By Terence Dooley
St. Helens' Jeff Thomas took the last berth in Thursday’s Prizefighter: Light-Middleweights II tournament at Bethnal Green's York Hall thanks to an avalanche of online support from British boxing's Internet community. Thomas is a regular on the forums, keeps a high Twitter profile and is a nice guy, resulting in a groundswell of support that could not be ignored by Mathroom's Eddie Hearn.
A promising pugilist who motored to 6-0-1 during the first two years of his career, Thomas saw his form nosedive after suffering back-to-back decision defeats to Lee McAllister and Martin Hardcastle in 2003. A seventh stanza TKO loss to Ireland's Oisin Fagan for the vacant Irish light-welterweight strap in 2006 proved the final straw for Jeffro's first coming, he turned his back on the sport before returning from his five year sabbatical in March of this year, battling to a draw with Rick Boulter after a fight that many in attendance felt should have resulted in a comeback win. Prizefighter rose to the fore during Jeff's absence, the format is often described as 'fan friendly', Thomas' inclusion after that remarkable online campaign has underlined this.
“It is amazing,” said Thomas when asked about his virtual support. “I can only reiterate what has already been said and say that I'm going to take this opportunity with both hands and will win this, believe me. Prizefighter wasn't around when I was first boxing but as soon as it started I saw it as something that I wish I had of done when I was down at super-featherweight. It would have suited me back then, I'm going to have to use a different style this time, be the show stopping guy who gets in there a bit more. I know the odds are against me, I've seen the 33-1 against today, but get on that because I promise you that I'm going to go for it.
“The fans campaign was great, to be honest it became something that had a life of its own and I wondered how the [Matchroom] could possibly say no. Once it got big and boxing writers got into it I knew it would be crazy if I didn't get put in, Matchroom had nothing to lose and it is a chance to appease the people on the Internet. It is pretty hard to please those guys, ninety-nine percent of what is said on forums can be negative, so I think they've done a great turn for me by putting one of their own in. I just want to do people proud.”
It was a case of 'Eddie'll fix it for you' once the wave of support hit Hearns' Twitter and email accounts. By giving Jeff a chance Hearn has handed the 29-year-old a huge opportunity to show that his passion for the sport is back and that you can learn from past mistakes. Thomas told me that the first stage of his career had poor foundations, come the Fagan fight he was looking for a way out.
“When I lost to Fagan my training for that and other fights was terrible,” admitted the Business Studies student. “Boxing was something that I didn't appreciate any more, I had forgotten how good it was to be part of such a great sport. I dreaded training. I would go into fights wanting to get through with as little difficulty as possible – I went from really wanting to get stuck in with people to protecting an unbeaten (when 6-0-1) run or trying not to get stopped.
“It reached a point in the Fagan fight where I didn't want to box and without any disrespect to Oisin that fight was kind of like a 'No Mas' because I thought, 'Fuck this, I can't be arsed'. I got the fight out the way and went into the army. I then came out the army because it had stopped making sense for me, I had a child and wasn't making a lot of money so I decided to go back to college, got that done, qualified as a personal trainer and then got the boxing back on track. The other thing is that I injured myself a couple of times, I had a comeback planned a few years ago but it didn't happen, which was a blessing in disguise as I then got involved with [trainer] Kevin Maree and helped out with sparring [Michael] Gomez [during Gomez's final comeback].
“Sparring went a lot better than it should have done, I sparred some really good lads and more than held my own. It started to get a bit silly because they were bringing in good boxers and I was absolutely dominating some of them, without wanting to sound disrespectful, so I decided it was time to give it one more go.”
Like many fighters who hit a wall and cannot explain their poor form away, Jeff tried to find a reason, claiming that his struggle with asthma, which had plagued him since childhood, impacted on his ability to train and perform only to realise that he was deflecting attention away from a more fundamental problem.
“This is the thing, when I was boxing I didn't have any education about fitness and my problem was put down to an asthma problem but I think it was more of a case of not conditioning myself properly. I needed something to blame for that, had asthma as a child and seeing as I felt I was doing everything right at the time I blamed that for not being fit enough,” admitted the 9-6-2 (1) boxer.
“I went to college, got my personal training and the equivalent of an A Level, and started to understand how the body works, I realised how many things I was doing wrong, it was embarrassing. It wasn't down to my trainer at the time, it was down to what I was doing to my body – I was starving myself to make weight. Look at the weigh in photos from today and try to imagine that I got my frame down to 130 in the past. I was training twice a day and eating very little – I'd come to training at night just to keep my body weight down. It was stupid.
“I just tried to hide in the lower weight divisions because I saw some of the lads at the higher weights and thought they were much bigger than me, then I sparred some big lads and was stronger than them, the likes of Gomez, who was still a strong lad. I'm a lot stronger than people realise and will show it tomorrow night.”
A torn chest muscle put paid to hopes of a 2008 return, disconsolate and disappointed, Thomas hooked up with Maree, working the corner with Kevin before placing his own boxing future in the coach's hands, a decision that has paid dividends in the Gospel according to Thomas.
“Kevin is the most underrated trainer in boxing, he's a fantastic trainer, one of my best friends and you never hear him shouting his own corner. He's a great guy and he is someone I like being around. I know that he'll tell me exactly how it is tomorrow night, I trust his knowledge and think he'll be recognised as a top, top trainer in the future.
“I'm not daft, I've trained with trainers before and they've talked to me and I think, 'What the hell?' It is alright training a talented lad but when you've got an average lad like me it is harder to bring them along. As people know from the forums I question everything but never do that with Kevin, he is always right with regards to my boxing. I always do better when I take his advice. I think he'll go onto do big things.”
Thomas is joined by JJ Bird, Peter Vaughan, Takaloo, Steve Harkin, Kris Agyei-Dua, Wayne Goddard and Nick Quigley. “They're all cracking lads, really nice lads,” enthused Thomas as he ran his eye over the line up.
“It is dead hard to say (who will be in the final). The playing field is level but Peter Vaughan is mental when he fights, which can be a good or bad thing, and I can see why he is favourite, especially after his win over Phill Fury. There are pros and cons for everyone, some can say that they haven't been at the level I have, others can turn around and say they haven't been beaten as many times as I have. I can't really pick anyone out, the ones I'd like to fight to win it so I can prove myself would be Takaloo, Vaughan followed by Quigley in the final.”
Jeff's loses to McAllister and Hardcastle were close-run affairs, he also tasted defeat when meeting Ricky Burns in 2004 yet retained enough of a profile to attract the attention of Amir Khan in 2005. Khan's team approached Jeff with the offer of an early-2006 meeting with the Olympic Silver Medallist only for journeyman Baz Carey to throw a spanner into the works by out-pointing Jeff in December 2005. The pre-Christmas setback knocked the stuffing from Thomas yet he is philosophical about the missed opportunity.
“I was going to fight Khan in his fifth pro fight. My record was 8-4-1 and they were looking for someone with a winning record who would make Amir look good, I fitted into that category at the time because I was very disinterested in boxing. The fight was signed, it was going to be on ITV and all I had to do was beat Baz Carey, who Amir had already beaten, but unfortunately Baz beat me. It was a loss that really put me into place in terms of what I was doing wrong so the chance just passed me by. It is probably a good thing in hindsight.”
Prizefighter will be televised from 8pm on Sky Sports 1 and HD1.
Follow Jeff on Twitter @jeffromthechamp for regular updates of his Fruitella pinching exploits.
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