Gavin Rees Vs Anthony Crolla - Post-Fight Report

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The Fans Have Voted: Rees Vs Crolla

Crolla starting to gain support in final few days!

Like most Rees opponents, Crolla has a clear size advantage. 

When this fight was announced people were excited, but it was still seen as a one-sided fight in most people's eyes, with former world champion Rees being levels above domestic contender Anthony Crolla. However, over the past few days Crolla has started to emerge as the favorite with some fans and experts, with a lot of people thinking that Rees may underestimate him.

Derry Mathews Vs Anthony Crolla II - Fight Preview

By James McKnight @JamesMcKnight83.

Do not expect either 'Dirty' Derry Mathews or Anthony 'Million Dollar' Crolla to retreat or surrender come fight night. The North-West pugilists will clash for a second time on the undercard of Tony Bellew's WBC 'Silver' light-heavyweight title bout against Isaac Chilemba, at the Echo Arena, Liverpool, on March 30. 

The pair met on April 21 last year which saw Mathews rip the British lightweight title from Crolla after six enthralling rounds. 

During that bout, Mathews had sent Crolla to the canvas during the third round after landing an accurate right hand uppercut. Midway through the fourth round, Crolla suffered a nasty gash over his left eye which worsened as the fight wore on. 

Crolla looking to become Prizefighter champ!

Former British lightweight champion Anthony Crolla has signed up for Matchroom's Prizefighter tournament on October 6th - completing what is probably the most impressive line-up in the tournament's history. 

Crolla no doubt will be well and truly 100% hyped up for this tournament. Not only does he get to put his name back out there and get people talking about him again, he also gets the chance to avenge his most recent defeat against 'Dirty' Derry Matthews. That's right... Derry Matthews is also in this tournament. Forgetting everyone else.. Even just with these two its probably already one of the most high-profile line-ups in the tournaments short history. 

Matthews picked up the British lightweight title when he defeated Crolla back in April. But he lost it in his first defence just a few months later against Gavin Rees. The Liverpudlian will have the hometown advantage as the event will take place at the Liverpool Olympia. However, Crolla has already been announced as the hot favourite to walk away with the winner's prize of £32,000. But you must remember... This is Prizefighter. The tournament of upsets. 

Matchroom Promoter Eddie Hearn also believes that the eight men selected for the tournament are the strongest group of boxers he has ever put together. 

"Prizefighter is back with a bang with our strongest line-up ever," said Hearn. "I never expected a dream line-up like this and Anthony's inclusion is the icing on the cake." 

"Ideally we would have loved to have this in a 5,000-seater arena but the fans will experience an atmosphere like never before in the Liverpool Olympia... This is a must-see night of boxing." 

The full line-up for the October 6th tournament is as followed: Anthony Crolla, Derry Matthews, Gary Sykes, Stephen Jennings, Terry Needham, Nathan Brough, Kieran Farrell and Liam Patrick Walsh. 

In addition to the Prizefighter action, highly-rated super-middleweight prospect Rocky Fielding will challenge Wayne Reed for the Central area title.

Gallagher wants Crolla Vs Matthews rematch to happen in Liverpool!

Joe Gallagher

Joe Gallagher, the trainer of Anthony Crolla has spoken out saying that Crolla should be given a chance of redemption against the new British champion Derry Matthews.

Crolla was stopped by Matthews in the 6th round on Saturday night in what was one of the biggest upsets of the year. This was a voluntary defence for Crolla, who suffered the first stoppage of his career, so Gallagher believes that Matthews should repay the favour.

"We gave Derry Matthews a chance and he should repay the favour" said Gallagher. " We've done it in Manchester, now let's do it in Liverpool. This has got the potential to be a great series in the manner of Jamie Moore and Michael Jones."

It was a great fight between the Mancunian (Crolla) and the Liverpudlian (Matthews) where both fighters gave it their all. The fans loved the fight and would definitely like to see it again, and Matthews is no coward. He will fight whoever you put in front of him so looking at all of these aspects, the rematch will almost certainly happen.

Gallagher believes that because of the first bout the second fight will attract even more interest.

"It was a fantastic fight and I'm sure television would want to see it again - this time in an even bigger arena," said Britain's No.1 trainer.

Derry Matthews becomes the new British champion!

New British champion Derry Matthews.

'Dirty' Derry Matthews has caused one of the biggest upsets in British boxing this year by stopping Anthony Crolla in the 6th round. He is now the British lightweight champion and has a record of 30 wins and 6 losses. Matthews was a big underdog going into the fight and nobody really expected him to beat the up and coming prospect Anthony 'Million Dollar' Crolla but they were proved wrong.

Crolla started very well and everything was going his way until Matthews delivered a devastating uppercut that sent Crolla crashing to the canvas. This was the first time that Crolla had ever been down in his amateur and pro career which shows that Matthews has a tremendous amount of power in his punches.

