Another year, another decade and another chance for Merseyside’s fighters to prove they are the best.

Last year we saw many Liverpool fighters challenge for titles such as Craig Glover, Anthony Fowler, and Sam Maxwell.

Amateur starlet, Blane Hyland, and St Helen’s Tom Aitchinson also made their debuts.

Number 5 – Tom Aitchison 

Tom Aitchison, who once was training alongside Robbie Davies Jr, currently holds a 2-0 record.

Tom made his debut back in October when he faced Paul Ducie at Liverpool’s famous boxing venue, Olympia.

A month later, the 24-year-old featured on the screens of both the UK and the US when he fought on the undercard of Callum Smith vs John Ryder.

Aitchison reckons he has had over 70+ amateur fights and only losing 18 of them which certainly proves he was a good competitor.

He also had the backing of former British Super-Lightweight title holder, Robbie Davies JR.

A very talented fighter and one that the whole of Merseyside should get behind with this brilliant prospect.

Number 4 – Blane Hyland 

Blane Hyland is another young talent that can certainly go far in the professional ranks.

The 25-year-old also made his professional debut in 2019 when he fought Steven Maguire on the MTK Global fight card back in November.

Blane mentioned he’d be looking to get back out before the Christmas break and he certainly did that when he fought Marius Vysniauskas.

Hyland trains at the Salisbury ABC gym where the likes of Sam Maxwell, David Price, and Derry Matthews trained as amateurs.

The tricky southpaw has claimed a Junior ABA Championship, a Senior Tri-Nations gold medal and places in two ABA finals.

Number 3 – James Heneghan

James Heneghan, who is a 21-year-old Super Middleweight from Liverpool, will be showing off his skills again at the end of February.

Heneghan’s fight last time out was against Geiboord Omier on the Rocky Fielding vs Paziwapazi card.

Despite not having any knockouts at the moment, the 21 year old certainly packs a punch and will be looking to have a big year in 2020.

Another very young talent that the whole of Liverpool should be keeping their eyes out for.

 

Number 2 – Thomas Whittaker-Hart

Thomas Whittaker-Hart made his debut back in March last year where he got a points victory at the Echo Arena against Przemyslaw Binienda.

Since then, the 24-year-old has featured three more times throughout the year including his outing against Josip Perkovic on the Smith vs Ryder undercard.

The Liverpudlian is currently managed by Tony Bellew and trains out of the Rotunda ABC.

 

Number 1 – Nick Ball

At the number one spot is Nick Ball who is 22 year old super featherweight from Liverpool.

Ball made his professional debut back in June 2017 and since then he has had 11 fights and 11 wins with 5 finishing inside the distance.

The 22 year old’s last time out was against Johnson Tellez which finished with a TKO in the 2nd round.

Nick will also be featuring on the Black Flash promotions card in Liverpool and he will be eyeing a title shot later on in the year.

A very talented fighter that has certainly proved himself will have the backing of Liverpool.

 

Honorable mention – Peter Mcgrail 

One of the most naturally gifted boxer’s Liverpool has offered from the amateurs in previous years.

Liverpool has produced many talented amateur fighters over the previous years such as Tony Bellew, David Price and more recently, Anthony Fowler.

Now, for a spot up there with the rest of them, Peter Mcgrail just needs to get through the qualifiers for his spot to be set in stone.

There’s a reason why many people are talking about the 23 year old and that is because of his World Series Amateur boxing record.

The Liverpudlian has a gold medal in the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, 2017 World Championships bronze medal, 2017 European Championships gold medal, 2017 U22 European Championships silver medal, 2014 Youth Olympic Games bronze medal and 2014 Youth World Championships bronze medal.

All Mcgrail needs to do now is get through the qualifiers and then the whole of Great Britain can get behind him at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Featured image taken by Simon David Bradley