IAN NAPA vs COLIN MOFFETT

Ian Napa, the British bantamweight champion, is delightful to watch, a real craftsman. His big problem is that he lacks stopping power, with just one inside the distance win in 22 fights — and that was when his opponent, Lee Haskins, suffered an arm injury.

I don’t think that the old “can’t crack an egg” expression really applies, however. Napa throws punches with good form and he can get an opponent’s attention. It’s just that his punches are usually thrown fast and not with a lot of leverage.

There will be a lot of these rapid-fire punches from Napa on Friday when he defends his British title against an unlikely challenger, Colin Moffett, a 33-year-old from Belfast who has lost 11 of his 23 bouts.

Napa is a well-liked fighter who has fought tough opposition. If he wins on Friday he will deservedly take permanent possession of the beautiful Lonsdale Belt (awarded for four victories in British title bouts in the same weight division).

Moffett has been around a while — he turned professional 12 years ago. Although Moffett has been stopped six times it was mostly due to being cut. His last six bouts have gone the distance.

As sometimes happens, Moffett has improved with maturity. His last fight saw him give his finest performance when he hammered the previously undefeated Eugene Heagney in eight rounds to win the Irish bantam title.

Moffett will go into Friday’s fight as a huge underdog but he knows he is facing a champion who probably does not hit as hard as many of his past opponents, and I am expecting a game and aggressive performance from the challenger.

The difference in class — and in experience against quality opposition — looks insurmountable, though. Napa will, I think, wear down Moffett to the point where the fight gets very one-sided. This could even lead to Napa actually getting a stoppage win, unlikely as it may seem when you look at his record. In fact I would not be too surprised if Moffett is rescued by the referee somewhere around the 10th round.

RESULT: Napa unan. dec.