Professional boxing can be a cruel and unfair sport.
Gavin Gwynne knows that better than most. He was given no big-money contract at the start of his career, fighting in his local leisure center in his hometown of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. Gwynne defied the odds, however, and pushed his way to British and European lightweight glory. After Gwynne was stopped by Mark Chamberlain inside four rounds back in March 2024, many viewed him as a fighter on the slide, and the team of rising star Cameron Vuong believed the time was right to add the veteran’s name to Vuong’s resume.
Young Vuong found out there was a lot of life left in Gwynne and was given 10 rounds of hell back in November 2024, with nearly everyone seated ringside awarding the Welshman the victory. However, the three people that mattered most, the three ringside judges, all awarded the bout to Vuong.
“I was gutted, to be fair with you,” Gwynne told BoxingScene. “All the hard work I put into that camp; obviously, teaming up with Gary [Lockett], new trainer; and even at the end of the fight, I said, ‘Oh, who do you think has got it Gary?’ And he said, ‘You, but don't be surprised if they give it to Cameron [Vuong].’ I was like, ‘What?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, serious.’ But that's what it's like. Yeah, I was like, ‘Oh, fucking hell. I thought I won it quite comfortably.’ I didn't even put my foot on the gas, either.
“Even Eddie [Hearn, the promoter of the event and Vuong] came up to me and said, ‘Look, you should have won that.’ He got us back in the ring after and he said, ‘We'll get a rematch on.’ But I've had to wait a year for it.”
After a long wait and plenty of back-and-forth between the two teams, the rematch was finally signed for this Saturday at bp pulse LIVE in Birmingham, UK. Gwynne, now 35 years old, has had to wait a year to return to the big stage, managing just one win with a bout at Neath Sports Center, while Vuong continued on with his career in two bouts.
“It's been a hard old year for myself,” said Gwynne. “Obviously, I had to go back to work. I lost a lot of sponsors because, obviously, they weren't having anything coming back in. I was having no fights. I didn't have any money coming in. So I went back to work. I'm lucky enough to have a brother-in-law who's got his own [scaffolding] company. So I was working with him all summer, and then we had a fight. We had a tick-over fight, a six-rounder, and then we had the call for this fight. So I went straight back into full-time training. I'm just grateful for the sponsors that helped me out with this camp, because without them, I don't think it would have been possible.”
Scaffolding is no easy job, either, but Gwynne – one of the fittest fighters in the game – was able to turn the trade into training.
“It was a hard old job, but my brother-in-law loved me because I was treating it like training,” he explained. “So I'd be running back and forth with the tubes. We'd be chucking three or four jobs up a day, whereas normally they'd only chuck one or two jobs up. So he was raking the money off me. He was like, ‘Do you want to come and work for me before Christmas?’ I was like, ‘No, I'm going to have Christmas off, I think.’”
Many people would think that Gwynne, a former British and European champion, would be at home sitting on a stack of cash just waiting for the next big fight to arrive. But like most fighters, he has had to face the harsh reality that boxing just doesn’t pay the bills.
“Don't get me wrong: I've made good money out of the sport, but I've invested my money,” Gwynne said. “I’ve bought property. I haven’t been stupid. I haven’t squandered it and lived the high life. Some fighters I know out there now are working a full-time job and trying to train twice a day. But that was me when I first started my career. I was training at five o'clock in the morning and then I'd go to work on site. Then I'd get home at three, four o'clock and then go to the gym in the night for two hours – and then maybe I'd get to train again late in the night.
“I'd try and train like a professional boxer while working a full-time job. Until I really won the Commonwealth title, that's when I started reaping the rewards of these sponsors helping me out with a wage every week. Until fighters start getting wages coming in from sponsors, because there's no money in the sport unless you're on these big shows – on Matchroom shows straight from the start – it's going to be hard regardless of who you are.”
Following his controversial win over Gwynne, Vuong looked elsewhere for his next opponent and impressed with a seventh-round finish of rival Jordan Flynn in March. Vuong then made a decision to leave coach Jamie Moore and link up with Ben Davison’s growing roster, and picked up his first victory with his new team in September with a unanimous decision over Reuquen Cona Facundo Arce. Gwynne was asked what he has made of the 23-year-old Vuong’s progress over the last year.
“Not a lot. He's a good fighter, don't get me wrong,” he replied. “He is a good fighter, but styles make fights, and my style, I think, is all wrong for Cameron. If you're going to stay off Cameron and try and outbox him, he'll outbox you all day long. But my style is get on his chest and work away. I don't think he likes it. Ben Davison's style is similar to the way Cameron boxes anyway. So it's not going to be much of a difference from the way Cameron boxes, either.”
The general consensus around Saturday’s bout is that if Vuong has improved over the past year, then he should be able to now beat Gwynne in the rematch. But Gwynne revealed there has been plenty of improvements on his side, too.
“Obviously, that was my first fight with Gary. So there's things in there that we've been working on,” Gwynne said. “But I was going back to the old me as well, just walking in with my hands up high and things like that. Whereas now, we've had another year of being together. Obviously, we've been working on things. I think if sparring is anything to go from, you'll see a 10-times-better Gavin in there.”
Tom Ivers is an amateur boxer who has a masters degree in sports journalism. He had his first bout in 2013, joined BoxingScene in 2024 and is now a key part of the UK and social media teams.
