Jazza Dickens returned to action in Dubai on Friday night, forcing the brave but outgunned Filipino Eduardo Mancita to retire in his corner after seven rounds.
Dickens, 34-5 (14 KOs), has spent the past few months working with Joe McNally and his team in Liverpool and, last week, the former British super bantamweight and IBO featherweight champion told BoxingScene that he and McNally were working on turning him back into the aggressive counter puncher.
Dickens was much too good for Mancito, 21-16-2 (10 KOs), and being on the front foot so much meant that he got to show more of his aggression than his counter-punching ability, but there were definite flashes of the footwork and angles that made Dickens such an exciting young talent.
Dickens has been vocal about wanting to stay active this year so will be frustrated at finishing the fight with a cut over his left eye, but the 33-year-old southpaw looked strong in his second appearance at super featherweight and could be an interesting addition to the mix.
“He was someone that we needed,” Dickens said of Mancito after the fight. “We’ve gone back down to six rounds for the last fight. We need to be fighting for titles and over ten rounds but we had to also build at this new weight and our new team.
“We’re just trying to build again. We are building good momentum. You’ll see it in the next fight, the fight after that and the fight after that. We’re going for a world title.
“He was a tough little kid. I take my hat off to him. I knew he was game and he was tough but I just wanted to get the stoppage in. On to bigger and better things.”
Dickens doesn’t have any intention of drawing down the curtain on his career just yet but doesn’t want to spend too long treading water. Dickens has always mixed in good company - challenging the outstanding Guillermo Rigondeaux back in 2016 and beating future WBA featherweight champion, Leigh Wood, in 2020 - but his only world title shot ended in defeat at the hands of Kid Galahad back in 2021 and he is desperate to once again test himself at the highest level.
“Recently, in my home city of Liverpool, there’s a face there who won’t fight me in Nick Ball,” he said. “Let’s see if someone else has got the balls to fight me. Someone like Josh Warrington or Anto Cacace [who meet for Cacace’s IBF super featherweight title later this month] or Michael Conlan. Where are you? Come on.”
John Evans has contributed to a number of well-known publications and websites for over a decade. You can follow John on X