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  UK Boxing: Caoimhin Agyarko, Kieron Conway, Sean McGoldrick

  As he prepares for to fight on the biggest stage of his life, unbeaten light-middleweight Kieron Conway has credited his father for steadying the metaphorical ship at crucial times.
   
  The promising 22-year-old from Northampton (8-0-KO3) has earned a slot on the Amir Khan v Samuel Vargas show at Arena Birmingham on Saturday; a card broadcast live on Sky Sports.
   
  Full of confidence and ambition, Conway readily admits he often needs to be reined in in order to avoid mistakes both in and out of the ring.
   
  Conway said: “I’ve been bad for getting ahead of myself in the past. I’ve been over-eager and my old man has to settle me down.
   
  “It’s not just in the ring but it’s in the gym as well. My Dad is a massive influence on me. I don’t tell him that often though!
   
  “My Dad is there for me 24/7 and no matter what time I try and get hold of him, he’s there. He’s always studying something that we can do to improve.
   
  “As for sparring, we go absolutely everywhere. We’ve been to Liverpool and Manchester recently and I’ve been in with the likes of Tommy Langford and Jason Welborn. I’m still learning so much.
   
  “I’ve learned a lot from the last fight. I was too eager there because I had the wrong mentality and didn’t try to open anything up. There were too many single punches.
   
  “I’m going to settle down a bit and open things up more. Any other time, I could’ve got my last opponent out of there but I went about it the wrong way and it was another experience I’ll learn from.”
   
  Joining Conway on a stacked bill are MTK Global stable-mates Akeem Ennis Brown, Sean McComb and Steven Donnelly.

  

  Unbeaten bantamweight Sean McGoldrick believes Wales is on the verge of a boxing renaissance ahead of MTK Global’s show in Cardiff on Friday.
   
  The Newport star (7-0-KO2), who won a Commonwealth gold medal as an amateur, fights in front of his home fans at Vale Sports Arena on a card topped by former British and Commonwealth light-middleweight king Liam Williams.
   
  With other local talents such as Jacob Robinson starring on the iFL-streamed card, McGoldrick is relishing the prospect.
   
  McGoldrick said: “I’m really looking forward to Friday. I’m expecting it to be very loud in there and for it to be a great atmosphere.
   
  “I’m excited for my friends and family to get to see me box without having to travel. I’m happy for them and I hope they all have a really good night.
   
  “Liam Williams is probably Wales’ highest-profile boxer. All the fighters coming through look up to him and he’s a great fighter. It’s inspiring to reach the kind of levels he’s achieved and is going to achieve in future.
   
  “Boxing is definitely on the rise and we’ve loads of talent down here. With MTK Global signing more of the Welsh fighters, I think it’s the start of something big.
   
  “I’ll look to fight for a title before the end of this year. Sometimes it doesn’t work out but personally I think I’m ready to push on and start fighting for these titles.”
   
  Joining McGoldrick and Williams on the stacked Cardiff card is MTK Global stable-mate Robinson along with a host of other big local names.

  Belfast amateur Caoimhin Agyarko has signed a management and promotional deal with Frank Warren Promotions as he makes the decision to turn over to the professional ranks.
   
  His decision to enter the pro game became easier after witnessing professional boxing first hand a short while ago in his native Belfast.

  “I was invited down to Windsor Park for the Frampton fight by Frank and it was just an amazing experience. I met the team, the fighters and everyone were just great to me, it made my decision to sign a very easy one.

  “Since I was seven years old it’s been a dream of mine to turn professional.” said the 21-year-old, a feat he has now achieved after a long and successful campaign in the amateurs.

  “I’ve had over 130 fights, 110 of them in Ireland only losing 11 times. I won 6 national titles including an Irish senior national title earlier this year. I boxed 40 times for Ireland and boxed for them in the World and European championships.

  “I also boxed in the WSB [World Series Boxing] for Italia Thunder in my final amateur fight in April and had a good win there as well.”

  Agyarko won his World Series Boxing bout after being drafted into the Italian team and impressed in the professional-styled contest. He managed to defeat and impressively stop his French opponent in the fourth round of their five-round fight; the only boxer to claim a stoppage victory during France Fighting Rooster’s 3-2 victory against the Italia Thunder.

  Despite all his success, it was missing out at the pinnacle of the amateurs which was the catalyst to his decision to turn professional.

  “My goal was to go to Rio [2016 Olympics] and The Gold Coast [2018 Commonwealth Games] but I narrowly missed out on both.

