By Terence Dooley
Tony Jeffries took a bit of online stick after failing to stop his latest opponent. Artem Solomko became the first man to take the Olympic bronze medallist the distance when the two clashed in Sunderland the Friday night before last.
Tony looked good in the first round, boxing off his jab and setting up his shots, only to lose his way a little as the fight wore on. Jeffries’ Sunderland fans are used to seeing Tony, 24, blast opponents aside and the points win left some people unimpressed with ‘Jaffa’.
Jeffries told Boxingscene that he rushed his own work a little bit; he also told us that he might have tried too hard to push for the KO that his Sunderland faithful were calling out for. Firstly, though, Jeffries confessed that he was left ‘devastated’ by promotional stablemate Jamie Moore’s loss to Ryan Rhodes on Friday night.
“I’m devastated,” said Jeffries. “Fair play to Ryan Rhodes though. He did the business tonight and proved himself to be a big puncher. I thought Jamie would wear him down and stop him but he got caught with some big punches from Ryan and will have to come back from this.”
Tony, along with trainer Bobby Rimmer, has reviewed the tape of his fight with Solomko. The 4-0 (3 early) fighter saw plenty of stuff to work on but he also believes that he showed some good qualities in the fight, not least the stamina needed to go six-rounds at a good pace.
“Aye, I’ve watched it a few times and think it was a good fight to have at this point. I didn’t box well but I learned a lot from that. I’ve had loads of criticism on websites, took a bit of stick, but I’m not bothered as long as I learn from the fight. Well, it does bother me a little bit but I won’t box like that again,” said Jeffries.
“My footwork wasn’t there,” he continued. “I’ve usually got good footwork, there is a list of things to work on and I’ll do that. I’ve learned more from that fight than all my others. I’ll have my next fight out of Sunderland and maybe fight on the [Rendall Munroe] Nottingham show on the 20th [of November]. I was trying to please the crowd too much in my last one and knock the guy out. Every time you land a punch you try to knock the guy out in the next attack but I’ve learned a lot and it will show next time out.”
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