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© Lawrence Lustig
Tony Oakey has vowed to prove the critics wrong by becoming Prizefighter Champion tonight.
Portsmouth light-heavyweight Oakey, 33, has been defeated in his last two fights and lost his grip on the British and Commonwealth belts.
But he has a chance to catapult himself back into the title picture as he is one of the contenders in Barry Hearn’s latest Prizefighter event.
Prizefighter is an eight-man, one-evening tournament where each fight lasts a maximum of three rounds with the last man standing collecting £25,000.
“I’ve got a big point to prove and there’s still a lot left in my tank,” said Oakey.
“In my last fight against Nathan Cleverly for the Commonwealth Championshi) I only had three weeks notice and I wasn’t fit enough.
“But now I’m fully fit and my game plan is to get my head down and throw as many punches as I can do. You will always get a tear up out of Tony Oakey and that’s exactly what this is.
“The winner could go on to fight for the British or Commonwealth title and that’s one of my aims – to get one of my belts back. When I retire it would be nice to have ‘Prizefighter Champion’ on my CV as well as the other titles.
“In terms of reputation, I’ve got the most to lose as everyone will be trying to make a name for themselves off of my name.
“I’m one of the favourites and definitely the most experienced but I’m also the hardest in the competition and 100 per cent confident that I’m going to win it.
“I’m hungry and I’m going to be a very tough man to beat.”
Four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and a final will take place in a frantic three-hour period at a sold out York Hall in Bethnal Green, east London.
Prizefighter will be screened live on Sky Sports 1 from 9pm and this event follows four successful similar competitions – two at heavyweight and one at both welterweight and middleweight.
The draw has not been kind to Oakey as he meets highly-rated Billy Boyle of Sheffield, who has won all 11 of his contests with seven knockouts.
If successful, Oakey could meet 1998 Commonwealth Games gold medalist Courtney Fry in the semis, while Steve Spartacus, who Oakey beat to win the British Championship in May 2007, is one of four potential final opponents.
The Prizefighter contenders are Bob Ajisafe (Darlington), Billy Boyle (Sheffield), Shon Davies (Llanelli), Carl Dilks (Liverpool), Courtney Fry (Liverpool), Tony Oakey (Portsmouth), Steve Spartacus (Ipswich) and Darren Stubbs (Oldham).
The quarter-final line-up is Fry v Davies, Oakey v Boyle, Ajisafe v Dilks and Stubbs v Spartacus. If Oakey is successful in his quarter-final he will meet the winner of the Fry v Davies bout.
