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Former kickboxing star Matt Skelton has thoroughly terrorized the heavyweight set in Britain, winning the British and Commonwealth championships despite having only been participating in professional boxing since August of 2002. Julius Francis, Michael Sprott, Michael Holden, Keith Long and Jacklord Jacobs have all fallen to the six-foot-three, 250-pound nightmare in gloves. Now Skelton has his sights set on adding the vacant WBU belt to his already impressive trophy cabinet. Georgi Kandelaki voluntarily gave up that title rather than face the former K1 kingpin, but mammoth Argentine Fabio Moli has stepped into the breach and will square off to trade broadsides with Skelton on Friday night in London. Promoted by Frank Warren’s Sports Network and managed by the Maloney brothers, Frank and Eugene, Skelton has been getting the push he needs, as at thirty-eight years of age, time is not on his side.
Don’t miss this exclusive interview with British heavyweight champion Matt Skelton and his manager Eugene Maloney, only at SaddoBoxing.com
Matt Skelton hails from Bedford, England but first made his mark in the world of fisticuffs across the globe in Japan, where he was a leading figure in the mixed martial arts league known as K1. It happened by accident that he came to boxing at all, as he was simply investigating the sport to benefit his hand speed for martial arts competitions. In less than two and a half years, Skelton finds himself knocking on the door of more than just respectability but legitimacy on the stratospheric heights of the world level.
Simultaneously, Eugene Maloney has emerged from the long shadow of his older brother Frank, who along with Frank Warren is arguably the UK’s pre-eminent fight manager. As a promoter and manager, Eugene has gained a sterling reputation by putting on a wealth of ultra-competitive small hall shows in the London area. Now co-manager of Skelton with brother Frank, Maloney fully understands what he has in perhaps the most competitive heavyweight seen in some time.
“Matt is a bright, well mannered guy but inside the ring he’s a tear-away who just loves knocking people out,” exclaimed Eugene. “That’s how we’ve been able to move him so quickly, he just loves fighting. We’re not looking for easy fights. We’re putting him in with a big strong guy like Moli because we expect Matt to do the same thing that Klitschko did to him. Our guy has only had sixteen fights, but as everyone knows he’s getting on a bit and too old for us to put a blanket round him and build him up. Matt’s assets are his strength and his willingness to have a tear-up and that’s what we expect on Friday, a gun fight with Matt coming out on top.”
Whether or not Fabio Moli will be successful in the contest against Skelton remains to be seen, but the thirty-five year old Argentinean has accomplished somewhat of a press victory in the pre-fight build up. The former South American and WBO Latino heavyweight champion has gained scads of attention by claiming a perfect knockout record against the bulls that roam his ranch property back home on the Pampas. Moli wasn’t so lucky against Wladimir Klitschko when the two met to contend for the vacant WBA International belt in 2003. The younger Klitschko crushed Moli like a 280-pound insect in the first round during the only instance that “La Mole” has ventured forth from his domestic burrow.
Still, Moli has managed to talk a good game and help to generate a bit of extra publicity for the London pairing on Friday night. Skelton isn’t bothered however and has been around professional sports long enough to realize that talk is cheap. “What Moli has said hasn’t affected me at all,” said the easy-going double champion. “It’s just part and parcel of the business. You get some fighters who want to make statements and you get some who just go with the flow. I’m not fazed by that at all as I’ve heard it before inthe past and I’m sure I’ll hear it again in the future. Some guys use it to boost their confidence and some use it as a publicity stunt but it doesn’t faze me in the slightest, no.”
With sixteen victories in as many fights, fifteen of those early, Skelton isn’t losing sleep over his opponent or even anyone unfortunate enough to share the ring with the Bedford man in the foreseeable future. There’s nothing fancy about the way Skelton fights but without question he has so far dictated the action in every one of his outings. He knows that has been to credit as much as any other advantages he may have going for himself. “I’ve seen quite a bit of tape on Moli and he likes to come forward,” recalled Matt. “He’s quite strong and he’s a big guy, but we’re confident that we’ve put together the right strategy. At the end of the day, you’ve got to try and fight your fight, dictating things from the start. Some fighters, if they get comfortable throughout the fight, their confidence grows and they look to be a better fighter than they really are. I’ve got to try and break away Moli’s game plan and stick to mine. It’s the concept I’ve always worked behind.”
Matt Skelton isn’t inclined to allow any opponent a measure of anything resembling accommodation and should things go as planned against Moli, can’t wait to share his fistic philosophy with bigger names on the heavyweight landscape. As Eugene Maloney explains, it hasn’t always been easy finding opponents for his fighter, whose brutal reputation precedes him. “We’ve tried a few different things with Matt, as in his last fight against Keith Long we tried to get him to box a bit more but it’s not Matt Skelton’s style,” said Maloney, who bases his operation out of the Maloney Fight Factory located in a hard nosed section of London. “His assets are his strength and his willingness to have a tear-up and we’re straight back to that. There’s no one in Britain who wants to fight him and that’s one of the reasons why we’re going for this WBU belt. If Matt wins this one, and I expect Matt to take Moli out early, he still retains his British and Commonwealth title belts. Frank Warren is then going to get a Danny Williams fight for us in April. If Matt wins that then we’re in a very good position to get a major title fight by the end of the year.”
Richard Eberline can be reached at richardeberline@fastmail.fm
