Area championships are enjoying a welcome resurgence in British boxing.

The titles regularly provide the best action on the domestic scene and serve a few important purposes.

An Area belt is more than a stepping stone for promising boxers on their way to the top. For some fighters, it is the pinnacle of their career and a belt they will fight tooth and nail to defend.

The fights provide young boxers with invaluable experience of preparing for long, championship distance fights and with local bragging rights as well as a belt on the line, the small hall promoters who generally stage the contests can use the fights as headline attractions, relatively confident of good ticket sales and competitive action. Many a future star began to build their fanbase on the Area title circuit. 

A series of well-matched, exciting fights have shone a well-deserved light on the titles recently.

On Saturday night, Jimmy Joe Flint outpointed Campbell Hatton over 10 give and take rounds to retain his Central Area super lightweight title in Sheffield while across the Pennines in Liverpool, Jake Harrison put his C.A bantamweight belt on the line against Hull’s unbeaten but unknown Logan Richardson.

Despite giving away height, reach and experience to Harrison, Richardson, 5-0 (1 KO), boxed as though he didn’t have a care in the world. The 23-year-old was a bundle of energy and pressed the action from the opening bell. Harrison, 8-1 (2 KOs) was a two-time national champion as an amateur and boxed nicely at times but Richardson learned on the job, figured out ways to get inside and made sure to let his hands go when he got there. 

Eventually, the pressure told and he decked Harrison with a massive overhand right at the end of the fourth round. He leapt off his stool to end matters in the fifth, putting Harrison over heavily with a stunning left hook. There was no need for a count. 

“I spoiled the party all right,” Richardson said after the fight. “I’ve been feeling it all week, especially when I came up for the weigh in. I’ve been enjoying myself. It didn’t sink in I was fighting until I got here tonight and I was getting wrapped up. I loved it.”

Before Saturday night, Richardson had never boxed anybody with a winning record, had never been scheduled for a fight longer than six rounds and had never boxed anywhere but the City Hall in his home city of Hull. Rather than ticking those little milestones off one by one, he jumped at the chance to travel to a rising champion’s backyard. The gamble paid off and Richardson is now the champion. His crowd-pleasing style and willingness to take on challenges could see him become a big attraction in a city waiting for a fighter to pick up the mantle carried for so long by Tommy Coyle and Luke Campbell. 

“Everyone was telling me that [it was a fight too early]. I knew it’d be a hard fight to start with,” he said. “I knew he’d be up and picking me off but I just knew I had to keep going forward pushing that pace and eventually I’d get him. Myself, I thought it was going to be round eight or later on but we got there a bit sooner.

“I’ve been throwing that shot in sparring and even dropped someone in sparring leading up to the fight with the same shot.

“It’s all about getting the right fights to get where you want to be. As long as you’re learning, it doesn’t matter if you lose. That might be a big learning fight for Jake. I believe he’ll come again.”