Berry to face a tough Mexican in Cannock
Nyall Berry at the press conference for Saturday’s bill. Pic: Aidan Hewitt
NYALL Berry will face a tough Mexican – is there any other kind – on the big Chase Leisure Centre, Cannock, show this Saturday.
In the opposite corner will be Guadalajara’s Erick Omar Lopez, a seasoned 31-year-old who now does his boxing out of Britain.
Chelmsley Wood’s explosive English super-bantam champ will do well to win inside the scheduled six rounds. In 51 outings, Lopez has failed to hear the final bell just once.
The Mexican’s record shows a man whose hunger has faded, with more losses than wins, but he cannot be taken lightly.
He’s faced good men, lost on a split decision for the WBC silver belt at flyweight and is seasoned with 51 bouts on his record. He’s lost 31.
According to Saturday’s promoter, Scott Murray, the plan is to gain a British title fight for Nyall, aged 26, sooner rather than later.
“I’ve shown I can make the weight, I was within touching distance of it last time. That’s where my future lies,” Berry told me recently.
He has suffered defeat and appears to have come back stronger.
Last year, Italian Francesco De Rosa stopped him in eight for the IBF version of the European super-bantam title.
Nyall left the Coventry ring tearful and utterly dejected, studied what went wrong and has peeled off four wins since. In March, redemption was completed by a chilling third round demolition of Lewis Frimpong for the English belt.
“I’ll be completely honest with you, that loss still sticks in my head,” Nyall said. “I’m not constantly thinking about it – my sparring is good, I’m still the same person, but it did devastate me on the night, it’s not completely out of my head.
“I have a lot of pride and it hurt my pride. For me, it’s natural that boxing brings the emotion out. This is my life and I’m struggling to make it happen, so you’re bound to be emotional.”
Importantly, Nyall remembers what defeat tastes like and doesn’t want to taste it again. He is better for it, he insists.
He added: “The dream is a world title, that’s the dream. I’m 26, there’s lots of time to make it happen and, yes, I believe it will happen.”