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Frank Maloney has announced the signing of the explosive British Olympic Light Heavyweight Bronze Medallist Tony ‘TNT’ Jeffries, in a deal that Maloney says will finally allow him to match the achievements made with Lennox Lewis and Paul Ingle.
Jeffries, 23, will be the first British Olympian of the class of 2008 to fight in the pro game, making his debut in the Barnsley Metrodome on the 27th of February. The Sky ‘Friday Fight Night’ bill will be topped by Rendall Munroe and will allow Jeffries to return to the site of his first national amateur title, which he won at the tender age of thirteen.
Maloney said: “I think he can go all the way. I put out a press release at the beginning of the year saying I wanted to move my company up there to become one of the major promoters in Great Britain. I Signed Darren Sutherland – the Irish Bronze Medallist – and I said in my press release I needed one more fighter to complete my jigsaw. By the luck of God, Tony Jeffries came up.”
Like Sutherland, Jeffries has a hard-hitting style more suited to the pro game. His trainer, Joe Gallagher, has coined his new nickname, TNT, as a mark of respect for Jeffries’ explosive power in both left and right hands.
Maloney has a track record of signing the right talent and bringing them to the pinnacle of boxing’s heights. He believes that in Jeffries and Sutherland, he finally has the fighters to compare to his previous best. He continued: “In 1988 I signed two Olympians, one was Lennox Lewis, the other was Paul Ingle… the record shows that they both became real world champions, none of these Mickey Mouse titles.”
Jeffries is delighted to be with a promoter that can offer him the right fights, in the right locations and the right promotion.
He said: “After the [first] meeting I went home and I wrote a list of questions down to ask Frank Maloney. I rang him up and asked him, top of the list was, ‘will I box in Sunderland?’ and he said yes, you’ll fight in Sunderland twice in the first year. So I ticked that box twice. And every other thing I asked him – there was about six or seven things on t here – he just ticked every box.”
The deal came at the second time of asking for Maloney, who had been beaten to the punch by a big money move from Dennis Hobson. Unfortunately, the promises made by Hobson were never able to materialise, and Jeffries was left looking for other options.
Jeffries continued: “I was gutted at the time. What Frank Maloney’s got to offer us is great, it couldn’t work out any better for us really. I’ve been pro since November and waiting all this time for the date, training over Christmas, dieting; finally getting the date and the venue for that has finally given me the lift and the buzz in my training.”
The signature will help Maloney fulfil his new-year’s resolution of challenging for the top spot of the British boxing promoters, and will allow him to expand operations into the north of England. Jeffries was named North East Sports Personality of the year in 2008, and his support, especially in Tyne and Wear, is, just like his left and right hands, incredibly strong.
