Tommy Coyle Vs Derry Mathews - Post-Fight Report

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BoxingOpinions Interview: Derry Mathews

Exclusive interview with British lightweight veteran 'Dirty' Derry Mathews as he talks about his upcoming fight with Tommy Coyle, the domestic lightweight division, and more!

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. 

Interview With Derry Mathews

You are competing in what is probably the highest-level Prizefighter to date.. How do you fancy your chances?

 

Am the one people have to beat in it and I believe I can win it have trained hard had great sparring just want it to hurry up now.

Who in the Prizefighter do you see as your biggest competition?

 

I think over 3 rounds liverpools ste Jennings is a massive threat , but everyone in it is very good fighters. I respect all of them.

There have been a lot of people asking for another fight between you and Anthony Crolla.. Can you see this fight happening again?

 

I hope it happens again I love fighting the best I believe ant is one of the best and I no the fans would love to see it.

Your clash with Crolla was almost like a "last chance" fight for you. You were considered as a massive underdog.. Did you expect to win in the way you did?

 

Before the fight I said in interviews everything I was going to do like put him over cut him take him places have never been before , even on twitter I predicted the round.

Your most recent fight was with Gavin Rees.. Would you like a third fight with him somewhere down the line?

 

Of course like have said I love testing myself Gavin is world class there was no shame loosing to him I hope he wins a world title again.

Who is the best fighter you have fought so far in your career?

 

On paper and what they have achieved has to be Gavin Rees. Great fighter.

How did you get into boxing?

 

I lived next door to the salisbury abc also known as the solly so that was my home from age of 8.

At the age of 28, you still have a long career ahead of you.. What are your aims and objectives for the future?

 

I just want to keep making the fans happy and have a good few more fights I have a aim to get to 50 then i'll walk away a happy man.

If you could fight any boxer in the world right now, who would it be?

 

I would love the winner out of burns and Mitchell like I said I love testing myself have sparred burns and I felt I held my own.

FAN ZONE (Questions From Our Fans):

Who inspired you when you were just a young boxer?

 

I always looked up to David Burke I would sit in the solly and watch him train then I was lucky enough to be a training partner of his in the pro game

If you don't win Prizefighter.. What's next?

 

I'll sit down with my team and discuss but surely I have to be mandatory if Gavin (Rees) vacates British title.

Want has been the best moment of your career so far?

 

Beating Steve foster in front of all those manchester fans for world title and also beating crolla on his on turf I have a habit of beating mancs in there own town ;)

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.

Brook taken to a place he has never been before!

Undefeated British welterweight Kell Brook fought last night (June 7th) and extended his perfect record to 28-0. However, it wasn't as easy as some people expected it to be. Jones put up a hell of a fight and made it the toughest test of Brook's entire career.

Brook started well and easily won the first four or five rounds but then things started to change. The tactics that were ineffective for Jones at the start of the fight, were starting to work and bring the American back into the fight. In the first few rounds, it was Brook's physical strength and superior boxing skills that were keeping Jones at bay, but the spite that Brook desperately wanted to prove he had, may have just worked against him in the middle rounds. 'The Special One' started to get involved in a war and this style of fight suited Jones.

The hard-punching American continued to move forward and at one point, Brook looked a little dazed and wobbly. It was revealed that after the 8th round that Brook was suffering from a broken nose. It was clear that this was effecting Brook has he was breathing heavily and not throwing his punches with the same aggression that he was at the beginning. 

Brook managed to last the final few rounds and even stood toe-to-toe with Jones in the last minute or so of the fight. The judges scorecards at the end were 114-114, 116-113, 115-113. The last two were fair, but I still don't know how the first judge managed to score the fight a draw. Jones had a few good rounds, but Brook was in control for the majority of the fight.

'The Special One' proved a lot of things in this fight, but also left a lot of questions. We are still wondering if he is ready to step up in class and fight world beaters, but he did prove to all of his doubters that he has a tremendous amount of heart and almost a pretty strong chin.

On the under-card of the fantastic show set up by Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn, there were no surprises. Gavin Rees scored a 9th round KO over Derry Matthews in their highly anticipated rematch for the European lightweight title. And in the other great rematch, Proksa won back his European middleweight title by knocking out Kerry Hope in the 8th round.

Rees Vs Matthews II & Proksa Vs Hope II added to July 7th show!

Rees Vs Matthews I.

Two highly anticipated rematches have been added to the July 7th show at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, that will be headlined by Kell Brook.

The first rematch announced was Gavin Rees Vs Derry Matthews. The two men met last October and battled it out for Rees' European lightweight title. It was expected to be a cracking fight and the first few rounds were very interesting. However, the bout was cut short after Matthews broke his nose in the fourth round after a clash of heads.

Both fighters last outings were very successful. Rees put on a fantastic performance in Paris and retained his title by stopping Anthony Meezache in the 7th round. But, if that was a good performance from the Welshman, then the Liverpudlian Derry Matthews' was even better! He upset the odds and became the new British lightweight champion after he pulled off a fantastic 6th round stoppage win over bookie's favourite Anthony Crolla.

The fight has all the makings of a potential fight of the year and the show promoter Eddie Hearn feels the same: "The Rees Vs Matthews fight in Wales was warming up nicely when Derry got injured, and I'm glad they're getting the chance to get it on again. Gavin was fantastic in France when he beat Meezache and Derry's performance against Crolla was very impressive and he certainly deserves a second crack at the title."

Kerry Hope upset the odds.

The second rematch is a fight between Greg Proksa and Kerry Hope. Now, I'm sure that anybody who saw the first fight between these two will be desperate to see it again. Their first fight came on the 17th March this year and was easily the best fight of the night, even thought Kell Brook and Matthew Hatton were topping the bill. Proksa was the huge favourite and nobody even thought Hope stood a chance. But, the Welshman upset the odds and battled his way to a majority decision win. Some people might be wondering why Hope took the rematch instead of moving on to the bigger guys in the division but he believes he needs to prove that the first win wasn't a fluke.

Eddie Hearn is also very happy to be staging this bout on July 7th: "Kerry Hope's win over Greg Proksa was a real shock to everyone - apart from Kerry and his team. They were convinced he had the goods to beat Greg and so it proved, he was terrific and it was gruelling and gripping contest. Greg will have revenge on his mind while Kerry won't want to let the title out of his hands, so I expect this rematch to top the ferocious intensity of the first fight."

Unbeaten welterweight Kell Brook will headline the show against an opponent that will be announced on SkySports' show Ringside on May 10th.

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.

©

Mathews & Crolla post-fight interviews with iFilm London

Derry Mathews

Anthony Crolla