Manchester's exciting Denton Vassell defends his Commonwealth welterweight title against Cameroon born, Australian-based Samuel Colomban at the Oldham Sports Center in Lancashire tonight (Saturday). Vassell is managed and promoted by British boxing legend Ricky Hatton and has long been considered one of the bright lights of British boxing, yet has failed to scale the heights of contemporaries like Kell Brook and Matthew Hatton, and was beaten to a British title shot by former victim Lee Purdy. On Saturday night, Vassell looks to get his unbeaten career right back on track with a strong performance against a quality fighter on national television.

Vassell v Colomban  will be screened live on Sky Sports 2, the action starts at 8 PM.

Part of an athletically gifted family, 27-year-old Vassell (18-0, 9 KOs) is the cousin ex-England and current Leicester City striker Darius Vassell. After winning the 2006 ABA welterweight title, he turned professional later that year with a third-round knockout over the vastly experienced journeyman Ernie Smith. Despite being relatively tall for welterweight at 5'10", Vassell carries a lot of muscle on his frame, and he likes to employ a bobbing and weaving, crouching style in the ring. Because of his appearance and fighting style, he was soon dubbed Mini Mike Tyson by his promoter Ricky Hatton. 

Ironically for a professional boxer used to the sweat and toil of the gym, Vassell's regular 9-5 job sees him working in the somewhat more genteel surroundings of his local branch of the HSBC!

Vassell was more of a puncher early in his career, stopping seven of his first 11 victims between 2006 and 2009. In April 2010 Vassell came face-to-face with another rising welterweight prospect in Colchester's Lee Purdy in a fight for the vacant Commonwealth title. It was an evenly matched contest between two warriors that come to fight. Purdy had the edge in power, but Vassell won the fight with his superior boxing, taking a close but unanimous decision.

Vassell had a three round workout later that year stopping Brazilian Welson Oliveira in strange circumstances after three rounds, when after taking minor punishment, the Brazilian inexplicably turned to the referee and quit. 

It wasn't so easy for Vassell next time out however, and he was pushed hard in a Commonwealth title defense against previously undefeated Namibian Bethuel Uushona in March of this year. Vassell won a unanimous decision, but his limitations as a fighter were exposed. Despite his tremendous physique and size, Vassell is not a big puncher. He employs aggressive pressure tactics, but when he pulls the trigger, his shots rarely carry real weight. Five of his last seven fights have gone the distance, and in his two most recent stoppage victories – against Oliveira and a two round retirement win over journeyman Kevin McCauley, any firepower he has displayed is unlikely to give top welterweights sleepless nights.

Can Vassell improve his punching power? Under the stewardship of Ricky Hatton one would believe that would be perfectly possible. There was an old axiom in boxing that said ''punchers are born and not made'', but with correct tuition most fighters who lack power can improve. It is often a case of balance and footwork. Vassell may simply need to stand off an opponent slightly to give himself space to generate more leverage for his punches. Possibly he is standing too square when throwing his shots and not getting enough upper body rotation. Whatever the problem is, it is essential for Vassell if he wants to progress as a fighter to improve his punching power.

Also suspect with Vassell is his defense. Time and again he is guilty of dropping his guard when he throws punches. He was caught often against light hitting Uushona in March. If Vassell makes the same mistakes this Saturday against Colomban, he could be in big trouble. 

26-year-old Samuel Colomban (20-3, 10 KOs) was born in Cameroon but now lives in Australia. After representing Cameroon in the 2006 Commonwealth games in Melbourne, Colomban  fell in love with Australia and decided to make it his permanent base.

He turned pro in July 2006 with a fifth round TKO over Ryan Waters, and won 10 of his first 12 fights. In August 2008, Colomban  faced another transplanted African in unbeaten Nigerian Wale Omotoso in a fight for the vacant Australian welterweight title. In an exciting, all-action encounter, Colomban survived two second round knockdowns to go toe-to-toe with Omotoso for 10 rounds. The Nigerian won a unanimous decision and with it the Australian title, but Colomban tagged him time and again during the fight with his fast, powerful left hook, and that could be a real danger punch for Vassell come Saturday night. 

Since losing to the still undefeated Omotoso three years ago, Colomban  has gone unbeaten in 10 straight fights (6 KOs), winning the WBO Oriental welterweight title and the WBO African welterweight title in the process. In March 2010 Colomban hammered former IBF lightweight champion Philip Holiday of South Africa to defeat in 11 rounds. In his most recent bout, Colomban TKO'd Sapapetch Sor Sakaorat of Thailand in four rounds in a WBO Oriental welterweight title defense.

Although Vassell will enter the fight against Colomban a firm bookies favorite, there remains the potential for an upset. The African is tough, has a strong chin, a great engine and can punch, especially with the left hook. 

Vassell should be just too big and strong and busy for him, but he made hard work of his defense against Uushona back in March, and this fight could be even trickier.

I see Vassell emerging with a close, possibly even split decision after outworking Colomban over 12 hard rounds that could see him caught several times with big shots. If Vassell is to progress to European and even world class, he needs to be disposing of opponents like Colomban with ease. If he makes heavy weather of tonight's fight, he would be advised not to give up his day job with the HSBC just yet.

Vassell by unanimous decision.

Big Fight Odds: Denton Vassell 1/5, Samuel Colomban  10/3 bet365