By Lee Collier
Jay Morris produced a shock last April on the Martin Lindsay-Paul Appleby undercard when he beat the previously unbeaten Curtis Woodhouse over six rounds at the welterweight limit. Morris faces Woodhouse in a rematch hoping to show the first result was no fluke when the pair square off for the vacant International Masters in Rotherham on Sunday on a Dave Coldwell promotions card.
A win over Woodhouse, followed by a win over unbeaten former junior ABA champion Jay Creamer should have opened some doors for Morris but what has followed is over six months of inactivity, which the fighter explained.
“I have been inactive since the fight with Curtis having only had one fight against Johnny Creamer who was a Junior ABA finalist, and was unbeaten, but I rushed him up and beat him,” recalled Morris.
“I’ve then been out for seven months out as I’ve been working on my fitness and conditioning having done a personal training course. I feel like I’ve had a good rest, which has given me plenty of time to work on my technique.
“I did try and get in the light-welterweight Prizefighter as the plan was to drop to light-welterweight anyway but I never got picked. When the chance to fight Curtis again came up it was brilliant as I always fancied a rematch with him but it was a dream come true when they said it was at light-welterweight, this made it perfect.”
Morris has recently returned to the man who was responsible for training Chris Eubank, Ronnie Davies, having previously worked with the trainer for the first couple of years of his career before distance and cost of travelling forced the separation.
“I went back with Ronnie Davies as I was unbeaten with him last time [Morris lost a disputed decision to Ivor Bonavic] and it seems the best move I have made,” beamed Morris.
“He is working with me solely and the sparring is top notch and everything has gone well. In the first week of training I was doing 11 rounds of fast paced sparring and that was six weeks ago so if anything we’ve had to hold back.”
Morris has not made the light-welterweight limit as a professional but says that his training camp has gone as well as can be expected and does not see any issues of making the championship weight limit, or performing down at the weight.
“I was 10st 3lb for a check weight a few weeks ago, I have a letter from my doctor and I wasn’t dehydrated to make that,” claimed Morris. “At the moment I am 10st 4lb and I could be 9st 13lb within a couple of hours with a sweat suit on and with the weigh in being the day before I’d have time to take the fluids back on. I haven’t lost any power and my speed will have increased too.”
In the first match referee Sean Russell give Morris the fight by the closest of margins (58-57) yet the Isle of Wight Assassin felt that the fight wasn’t as close as it was scored and believes that the rematch will prove this.
“I clearly won last time, they are saying it was close as he was the home fighter and the commentators always look at the house fighter. It’s the way boxing is and we have had a lot of bad decisions recently. Usually in a rematch you get the same result only more emphatic, not every time but I think I will knock him out,” stated a confident Morris.
“I am winning this fight 100% and it’s not me being over confident. I will be too strong for Curtis, in the last fight he said he felt he was fitter than me, well he can be as fit as he wants to be as it will be my natural size and strength that will allow me to dictate the pace just like before. He will absolutely knackered within four rounds and I’ll tee off on him.”
Morris’s belief that he is the better fighter than Woodhouse comes from a belief that the Sheffield fighter has been carefully matched and the 31-year-old believes that the level of fighters he has faced in the past will bear him well come fight night.
“I don’t actually rate him as a puncher, he is a good puncher but isn’t really a knockout kind of puncher. He has six knockouts on his record but I was the first livewire he fought and I beat him. Whether they like it or not I won the fight. They have then brought him back and said he stopped [Dean] Hickman but he had been stopped in his last three fights,” argued Morris.
“All the guys who stopped him stopped him quicker than Curtis but yet again they have built him up and made him favourite by giving him someone on a downward slope. My last fight I beat a guy with only two fights but he was unbeaten, whereas they give Curtis a guy who had been stopped in his last three and I feel it gives me the edge.”
Winning the minor International Master title would be a dream come true for the hard working Morris and the 31-year-old feels it will open doors to a higher level. “I have always been told I am better than my record is and I always felt that one day I would get a chance and I took that by beating Curtis and I’ll take it again and get myself this International Masters which is like a WBC belt to me,” beamed a confident Morris.
“A win will open doors for me and I know I can beat Peter McDonagh who is the Southern Area champion and I don’t think Steve Williams [English champion] looks any better than me and I reckon I could beat him.”
Tickets for the Curtis Woodhouse-Jay Morris rematch can be bought by visiting www.visitmagna.co.uk/showtime or by ringing 01709 720002 and tickets cost £50 Ringside or £25 Standard Entry
