FOR once, Tony Sims doesn't have to answer any Conor Benn-related questions and instead, he's allowed to be in full flow about rising middleweight prospect Jimmy Sains.

The 24-year-old southpaw (9-0, 9 KOs) doesn't have an official nickname but was dubbed the Brentwood Beterbiev by Matchroom's Jamie Moore and that moniker stuck for a hard-hitting puncher keen to prove there is technique and finesse mixed into his game, much like the now-former undisputed light-heavyweight world champion.

When talking to The Ring during fight week before his first outing of 2025, a seventh-round knockout win over France's Pierre Rosadini, he insisted this calendar year would be a disappointment if he didn't win his first professional title.

Earlier this week, a new multi-fight Matchroom extension was announced as well as that very opportunity on the Johnny Fisher vs. Dave Allen 2 undercard come May 17 against 7-4 pro Gideon Onyenani.

The 25-year-old's four defeats were by decision against a trio of unbeaten pros in 2022 as well as the durable Bilal Fawaz, who moved down a weight division and dropped rising star Junaid Bostan as they drew over ten rounds for English honours in January.

Onyenani has boxed 68 professional rounds to Sains' 29 thus far and will serve as another invaluable test given the younger man's limited amateur pedigree.

"He needs the experience from fights, you're learning in the gym everyday but got to have the right fights at the right time," Sains' head coach Sims tells The Ring.

"He's mandatory for the Southern Area title now, so Matchroom will step him up again for his next fight in May, give him a 10-round experience. When you box over a longer duration and win that, then they'll look for an English title eliminator and English title by autumn time, that's the trajectory at the moment."

Coincidentally, Rosadini is already scheduled to box over the ten-round distance for the first time in his four-year career later this month when moving up to super-middleweight with Mustapha Zaouche (16-0, 6 KOs) the selected opponent for vacant domestic honours across the Channel.

The BBBofC's Southern Area title was recently won by Constantine Williams (7-2, 2 KOs) last October, though the 35-year-old was comfortably outpointed over ten rounds when stepping up to face Linus Udofia in the latter's first defence of his second title reign this past month.

Sains' promoter and Matchroom chief Eddie Hearn went a step further by suggesting British title level was feasible by year's end, though he'll still need to be matched carefully when going through the gears.

Rosadini was dropped in the fifth round and stopped two rounds later, though never stopped throwing and kept Sains honest, something few previously have been able to do. Sims and the rest of his team were pleased with the outcome.

"Absolutely perfect opponent. We tried to, the fight before, we had a kid with 23 fights [Estonia's Dmitri Protkunas] - only eight wins - but he'd never been stopped and Jimmy blasted him out in the second round, so getting rounds in never worked.

When they presented Rosadini, he looked tough and the matchmaker told me he'd give Jimmy rounds, that's what we were looking for, not superior but someone who can hold up to his power, still fighting back in the seventh.

Obviously his next will, hopefully, be for the Southern Area title in a ten-rounder. Seven tough rounds will give him a leap of faith to get ten if he needs, you're trying to gain experience while they're still learning on-the-job."

Hamzah Sheeraz's impending super-middleweight move leaves the likes of Kieron Conway, Shakiel Thompson and Tyler Denny pondering the landscape, while one-time world title challenger Denzel Bentley patiently bides his time waiting for another crack at world gold.

Sims knows the weight class isn't as strong as previous years, though is blessed to have two rising divisional prospects under his wing in Sains and Commonwealth Silver champion George Liddard (22).

He also signed a new multi-fight extension and faces Aaron Sutton (19-1, 3 KOs) in a British title eliminator, with Commonwealth titlist Kieron Conway also featuring on the bill against Gerome Warburton (15-1-2. 2 KOs).

"I don't feel it's got the calibre of fighters we did at one time, you look back and there was Chris Eubank Jr, Billy Joe Saunders, John Ryder, a lot of good fighters around the same time ... before then we had Darren Barker, Martin Murray, Andy Lee, Matt Macklin, so we've had a really strong middleweight division and had 3-4 in the world's top 10. George's probably a year ahead of Jimmy in fighting for titles, but they're both young and have great futures in-front of them, without a doubt."

Sains looks back fondly, having trained out in Las Vegas last year before featuring on a Conor Benn undercard, and the 28-year-old was virtually throwing every punch with him at the O2's Indigo on January 31.

Benn is applying the finishing touches to his own training camp before his long-awaited grudge match with Chris Eubank Jr at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 26, though Sims declared it a "fantastic experience" for the Sains-Liddard tandem to feature Stateside and get a sense of how the other side live.

Liddard sparred WBC's No. 1 junior-middleweight contender Serhii Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) and others, while Sains tested his mettle against Mexican and Kazakh-style fighters. Last month, another Matchroom-backed prospect in super-featherweight Giorgio Visioli was seen sparring highly-rated teenage lightweight Curmel Moton (7-0, 6 KOs). There's a trend.

"It's just to have that change of atmosphere that America brings, a lot of guys just do sparring and fly back home but they were fortunate to box on the card too, got paid for their work so I'm sure that will accompany them in their careers going forward."