By Dean Parr
Later tonight, Gavin Rees will take part in the always-exciting Prizefighter tournament. For those who don't know how it works: it is a one-night tournament, in which there are quarterfinals, semis and a final, and all the bouts are contested over 3x3 rounds. Eight fighters compete, and as a consequence there are four matches in the quarters. Then, the winners fight each other in two semis, until the two remaining competitors fight for the £32,000 prize.
Rees, the favourite for the tournament thinks the format will suit him. “Three threes will suit my style to be honest,” said Rees.
“My first three rounds in all my fights are always the best. I've not changed my training because I've always been like that. In my first three rounds I always go flat out. Enzo’s [in reference to Enzo Calzaghe, his trainer] said I've always trained fast, so we've not changed anything. I'm hoping they (the other fighters) will have to change their style for the format to be honest.”
Since his loss to Andriy Kotelnik in March 2008, Rees has only fought one bout, and this was against the pretty poor Johnny Greaves (then 2-36), who he dismissed in four rounds. However, he is not worried about any ring rust come Friday.
“Sparring’s gone great, and in all fairness, the guy I went in with last has had a lot of fights and had only been stopped a few times, yet I stopped him in four rounds, and that was after a year out, so that was obviously quite a good performance, even though he wasn't very good. I don't think that's too bad, and I was catching him with shots all the time which felt really good, and I felt really sharp which was great,” he enthused.
First up for Rees in the tournament is ‘Dangerous’ Ted Bami; a fighter that seems to be in the twilight days of his career, but also one that can never be counted out as he has good power. However, ‘The Rock’ doesn’t see Bami as a potential ‘banana skin’.
“He's quite slow to be honest, and Prizefighter means you have to work quite fast, so I'm going to be going for the stoppage,” said Rees. “He's obviously got a big punch, but you can see it coming from a mile away. Matthew Hatton's stopped him as well, which is pretty poor, so I should beat him no problem.”
On the other hand, Rees had a clear idea on which fighters pose him the biggest threat in Prizefighter.
He said: “They're not on my side (of the draw), but I think the hardest fight for me is probably the winner of Barnes vs. Lynes, and I reckon the winner of that will get to the final, so I imagine I'll have to fight one of them at some point”"
As mentioned earlier, Rees is the favourite for the tournament, but that suits him just fine. “I don't really care about being the favourite to be honest,” stated Rees. “At the end of the day, I've boxed for a world title and I've been boxing since the age of eight or nine so it all comes naturally to me. I'm just going to go in there, do what I do best and then worry about where I go from there.”
Rees has also been thinking ahead, and has an idea of what he wants after Prizefighter. “Whatever happens, I'm coming back as a lightweight after this”, revealed Rees, “a big fight there for me in Britain then is me against John Murray - we could have a cracking fight. Murray's a come-forward fighter and that's what I'd be looking for to be honest.”
Gavin also expressed his disinterest in a rematch with Andriy Kotelnik. “I'm not really bothered about light welterweight; I can do lightweight easy, and I want to fight for World Titles at two different weights. I did that at light welter, so why can't I do that at lightweight,” he asked.
Even supposing he lost in the upcoming tournament, Rees expressed his desire to carry on.
He said: “Retirement isn't an option. I love boxing, I'm a born fighter and I love fighting. I'm not looking at the bad side at all anyway - I just look at the positives and I'm going to win,” he declared with supreme confidence.
As a final message to his fans, he promised them a great night on Friday. “I'm looking forward to Friday night, it's going to be explosive, I'll go flat out from the start, and I'm definitely going to win the tournament,” beamed Rees.
For tickets for 'Prizefighter', visit www.seetickets.com. The show can also be watched on Sky Sports this Friday night.