Crolla rose to his feet and came back well to win the fourth round but then a cut appeared above his left eye. He was taken to the doctor twice but was told that he was okay to continue. The 5th round was very good for Matthews who was applying non-stop pressure and flurries of punches. Not all of them were connecting but they were wearing Crolla down.

In the 6th round Matthews sent Crolla stumbling across the ring and with less than ten seconds left of the round the referee stopped the fight and Derry Matthews became the new British lightweight champion. There were a few people that complained about the stoppage as they thought Crolla would have easily been able to continue, but Crolla looked very unstable and I think the referee made the right decision.

So... Where does Crolla go from here?

There were rumours that after this fight he would start looking for a fight at European or World level but now he will most likely have to try and get a rematch with Matthews.

Matthews will now most likely face the winner of Ricky Burns Vs Kevin Mitchell if it happens in June. But, right now he deserves to enjoy life as the British champion.

Anthony Crolla is on his way to the top!

Anthony 'Million Dollar' Crolla

British boxing's Mr Nice Guy, Anthony Crolla is quickly becoming one of the best in Britain, and he's doing it in his own unique way. He doesn't believe in trash-talking or show boating he just wants to let his boxing do the talking. This attitude has earned him a lot of fans and will likely get him very far in the future.

"It doesn't cost anything to be polite to people," said Crolla. "I want to be known for my boxing, for entertaining people in the ring - not trash talking. I don't want to be known for that. I wasn't brought up like that."

Crolla also went on to say that even if he did get in a bust-up at a weigh-in or bad mouth somebodies family, his mum would give him a far worse beating than anyone in the ring would.

"My mum would kill me if she ever saw me getting in a fight at a weigh-in or something like that. If she ever saw me slap someone she'd give me a good hiding."

Crolla with trainer Joe Gallagher

Do not let him fool you, the current British lightweight champion is completely different inside the ring. He takes no prisoners and delivers punishing blows have shown us that he has got the ability to go very far in his career. In the last three years he has delivered some of the most thrilling stoppages anybody has ever seen. His victims include Michael Brodie, Andy Morris and John Watson.

His next fight is tonight against Derry Matthews and his trainer Joe Gallagher believes that he is at the best he's ever been.

"For this fight I've seen even more from Anthony, some real bad intentions in his punching that wasn't there in the past."

Crolla believes that it was his decision to team up with Joe Gallagher that made him even hungrier for success. He had already suffered two losses before moving to Gallagher's gym but since then he hasn't looked back. 'Million Dollar' Crolla has quickly became one of the most popular fighters in British boxing and in a few fights time he could be challenging for a world title.

There is nothing bad I can say about this rare breed of fighter. I wish him a lot of luck in the future but he definitely doesn't need it.

©

Gallagher's Gym: The Best In Britain

Gallagher's gym arguably has the best stable of fighters in British boxing at this current time. Some of the gym's boxers include Scott Quigg, Stephen Smith and Anthony Crolla who are all expected to go on and win world titles in the future.

Here is a must-see video that shows exactly what the gym is like and how good of a trainer Joe Gallagher really is:

Gallagher's Gym - A Short Boxing Film

Directed By Matt Knight

Glasgow delivers a great night of boxing!

It was set to be a good night of boxing but the fans were the people who made the show exciting and great! They showed so much support for the local fighters and it paid off as Stephen Simmons, Paul Appleby, Callum Johnson and Ricky Burns all won.

The main event staged a great performance by Burns who dominated Paulus Moses for most fight. Although Moses showed a few energized and exciting spurts it was nowhere near enough to trouble the flawless performance from the 'Rickster' Ricky Burns.

However it was the under-card fights that made the show in our opinion. Stephen Simmons became the first person to stop Hastings Rasani in 10 fights and Callun Johnson pulled off an amazing stoppage after just 96 seconds against journeyman Tommy Tolan, but it was Paul Appleby Vs Stephen Ormond that got the crowd off their feet and made it a night to remember! Ormond looked to be clearly ahead after the first few rounds but then the warrior Paul Appleby brought it back with true grit and determination. This wasn't the first time that Appleby has given us a fight to remember. You all must remember his fight last year against Liam Walsh that won fight of the year.

The show was great but really it is now the future for Ricky Burns that most people care about... It's been announced that there could be a summer showdown between Burns and Mitchell which has been talked about by the fans for a very long time. Kevin Mitchell isn't the only option that Burns has got that would produce a sell-out crowd, Gavin Rees and Anthony Crolla have also showed that are looking to fight Burns. Ricky hasn't really had much media exposure during his successful career but this fight will surely gain him a few more fans.

So for now we can all look back on a great night of boxing for Scotland and especially Ricky Burns!

Mathews & Crolla post-fight interviews with iFilm London

Derry Mathews

Anthony Crolla