PROMOTER Steve Goodwin believes that Brentwood fighter Joe Mullender has a bright future in the sport.
Mullender has recently signed with Goodwin Promotions, having had all four of his previous fights on nights organised by the firm.
The 26-year-old will be back in the ring next month when he takes on former Southern Area champion Gary Boulden, and Goodwin believes Mullender is a good addition to his stable of fighters.
"He's a very exciting fighter," he said. "He's not one of those boring fighters who sits back, he gets involved and has a fight.
"His biggest attitude is that he's got relentless stamina – he's like a machine.
"He keeps going and going, so it's very difficult for other boxers to keep him off because he doesn't stop. The longer it goes, the tougher he gets.
"He's a big crowd-pleaser and the aim is to have him fighting for a title next season.
"He's fighting in June. It's his hardest fight to date and if he wins that, hopefully we're going to have a fight for him in September for a Southern Area title, which is quite a big step for him really."
The middleweight has impressed in his four previous bouts, having won them all, two of them by knockout.
And, with his manager Richard Clark and trainer Jason Rowlands hoping to help fast-track him to title fights, Goodwin sees good things ahead for Mullender.
He added: "We're trying to move him on quite quickly. He's only had four fights so far and his manager wants to move him on fairly quickly so we're helping him to do that.
"It's a relentless pace he's going at, normally people fight for a Southern Area title after eight or nine fights but he's aiming to do it in six which is quite early, but they think he's ready for it.
"Goodwin Promotions organise his fights and work with his manager and his trainer to formulate his career path, that's what we do.
"We're trying to get him to the top as quickly as possible at the right pace. He's got a good trainer and manager so we just work together as a team."
And beyond that, Goodwin believes there is a chance that Mullender could find a path to a British title.
"Realistically, he could get to British title level and anything above that would be a bonus," Goodwin added.
"He's started late, but he's done very well so far. You'd hope he'd be capable of winning the Southern Area title and making a few defences of that and then next year going on to English title level.
"He's not far below what you see on TV, there's no reason he won't be a television fighter in 18 months' time.
"He's only had four fights, you don't want to say too much because the level of fighter he's going to fight now.
"Every fight he has will probably be harder than the last."
