By Terence Dooley
Birmingham's Frankie Gavin, 20-1 (13), and Tooting's Bradley Skeete, 18-0 (7), both vowed give it all when discussing their November 29th meeting earlier today. The two welterweights went head-to-head for the first time to publicise their ExCel Arena dust-up, which will see Gavin put his British belt on the line and a new Commonwealth king crowned as the vacant 147lb title is also up for grabs.
Gavin lost to EBU champion Leonard Bundu in August, a hard-fought split decision, but he bounced back with a win over Mate Hornyak (TKO 2) at Wolverhampton's Civic Hall on Friday night. Skeete has yet to taste defeat; he's also showing a more ruthless edge in recent fights, his last three wins have come inside the distance: TKO 7 over Tobia Giuseppe Loriga, a third-round TKO of Steven Pearce and a second-round destruction of Leandro Mendes Pinto last month.
Skeete, though, will go into the fight as a significant underdog; the 27-year-old is stepping up in class, but he has vowed to rise to the occasion come the 29th of November. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't want this and think I would win, I wouldn't waste everyone's time," he said.
Indeed, the challenger talked a good fight when speaking to BoxingScene's Danny Winterbottom last week, he believes that: "All the pressure will be on him [Gavin] to perform after losing to [Leonard] Bundu. I know that I will be the underdog, but this is the biggest fight of my career and I’m ready to take that title."
Gavin disagrees, he argued that the Bundu fight should have gone his way; the 29-year-old southpaw also believes that Skeete was railroaded into a showdown and had not been keen on putting his '0' on the line. He said: "I know deep down they don't want this fight." Tom Cheney, his trainer, reiterated their belief that he should have edged the Bundu fight after a spirited fightback from a sickening sixth-round body shot knockdown.
Adam Smith, Skeete's trainer, then paid homage to Gavin's quality before tabbing his man for the win.
The fight is a welcome addition to promoter Frank Warren's "Bad Blood" card, which is topped by Tyson Fury's rematch against Dereck Chisora—the winner gets a crack at Wladimir Klitschko—and supported by Billy Joe Saunders versus Chris Eubank for the EBU middleweight belt. This trio of intriguing domestic matches has been bolstered by the addition of Gary Sykes against Liam Walsh for the British Super featherweight title. The Lonsdale belt has been way too inactivie this year, so a hattrick of British title fights on a single bill is just what the doctor ordered.
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