Big weekend for Midlands boxers

Frankie Gavin isn't the only Midlander to be involved in title action this weekend in Liverpool.

Derby-based Ovill McKenzie (pictured right), 18-10 (7), boxes for the Commonwealth and vacant British light-heavyweight titles against an undefeated puncher he came seconds from halting in December.

Liverpool's Tony 'Bomber' Bellew, 15-0 (10), was forced to pick himself up from a brace of knockdowns in the opening two rounds before dropping and stopping the 31-year-old former cruiserweight Prizefighter champion in the eighth of an up-and-down classic at the same dockside venue they meet on Saturday evening - the 10,000-seater Echo Arena.

Neither man is short of a word but the pre-fight needle has been razor-sharp this time around, with iron-jawed Shinfield-handled McKenzie, who once held the Commonwealth 175lb strap, claiming the cannon-ball-fisted champion had taken drugs before their last fight - adding he could "see it in his eyes". 


Bellew, who offered to take an Olympic-style test to prove his innocence, has venomously hit back at the accusations and promised to switch his Jamaican-born East Midlands opponent's lights out after a brutal and sustained beating that fighters rarely recover from.

With the touch paper lit in December and fizzling ever since, don't expect this intriguing-looking 12-rounder to go anywhere near that distance.

Other Midlands-based fighters on the Frank Warren-promoted, Sky Sports-televised Merseyside bill include Brummie dangerman Terry Carruthers, 8-8-6 (1), who takes on tall, long-armed Scouser Joe Selkirk, 6-0 (3), over a light-middleweight six - as well as the four-round pro bow of Birmingham heavyweight John Loveday, a serving soldier from Kitts Green who goes face-to-face with Preston's always-willing Howard 'Demolition' Daley.