By Terence Dooley
Birmingham’s Frankie Gavin will meet Scottish southpaw Gary McMillan on the undercard of Nathan Cleverly’s WBO light-heavyweight title defence against Tommy Karpency at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena on February 25. Gavin, 11-0 (8), was set to tackle Welsh banger Jason Cook on the BoxNation, Sky Channel 456, televised bill only for the contest to be scrapped after Frankie turned down the non-title fight, he has since claimed that the purse on offer was inadequate.
Gavin, though, has retained his spot on the show and is set for his first outing since struggling to a split decision win over Curtis Woodhouse at Liverpool’s Echo Arena last July. The talented 26-year-old former World Amateur Championships titlist parted ways with long-time coach Anthony Farnell a month after the fight, citing ‘personal reasons’ when making this decision, in order to move away from Manchester and start afresh.
A brief spell with Jimmy and Mark Tibbs followed. However, Gavin withdrew from a scheduled October 28 meeting with France’s Frank Haroche Horta the night before the weigh in amidst claims that the Birmingham-born boxer was struggling to make the welterweight limit, Dean Byrne took his place and was hammered into defeat. The fall out prompted Gavin to return home to Birmingham, he is now training under his former amateur coach Tom Chaney.
McMillan holds a 13-3-1 (3) record; he has dropped decisions to Scott Woolford, Gary Young and Kevin McIntyre. McMillan is a former Scottish Area welterweight title challenger, he picked up a win over Peter McDonagh in his last bout and will hope to take advantage of Gavin’s recent unrest come fight night.
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