Cheema free to be big hit again!

THE MIDLAND BOXING BEAT WITH MIKE LOCKLEY

- 

PICTURES: MANJIT NAROTRA/BCB PROMOTIONS

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

On BCB’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. Sampson 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.

Cheema 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. Cheema took a break, got married, and became a father.

I've always considered his 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.