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Unbeaten Fife welterweight Kevin Anderson has been handed his first major title shot and an opportunity to gatecrash the world’s top 15. The Buckhaven prospect will challenge Ghana’s Joshua Okine for the Commonwealth welterweight championship at Kirkcaldy Ice Rink on September 30th. It’s a huge test for Anderson, unbeaten in 14 fights, with nine wins inside the distance against the highly-rated, 25 year-old African. Ranked no.11 in the world in the independent (www.boxrec.com) world ratings, Okine has built up an impressive 16-2-1 (10 KOs) record and comes into the fight on the back of four straight stoppage victories.
Okine won the title in his homeland in March 2005 by stopping Nigerian Fatai Onikeke in eight rounds, but he grabbed the attention of British audiences last month when he hammered then British champion David Barnes to a 12th round defeat in Manchester.
The fight will be screened live across Europe on Sky Sports, but promoter Tommy Gilmour believes the Kirkcaldy crowd must give Anderson the same sort of backing he received when he outpointed tough Ukranian Vladimir Borovski at the same venue last month, if he is to relieve Okine of his belt.
“This is undoubtedly the toughest test of Kevin’s career, but it’s a fight that he desperately wanted as he knows it gives him a fantastic opportunity to test himself against a true world-class fighter,” said Gilmour, who will co-promote the fight with Barry Hearn.
“Okine is at the peak of his career and he knows that if he beats Kevin then he will probably get a world title fight. He’s also well used to fighting outwith Ghana and has boxed in Togo, Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Faso and, of course, England, and has won on every occasion.
“But I’m sure he won’t have experienced an atmosphere like Kirkcaldy Ice Rink when it’s full. Kevin had absolutely unbelievable support when he fought Borovski, but he will need the Fife crowd to be at its most vocal if he is to beat Okine.”
Anderson, 22, has relinquished his Celtic welterweight title and turned down a final eliminator for the British title against Welshman Bradley Pryce in order to take on Okine.
He said: “I was looking forward to boxing Pryce, but when Tommy offered me the opportunity to take on Okine I jumped at it because I know if I win this fight then I move into the top fifteen in the world.
“I’m under no illusions that this is the most difficult fight of my career and I’ll have to raise myself to a new level if I am to win it. But I’m already training hard and the fight with Borovski was the perfect warm-up for me because it proved to me how tough it is as you move up in class.”
Also on the bill will be Glenrothes light-heavyweight Stevie McGuire, who stretched his unbeaten record to four in Kirkcaldy last month when he outpointed Armenian Varuzhan Davtyan.
