The Bellew-McKenzie fight is for the vacant British title & the former's Commonwealth belt and is a rematch following their thrilling war last December. Bellew went into that contest defending an unbeaten record as well as his Commonwealth crown and was a clear favourite, but looked in desperate trouble after he was down twice in the opening couple of rounds, with the second knockdown particularly heavy. However the Liverpool man survived the crisis, fighting back & by the 8th round managed to force a stoppage. The McKenzie camp protested about being stopped as their man was still on his feet, but he'd been taking some thunderous shots & the intervention was justified. There has been needle going into the fight after McKenzie made ill judged & frankly moronic comments suggesting Bellew must have been on drugs to have survived the second knockdown. Unsuprisingly this lead to heated responses from the 'Bomber';
"Does he not remember that we were both tested before the fight?"
"He is a small minded clown and he's bringing our sport down with such stupid accusations,"
"I'm going to come out swinging and hit McKenzie so hard he'll be the one who is high afterwards!"
The accusations are unpleasant but I don't think McKenzie actually believes them, it is far more likely a strategy to antagonise Bellew & goad him into rushing into a war from the opening bell. The 'Upsetter' is better than his 18-10 record suggests & performs at his finest in the role of underdog, but his best chance of victory must be an early finish with the pair of them swinging away & an enraged Bellew leaving himself open. McKenzie was a surprise winner of the Prizefighter tournament up at Cruiserweight last year, is a fast starter & heavy handed but he has tended to struggle over longer fights.
McKenzie's tactic could work as the entertaining Bellew does come across as hot headed at times (see the press conference for the aborted fight with Nathan Cleverley for evidence) & it'll be interesting to see if he can resist the urge to trade bombs. It was a narrow escape last time & he needs a dominant win to keep him on track for an eventual meeting with bitter rival Cleverley. As an aside, I'm glad the fight between them didn't materialise back in May; a weeks notice is nowhere near enough to prepare for such a big fight & to be honest Bellew isn't anywhere near that level yet. It has set up an entertaining rivalry & hopefully Bellew can get a bit more experience under his belt first
I admit to a degree of bias as I'm a fan of Bellew but I don't think he'll make the same mistakes as last time; he should be more wary of McKenzie's early threat & look to take over for a stoppage by round seven.
Completing the preview is the welterweight meeting of Frankie Gavin and ex footballer Curtis Woodhouse. There have been a few words in the build up to this too as Woodhouse has been calling Gavin out for over a year, but there is far less doubt about the outcome.
Gavin is the only British fighter to ever have taken gold at the amateur World Championships, which he accomplished in 2007 & was a huge favourite going into the following Olympics; unfortunatley he was unable to make the weight & returned home without competing. Now competing up at welterweight since turning pro, Gavin looks to have the skill & ability to take him all the way in the sport. His movement around the ring & variation in work is excellent for someone at such an early stage of his career and with the talent that he possesses, anything less than a world title has to be considered a failure. The only concerns are that he has already shown a propensity to cut easily & isn't the biggest puncher. Motivation could be an issue too as he was extremely flat last time out against Young Mutley & he may struggle to push himself against opponents of a lower level (having said that, and with all the disappointment in his last display, he still won every single round against a former British champion)
Gavin is a big Birmingham City fan & on Saturday will face someone who was once transferred to his beloved team for £1 million. Woodhouse, who also played for Sheffield United amongst others, decided to become a pro boxer in 2006 after no previous experience and has put together a decent 15-2 record. It'd be hard to knock someone who turned his back on a lucrative & far less painful occupation in order to pursue boxing purely out of love for the sport and I have a lot of respect for him.
Woodhouse is a decent boxer at domestic level & is clearly going in believing he can win but I'd expect Gavin's class will see him come through.
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