Sheffield’s ‘Super’ Tommy Frank will face the PUNCHING POET from Birmingham Matt Windle for the coveted BRITSIH flyweight title on September 18 at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge Arena.
The 2 fighters are NO strangers to each others styles or abilities having SPARRED together in recent months but although Frank is the more experienced FIGHT he is the one with everything to lose should the fight not go his way. Frank was riding high and had an unblemished record 13-0 until his 2 defeats in 6 months to MEXICAN Hugo Guarneros. Whilst BRUMMIE Windle a Poet by day and fighter by night has rather deceiving record of 6-3-1 and having dropped and beaten Scotland’s Neil Cubbins last time out in a possible ‘FIGHT OF THE YEAR’ contest LIVE on FIGHTZONE.
The bout on September 18 has all the HALLMARKS of yet another FIGHTZONE classic which will be sure to keep views on the edge of their seats.
“As a fighter you have a good idea of whether you’ve won or lost,” reflected Frank on his June split decision loss to Guarneros, “and I definitely thought I’d got it by a couple of rounds. So there were was some miscalculation on how myself, Glyn and the corner team were reading the fight and how others, including the judges were scoring it. I was really hurt after the fight and it’s taught me a massive lesson; with the level I’m boxing at you can’t afford to leave it in the judge’s hands, you have to really cement it so there’s no arguments at the final bell.
“To get me straight back into a British Title shot just shows what a great team I have behind me; massive credit to Dennis [Hobson], Steve [Crump] and Glyn [Rhodes]. This is going to be a brilliant fight between me and Matt [Windle]. He’s coming off the back of a good win, we’ve both been active recently, so it’s set up nicely.
“The first thing to say about Matt is that he’s a genuinely nice guy. We’ve sparred together recently, and he’s an intelligent man. He’s also ‘one hundred per cent’ a dangerous and game opponent. I just believe that if I do what I know I can do, then I’ll be there on the night with any flyweight.
“It has all the ingredients to be my night and for me to become the first Sheffield fighter to win this title. I truly believe this will be my coming out night.
“You can break down the fight and maybe say I have size advantage but Matt will be used to fighting bigger guys, and he’ll have his own game plan for me. I’ll do what I’ll do though and that will be enough to beat Matt – as game, tough and lively as I’m expecting him to be. I’ll get that British Title around my waist.”
“When we sparred, me fighting Tommy wasn’t even in my thought processes or plans and we were at different weights, which is one of the reasons we went to spar him,” Matt Windle told DAILY SPORT Boxing. “I never thought I could be fighting him two months later!
“On the back of the sparring, there are certain shots I think I could maybe work on but of course he’ll also be on the same wavelength. He’ll be working on particular shots where he had success in the spar, so we almost can negate each other in that respect.
“I’m mentally strong and haven’t got carried away by my successes against Tommy, or any shots that he caught me with. On both sides of the coin, I just say to myself ‘it’s sparring’.
“The British Title doesn’t exist at light flyweight [Matt’s preferred weight] and what pro boxer would turn down a British Title fight! The Lonsdale Belt is the most prestigious belt in boxing because although most boxers would choose a world title over a British Title, there are so many world titles these days that they they’ve almost become diluted … people can say ‘it’s only the IBO world title’, but they know you’re serious when you’re British Champion.
“When you get offered a fight for the Lonsdale Belt, even at relatively short notice, I’m not in this sport to say no to an opportunity like that. I’d be more disappointed to be sitting in the pub when I’m 50 having turned down a British Title chance, than to lose fighting for it, if that were ever to be the case.”
Frank v Windle is the chief support to yet another Dennis Hobson & Steve Crump FIGHT ACADEMY stacked card which is headlined by Rotherham’s Kash Ali making the first defence of his IBO European heavyweight crown against German BANGER Roman Gorst.
Plus another great SCRAP on this card is Grimsby’s unbeaten Levi Giles, 9-0, 3 KO’s taking on Walsall’s Shaun Cooper, 10-2, for the VACANT Midlands Area featherweight strap.
For ticket information contact 0114 243 4443.