  “I was going to stick around for the next Olympics because I was number one in Ireland and the qualifiers were just around the corner but personally it just felt like it was the right time to turn over to the professional ranks.” said Agyarko.

  He continued: “My style of boxing is built for the pro’s and even from a very young age, turning pro is something I’ve always wanted to do. 

  “I’m one of those fighters which have no problem going on the back or front foot. I’m a big hitter for a middleweight and people think because of this I can’t box but I do like to use my speed and my boxing ability to beat opponents as well and can adapt to any fighter I face.”

  Turning professional means Agyarko will be moving away from Belfast’s Holy Trinity boxing club and has migrated to London to join up with boxing trainers’ Al Smith and Eddie Lam at the iBox Gym.

  “It’s a great gym with great fighters like Bradley Skeete, Johnny Garton, Johnny Coyle. I was over for twelve days training with them and I enjoyed my time there, so I decided this is where I want to be trained.”

• 
  Conor Benn Set To Return, October 27 In London

  And Boxing Scene understands that the 21-year-old will be back in action in a few weeks' time.

  Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing are set to stage a card at the Copper Box Arena in London, exclusively live on Sky Sports, on October 27.

  The card, which has yet to be formally revealed, is to be headlined by four title fights.

  Ted Cheeseman and Asinia Byfield will meet for the vacant British super-welterweight title, while Ryan Doyle will make the first defence of his Commonwealth featherweight title against undefeated talent Jordan Gill and Ryan Walsh and Isaac Lowe fight in a rematch for the former's British title at 126 pounds.

  The fourth title fight, plus further supporting fights, will be added to the card in due course.

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  One-Sided Referee Saved Shawn Porter In Our Fight: Granados

  Adrian Granados gives Shawn Porter credit for doing enough to beat him on the scorecards 10 months ago. Granados contends, though, that he deserved better than losing by the identical wide distance, 117-111, on all three judges’ scorecards. The junior welterweight contender also feels Porter received help from referee Gary Rosato during that 12-round welterweight bout November 4 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

  In particular, Granados doesn’t understand why Rosato provided Porter with time to recover when there was 1:47 to go in the 11th round.

  That’s Porter bent over, turned away from Granados following an exchange near the ropes and looked toward his father/trainer, Kenny Porter, in his corner. Rosato warned Granados for using his elbow during that sequence, which caused about a 13-second break in the action.

  “I think I could’ve beat Porter,” Granados told BoxingScene.com. “I think I was even close to stopping him towards the end. But the one thing I haven’t even said in any interviews is that I was very upset with the refereeing in that fight. I thought it was one-sided. The referee kept breaking my momentum. Every time he would separate us, he would push me again. There was no need for that. He repeatedly pushed me extra.

  “And then there was even one time Shawn hurt his hand, and I came in to hit him more, and he stopped me and made sure he was OK. Like, ‘Are you OK?’ He let him talk to his corner and then he let him continue. It’s like, ‘C’mon, man.’ It’s a fight, you know? I thought he saved Shawn there. Because I even remember I heard in the corner he was ready to give up already. But, you know, his dad pushed him [to continue]. But I think Shawn got some help from the referee in that fight.”

  Showtime analysts Al Bernstein and Paulie Malignaggi criticized Rosato in the 11th round for continually pushing Granados harder than Porter when he separated them throughout a fight marred by continuous clinching.

  Porter revealed after their bout that he hurt his left hand in the sixth round and couldn’t use it the way he wanted during the second half of it.

  The former IBF welterweight champ will fight for the first time Saturday night since he defeated the Chicago-based Granados (18-6-2, 12 KOs, 1 NC) by unanimous decision. The Akron, Ohio, native will face Philadelphia’s Danny Garcia (34-1, 20 KOs) for the vacant WBC welterweight title in the main event at Barclays Center in Brooklyn (Showtime; 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT).

  Granados, who called Garcia-Porter “a 50-50 fight,” laments a lost opportunity in his own bout with Porter (28-2-1, 17 KOs).

  “I don’t take away that he beat me,” Granados said. “He did beat me. But it took me a while to kind of figure out what fight to come with [against] him. And once I realized that I could fight him with the bully fight, too, like wrestle with him, he kind of like broke down and he just started running. Towards the end, it was just kind of like disgusting how much he kept holding and putting his head down.

  “He was doing anything just to survive, and the referee never gave him a warning for anything. It was always me being warned and me getting the lower end of the fight. … There’s no excuses. Like I said, Shawn did beat me that night. I just feel like he got help from that referee.”