Cheema back with a shut-out six rounder

Cheema catches Sampson with an uppercut. Pic: Manjit Narotra/BCB

AFTER close to two years away, Dylan Cheema – the lightweight once tipped for very big things – eased back with landslide points victory on Friday night.

On BCB’s s “Stand and Deliver” show at Birmingham’s Eastside Rooms, Cheema delivered, winning every session of his six rounder with Sheffield’s experienced Karl Sampson. Karl has lost more than he’s won, but he’s tough, competitive and durable.

With ring-rust removed, the Coventry 29-year-old can now resume his march towards titles steadily and sensibly. That was something winning the televised, high-profile Boxxer series prevented Cheema from doing back in 2022.

Dylan entered the one night “last man standing” tournament as a rank outsider with only two bouts to his name – and looked something special in surprisingly taking the top prize.

That made Cheema hot property: the raw novice found himself caught in the glare of intense media interest, thrust on big TV shows.

In truth, Cheema has never looked as good as he did in that competition. Points losses followed to Jordan Ellison and Robin Zamora, Dylan took a break, got married, became a father.

I’ve always considered the Boxxer tournament success a very mixed blessing. He got a major promotional contract because of it, yet was weighed down by expectation.

The point is not lost on veteran manager PJ Rowson.

“I have to go back to my original MO,” PJ told me. “The problem was he was a two-fight raw novice, the opportunity came along, he took it, boxed out of his skin and won.

“Suddenly, my two fight novice is in the spotlight, he was put up there in the headlights. What happened to him was very, very intensive – he had to concentrate on interviews, dealing with reporters, sorting out sponsorship rather than concentrate on learning his craft.”

Cheema is now free from those pressures. His performance on Friday suggests he still has plenty to offer.

“He didn’t look like he’d been out for all those months,” PJ said. “Throughout the six rounds there was nothing not to like – he had the speed, the movement, his punches were accurate. I hope to get him out before Christmas and I would like to see him compete for a title in 2026, he should be knocking on the door for a Midlands title.

“There are some big fights in the lightweight division and it would not take a lot of polishing for him to have a shot at something bigger.”

That was Cheema’s 10th straight win against those two losses. Sampson has won nine of 69 contests (one draw).