Next For Billy ‘The Hit Man’: Eric ‘The Viking’

By Wilfred Sultana

‘The Hit Man' became a Semi-Professional Boxer in December 2011 with his April victory over Davey ‘Boy' Clarke (UK) seeing him better his ranking in the EBF Heavyweight category, moving up one place to 7th placing.

"The way Billy beat Ian Toby and Davey ‘Boy' Clarke in the January and April fights was impressive. We will improve his level of opponent each future fight so he will need to improve accordingly. I'm looking forward to watching his progress". This comment was expressed by Spencer Brown, Chairman of the European Boxing Federation.

Now the European Boxing Federation and local promoter Paul Borg move on to organise their third event since January where both past events drew capacity crowds. It is evident that local crowds are enjoying the level of boxing being shown and also the results being attained by the local boys. In fact in the January Night of Boxing out of six fights the locals won three, lost two and drew one. Going to the April event again out of six fights the locals won five fights.

Last April Corito retained the EBF Intercontinental Heavyweight Title Belt while Dione Galea won by points the EBF Intercontinental Title Belt Middleweight Category and Tyrone Borg also won by points the EBF Intercontinental Title Belt Cruiserweight Category. A night of local success indeed!

The MFCC at Ta' Qali will be hosting this third EBF boxing spectacle on Friday 20th July with the doors opening at 7.30 p.m.

In January Corito put down challenger Ian Toby in less then half way in the second of a six rounds fight while in April the Maltese boxer also won by a technical Knock-Out in the second round in a fight against Davey ‘Boy' Clarke which should have lasted six rounds of 3-minutes each session.

Now, Malta's unbeaten Billy 'The Hitman' Corito this week fights Eric 'The Viking' Thompson where he will be defending his EBF Intercontinental Heavyweight Title Belt. Corito has been described by Spencer Brown, Chairman of the European Boxing Federation as "A good fighter with a lot of power", yet;

"At 6ft 4in and 20 stones, Thompson is a monster of a man. He knows only one way to fight and that is all-out aggression. He has tested some of the very best in the country and is scared of no one," remarked well known boxing promoter John Ashton when referring to challenger Eric "The Viking".

Besides ‘The Hit Man' against "The Viking" boxing fans will be treated to seven other exciting fights.

Dione Galea will not only be defending the EBF Intercontinental Title Belt Middleweight category title in a fight against Jason Curtis, an EBF British Champion, but the winner will be declared EBF Super Middleweight category European Champion.

Tyron Borg will be defending his EBF Intercontinental Title Belt Cruiserweight category title in his fight against Cayan Hughes.

Other fights on the night will be Etienne Spiteri vs Paul Marsden, Justin Grech vs Mike Roberts, Joseph Bonello vs Gary Catterill, Brandon Borg vs Billy Shah and Lydon Chircop vs Omar Dusari.

One other significant personality on the night will be Francesca Falzon aged 11 years-old who suffers from Cystic Fibrosis, a disease that affects her lungs and pancreas. Francesca is constantly under heavy medication as no cure has yet been found for this life threatening disease. The organisers and all boxers involved in this Night of Boxing will be using the event to raise funds to be able to give Francesca and her family a holiday of a lifetime.

The main sponsors of the event are RE/MAX, The Party Bus Malta and Playa Lido. Other support was extended by Fortina Hotel, Golden Harvest, Badass Burgers, Barcelona Lounge, and Paparukai