Bloxwich boxer back at the Banks's this Friday...
Luke Paddock has vowed to show everyone his power when he returns to the ring this weekend.‘Cool Hand’s’ quest for the vacant English Super Lightweight title ended in defeat last time out as Anthony Upton stopped the Bloxwich boxer in the ninth round of a contest that, until that point, had been nip and tuck.
Paddock will look to bounce back on Black Country Boxing’s ‘Season’s Beatings’ show at the Banks’s Stadium, home of his beloved Walsall FC, this coming Friday, 2nd December and he has promised to come back with a bang.
“I have been working on my power this time,” he said. “People know me as a very good technical boxer but by record on paper looks like I am not the biggest puncher.
“But believe you me I can throw a punch and if you ask any of my sparring partners they will agree. Hopefully that will show on the night and I will be able to stop the kid. “I don’t ever dwell on things. Except for the TKO it would have been quite interesting to see the scorecards because personally I had myself up.
“I don’t look at the negatives and I take the whole experience as a positive. If I did dwell on it then it would make me a worse fighter, if you start looking at bad things then you will be a bad fighter. I am never short of confidence so I haven’t thought too much of it and I have just put it in the past and put it behind me.”
The 24 year-old, who faces Slovakia’s Rudolf Durica on Friday, had a few months off after the defeat and admitted he needed some time out of the game to get his focus back.
“I thought I needed a break after that last fight. I am always in the gym but after it I just felt a bit flat and burnt out.
“I don’t want to use excuses but in the lead up to my last fight I did feel flat and burnt out but I think that was due to getting down to the weight. I can get to the weight fairly comfortable but the last few pounds took it out of me so I wanted a few weeks off to enjoy life. But even in my break I was always in the gym and keeping fit.”
Now though, refocused and re-energised, Paddock has set his sights on challenging for titles once again in the New Year following his ring return in his hometown on Friday.
With Andy Keates set to box for the English Super Lightweight Title later this month, Paddock will be an interested observer as to the outcome. Upton relinquished his title after defeating Paddock with the winner mandated to fight Hughes, who gave up his title to fight Frank Warren prospect Jack Catterall on the proviso that he would be able to challenge for the belt. And with fellow Walsall boxer, Martin Gethin, lifting the IBF Intercontinental Title on Saturday evening, there are options for Paddock if he can finish the year with a bang.
“I will do whatever my coach says,” he added. “If they say let’s get straight on the bandwagon and chase the titles again then we will do so. I am just here to fight. I am easy to have a couple of fights and then get straight back in the mix, at the end of the day I am only 24 and I am still a baby in the boxing game so there is no need to be rushing.
“I am still a work in progress but I know I can mix it at the title level. I believe I showed that in my last fight and unfortunately I didn’t get the result but I thought I was winning on points so I know I can compete for titles. I think I will have one or two fights realistically before I go for a title again but I am ready to go for one again anytime.
“First of all though, I want to put on a performance on Friday. I love fighting in Walsall. It is my hometown and I always have a great welcoming and a noisy support which is good for me as it gives me a good boost of confidence in the last rounds when I get tired and I am just looking forward to being back where I belong which is in Walsall.”
Season’s Beatings, sponsored by Grosvenor Casino Walsall, also features Stoke’s Owen Jobburn, Chester’s Nathan Clarke and Leamington’s Michael Cole also feature.
Standard tickets for ‘Season’s Beatings’, priced at £30, are available by calling the boxers. £60 VIP tickets for tables of ten, with two-course meal, are available by calling Walsall FC Box Office on 01922 651 414/416. The weigh-in and aftershow take place at Grosvenor Casino Walsall, Bentley Mill Way, Walsall WS2 0LE (just off junction 10 of the M6). Grosvenor Casino Walsall will have a presence at the football club on the evening and have linked up with local taxi firm, Yellow Taxi’s, to supply a number of free taxi’s to take guests from the Banks’s Stadium to the casino post-fight.
Find out more about Grosvenor Casino Walsall here: http://www.grosvenorcasinos.com/local-casinos/walsall/