Thaxton frustrated by boxing inactivity

By Kevin Taylor

Despite now being number one in the Boxing Monthly British ratings, Jon Thaxton’s team seem to be having trouble matching the current WBF champion.

He has only eight rounds of boxing under his belt in 2005, when he won and retained the WBF title kayoing both Christophe De Busillet and Vasile Dragomir in four rounds in his hometown of Norwich. At thirty-one Thaxton seems to be at the peak of his career and definitely needs to keep busy, 2006 could be a decisive year in the career of the Norwich man.

Thaxton’s last opponent Vasile Dragomir, who he fought in September, has already been back in action when he won the inaugural EBF title at featherweight in Vienna on the 19th November.

Many names have been mentioned for Thaxton over the past few months, Graham Earl, British and Commonwealth title holder, former WBU super-feather champion Michael Gomez and Australian prospect Michael Katsidis.

Earl had a planned fight with Yuri Romanov shelved due to an injury in November and there are rumours that Earl will fight again in January and Thaxton would be keen to share the ring with the British champion at the York Hall in Bethnal Green.

The likeable Norwich based Thaxton speaking this morning said “I’d fight Earl in January, it would be a fantastic fight for Sky TV, I am always training and keeping my weight down and I am ready, willing and able.

“If Frank Maloney is reading this, just get him to give us a buzz. If it means giving up the WBF belt then so be it, I will fight him for the British and Commonwealth titles, I don’t care about titles I just want to be seen as the number one lightweight out there.”

Gomez seemed a feasible choice especially after deciding he now sees his future at lightweight, but Gomez is scheduled to fight Willie Limond in February for the WBU bauble rather than take on Thaxton. Gomez has also been linked to a fight for the Irish title against Peter McDonagh in Dublin in late January, which now also seems to have fallen by the wayside.

Thaxton was understandably confused by all of this.

“How can Gomez fight Limond for the WBU lightweight title, neither of them has ever fought at lightweight it is absolutely ridiculous.

“Gomez said he would fight me when he went eye-to-eye with me at Sheffield and Neil Featherby made him a fantastic offer. Gomez said he wanted the fight but now he seems to have gone back on his word. I just don’t understand how the WBU can sanction this fight for their title when they are both technically super-featherweights.
“If I was Gomez I know who I would rather fight out of Limond and Thaxton, he knows Thaxton would be too strong and too big for him.”

Katsidis fits the bill for the WBF title. Like Katsidis the WBF are based in Australia. The youngster has quickly moved to 20-0 and rumours of a fight with Acelino Freitas have also been muted for the Aussie but despite this the WBF want Thaxton and Katsidis’ people to talk about a possible contest. Earlier this week it was announced that Katsidis has signed a twelve-month television contract in America, so once again it looks like this one can be knocked off the list as a possible fight.

So what next for likeable Thaxton, who seems to have been tarred with the “he must be avoided’ brush over the past year and seems to have been overlooked by the BBBoC when it comes to look at British title challengers. Danny Hunt will take on Dave Stewart on the 27th of January at the York Hall in an eliminator for Graham Earl’s title. He’s also overlooked in the latest list of challengers issued by the Commonwealth for their title; Graham Earl has to defend this title before 31st March. The list of challengers is Abdulai Amidu, Ben Ankrah, Raymond Nahr, Kevin Bennett, Irvin Buhlalu, Benedict Dlamini and the aforementioned Michael Katsidis.

Boxing politics again seems to be playing a big part in this,how can the man rated at number one by one national boxing magazine and in the top five on most people’s lists be overlooked altogether when it comes to fighting for the nation’s title?

Thaxton is understandably finding the situation frustrating “Of course I am getting frustrated, I am training and sitting here just waiting for a fight and it’s hard to keep yourself motivated.”

“I may be older than the rest of them but I am at my peak and I am a lot wiser, you can’t buy wisdom.

“I don’t care who I fight or where I fight, one fighter I would like to box is Aldo Rios the Argentinean who knocked out Jason Cook, or even Cook himself I know he has moved up to light-welter but I would box him at any weight between lightweight and welterweight, I don’t mind giving away the weight.

“I know Neil and the team are working hard to find me an opponent. If you look at Boxrec I seem to be moving down the ratings, they have Meager and Billy Corcoran above me, how can that be? Corcoran is a super-feather how is he rated at lightweight? It is very de-motivational when you see things like that.”

If I were Jono I wouldn’t be that inclined to judge my career on Boxrec ratings that is for sure with Lee Meager, Martin Watson and Billy Corcoran all rated above Thaxton along with Graham Earl and Kevin Bennett. They also rate David Burke, Steve Murray and Dave Stewart as light-welterweights.

“I just want to fight the best and if I am not the best out there I can live with that, I am at my peak, I’ll take on the winner of Gomez and Limond, I really don’t care who I fight.”

I’ll leave the final word to Jono’s trainer Graham Everett,

“Jono would smash any lightweight in the country!”