Indeed 2012 has been an outstanding year for Malta’s Billy Corito who has only been a semi-professional on the European Boxing Federation (EBF) books since December 2011.
Yet, last year ‘the Hitman’ featured victoriously in four big fights, confronting Ian Toby in January, Davey Clarke in April, Eric Thompson in July and Harry Duiven Jr in December.
In so doing he stretched his unbeaten record to 11 victories out of 11 fights – nine of which were KO wins with the other two on points.
Furthermore, Corito retained the EBF Intercontinental Heavyweight title belt and moved further up the EBF category rankings.
In fact, following his stunning performance in 2012 the Maltese boxer, who started in eighth place, moved up to fourth by the end of the year.
Now, the way forward for Corito is a massive fight for the no.1 position. On April 5 he fights against the EBF third-ranked Micky Cotcher, known as ‘The Butcher’, at the Monte Cristo Estates in Ħal Farruġ.
The six-foot Cotcher has won 29 out of his 32 fights by KO. The winner of the fight next month replaces Chris Bacon at the top of the rankings. The latter has just retired thus the top place is currently vacant.
Corito is preparing for this big challenge under the expert eyes of Barry Smith, a professional trainer from London’s Trad Tko Gym.
“Billy surprised me with his natural movement and speed,” recalled Smith who already travelled twice to Malta to assess his boxer and guide him through an intensive training programme.
Smith will also be ringside during the Corito-Cotcher big night fight where he is most confident that “Billy will win and I’m aiming for a knockout from him!”
The forthcoming Malta Night of Boxing will again be organised by local promoter Paul Borg and the European Boxing Federation.
The main sponsors will be RE/MAX, Fortina Hotel, Party Bus Malta and MedAsia Playa.
Other support is extended by Golden Harvest, Badass Burgers, Barcelona Lounge, TeamSport and London Butcher.
Besides the main Corito-Cotcher fight – made up of six rounds of three minutes each – the night’s fight card will also include nine other bouts involving local and EBF-nominated boxers of various categories.
Some of the fights on the card at Monte Cristo Estates – all made up of four rounds of two minutes each – will be belt-determining en-counters.
Tickets selling at €25 (VIP), €20 (seated) and €15 (standing) are available from the London Butcher, Gżira, The Art of Fighting Kick Boxing Club, Fgura, and TeamSport, l-Iklin.
The programme
1. Lydon Chircop vs Billy Wilkinson – Super Bantamweight;
2. Daniel Attard vs Raif Siddiq;
3. Steve Martin vs Shakeeb Ali;
4. Brandon Borg vs Mikey Worswick – Light Welterweight;
5. Etienne Spiteri vs Shane Bowmer – Light Welterweight;
6. Hershen Sciberras vs Alex Ferguson;
7. Ronald Tabone vs Billy Snaith – Middleweight;
8. Dione Galea vs Mickey Mags – Super Middleweight (Galea defends his EBF title); and
9. Tyrone Borg vs Wayne O’Neill – Light Heavyweight (Borg defends his EBF title).