Gilmour Secures a Big Payday For Appleby Title Tilt
By Terence Dooley
Scottish promoter Tommy Gilmour has responded to the EBU’s stipulation that his fighter Paul Appleby - who is the mandatory challenger for the EBU featherweight title - will have to travel to the Ukraine in order to take on Oleg Yefimovych.
Appleby is coming off an away day loss; Martin Lindsay defeated Appleby in six-rounds over in Belfast earlier this year. Despite this, Gilmour feels that his man will bag himself the EBU title over in Donetsk, as well as making good money from the contest.
Gilmour told Sport.Scotsman that he is happy to send Appleby, 22, out to the Ukraine, but he also stressed that his man will be given a few warm-up fights in the meantime. “I'm delighted for Paul because by ceding home advantage to the Ukrainian champion in their forthcoming European title challenge in Donetsk I've secured for Paul a massive purse for his challenge,” claimed Gilmour.
Gilmour continued: “Appleby is a pro boxer which means that he has to make as much as he can in a relatively short time so he will receive a large purse for this fight. We had to take the fight because other legitimate contenders for Yefimovych's title, like Commonwealth champion John Simpson, and Appleby's British title conqueror, Martin Lindsay, are otherwise engaged for the rest of 2009. Again, this is not only a lucrative fight for Appleby, but Yefimovych is, in my opinion, a much less formidable opponent than Martin Lindsay was in Belfast.”
Tommy refuted claims that his man will fight for the title as early as September. “However, claims that Appleby will challenge Yefimovych in September in Donetsk are wrong as Paul definitely needs a couple of warm-up fights before the bout,” explained Gilmour.
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