By Lee Collier
Back in March of this year John Watson stepped up to face Martin Gethin in a British lightweight title eliminator. Many fans of the sport thought that the step up for Watson was too soon but on the night Watson took his chance and beat Gethin in a close fight.
Since that night British lightweight champion John Murray lost his title to the scales and then won it back by beating Jon Thaxton. Things have panned out differently for Watson. Watson, who is promoted by Hayemaker Promotions, has not had a fight since the Gethin win due to the collapse of Setanta and Hayemaker struggling to put on shows for their fighters. John has also made the full time switch to highly respected trainer Dave Coldwell, after working with him in the past.
Watson returns to the ring tonight on the Frank Maloney card in Nottingham, he will have a starring role on the undercard of Rendall Munroe’s defence of his European super bantamweight title against Simone Maludrottu. Watson gave up some of his time to talk to boxingscene.com about his upcoming fight and the last eight months.
Watson was clearly chomping at the bit at the thought of getting back in the ring. “To be honest I’ve been training since May and have been ready to fight. I’ve been out to the Cyprus camp training alongside David Haye and I’ve had a lot of time to work with my new trainer Dave Coldwell,” said Watson.
Watson recently left Peter McCormack to go with Coldwell full time and seemed happy with his progress. “I’ve definitely had the time to progress and to develop my style”, he confirmed, “I’ve been working on using my height to my advantage. I have been watching a lot of footage of tall fighters like Thomas Hearns. I am tall for a lightweight and Dave has been developing my style to get the most out of me.”
Syrian born Al Hamidi can cause his opponents considerable problems; he gave British champion John Murray a tough fight back in 2008. Watson seemed confident that he would handle the Yorkshire based Syrian with ease.
He said: “Al Hamidi is just another test. I am looking at beating him like he has never been beaten before. I know he causes boxers a few problems, like he did with John Murray, but I have the boxing brain to do a good job on him.”
Having won a British title eliminator, Watson was pressed on a possible title fight. “I’ll listen to my team and Dave Coldwell”, he stated, “I’ll leave it up to them as to when they decide I am ready and I’m sure I’ll win it when I do. I know I can mix it with the best in the country; it’s just a case of building up my experience. Ability wise, I am ready.”
Watson has a new trainer, does that mean his fans will see a new Watson. “I’m looking on producing in the ring what I’ve been working on in training with Dave, so hopefully it will be a good fight,” he stated.
“I won’t have changed much. All Dave is doing is trying to polish my style and improve me. There will be no big changes, but we have worked on my punch technique to get more power. So on Friday night people better watch out.”
Sky Sports 1 and HD1 televise from 9.30pm here in the UK.
