By Terence Dooley
Tony Jeffries was ushered into the harsh reality of professional boxing during his last contest – a points win over Nathan King in April – after receiving some online criticism for his performance. Jeffries, who went into the fight with a chest infection, was tagged with a right hand by the experienced 29-year-old and, true to British boxing logic, was lambasted for a lax defence and dodgy whiskers rather than lauded for taking a big shot and raging back.
Promoter Frank Maloney, who was criticised for feeding Tony some fairly poor Eastern Europeans in the early stages of Tony’s career, believes that his man will be the better for the King fight. Indeed, Frank has brought in another British fighter to test the Sunderland icon. Matt Hainey, 6-1 (0), is the man the other corner this Friday night, with Maloney convinced that his charge will be back on top form for this one.
“Maybe some British fighters fancy their chances against Tony and it makes it easier to find opponents. Plus they are getting more for fighting him than they would other people. They are in it to earn a living like everyone else,” mused Maloney when speaking to journallive.co.uk.
“We are still on course to see Tony fighting for a major title by the end of the year, if not sooner. I will know more when I see him fight again. Tony is going the right way. You can see it from the step-up in opponent. Matt Hainy beat Tony Hill, one of my top prospects, in his last fight and he is a tough opponent.”
He continued: “In his early fights Tony blew people away. It is great to see, but you also have to have opponents who can box. Tony is always working behind the jab and he went the distance with a very experienced opponent in his last fight. I don’t have a problem with people criticising, but I thought Tony did well.
“They (the critics) should look at the fight when King fought James DeGale (in Newcastle last December). James did not blow him away or stop him. No one is 100% perfect and I saw a few faults in Tony’s performance, but I don’t need to air mine.”
Jeffries, 6-0 (4 early), is a huge draw up in Sunderland; the ‘local boy done good’ is always keen to put on a show for his hometown fans and will leave nothing to chance on Friday night. Domestic rivals George Groves and DeGale have stolen a march on ‘Jaffa’ by picking up titles in recent months, Friday night’s action will give the ‘Mighty Mackem’, who is trained by Manchester’s Bobby Rimmer, the perfect chance to put his ability firmly on the British boxing map.
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