaten record.

Although at 28 the Limerick based Casey isn't a youngster, he's looking to build on his profile from the Sky Sports promoted tournament and is really putting together a career that took a while to take of. After debuting in October 2008 against Carlos De Jesus and scoring a 2nd round TKO Casey would be out of the ring for almost a year before returning to beat Bulgarian Stoyan Serbezov. Though it was the win over Serbezov that seemed to kick start things and in the following 10 months Casey has flourished in the ring to become one of the hottest Irish fighters out there at the moment.

With an impressive victory against the 10-0 Canadian Tyson Cave in Canada Casey provided he could cope away from home though few expected him to be the star of the Prizefighter series in which he was exceptional. He showed a high octane style that was built around aggression and excitement, despite having come in as a late replacement for Wayne McCullough he stole the show. In the opening round he stopped Mark Moran who was much more experienced, before following it through with points victories over Josh Wale and Paul McElhinney.

The southpaw has only fought once so far since then, scoring a stoppage over tough Frenchman Faycal Messaoudene (who had only been stopped once in his preceding 20 fights, by Scott Quigg, a fighter previously featured on Prospect Scotting) to go to 9-0 (6). In his upcoming bout, his 7th of 2010 he faces the relatively tough but very beatable Italian Emiliano Salvini (13-11-1) who has only been stopped twice. Salvini has been in with very good opponents and in the tougher fighters, having fought for the European Bantamweight title late last year and taken the German prospect Marcel Meyerdiercks the distance just a few months ago. An impressive win for the Irish fighter should see him put into serious contention for a European or international title fight. Interestingly Kiko Martinez fights for the European Super Bantamweight title against Arsen Martirosyan in September. Martinez famously flattened popular Irishman Bernard Dunne in 2007, maybe making the match a very easy to market one.

Fast approaching his 29th birthday (in December) “Big Bang” isn't an old fighter, his 9 fights to date have been just a combined 37 rounds, he has time on his side and a style that doesn't need to be massively altered for his progression. Hopefully a win will see him pushing on to bigger and better things, with a fight arranged already for September confidence is high for a fighter who is seriously making a name for himself on the domestic circuit.