British Heavyweight Title - Gammer v Steeds - SS1 - 10pm Friday

Tonight's headliner for Sky Sports' Friday Night Fights is the first headlining live appearance of Pembroke Dock's Scott Gammer on British Television, and at last week's press conference, he vowed to give the fans a cracking fight to keep the Gammer name on people's lips.
At 6'2" and averaging about 16 1/2 stone (231lbs) in his recent outings, Gammer is the bigger man this time around, despite Michael Steeds having a weight advantage in their first meeting in February '05. Gammer's record stands at 16-0-1 (9 KO), with the draw coming in a disappointing bout against Latvian Mendauga Kulikauskas in '03. With the points draw in '05, Gammer is hoping not to have to go the distance with Steeds again, albeit the longer distance will make that less likely. His father and coach Ralph Gammer believes it will be a KO in the mid to late rounds, as the speedier Steeds tires out.

Steeds however, with his 8-1-0 (1 KO) record looks much fitter than he did in the first bout with Gammer, and has had plenty of time for preparation for their second meeting, having taken the Feb '05 fight at 3 weeks notice. Looking to have trimmed down to his early career size, standing 2 inches shorter than the champion, looked extremely relaxed at last week's press conference, but walking into the partisan Port Talbot boxing crowd, will he handle being the underdog? The solitary KO on his record suggests that the Londoner is not the big puncher, yet coach John Rooney Jr is backing his fighter, also for a mid to late win. Having gone the distance in all but 1 of his fights, Rooney also mentioned that he thought it would be very difficult for his boy to get the result on the cards, so a stoppage would be the result he would need.

As for me, despite Steeds' obvious improvement since their first bout, Gammer's size, greater punching power and experience will give him the edge, and I'll go with his dad's suggestion, and give Gammer a stoppage in 7 or 8. We'll see come tomorrow night, and my full report on the card, including an IBF/WBC youth middleweight title bout will be here on Saddos tomorrow night.

Ah well...nobody else seems to be interested, but it was a fairly good fight, with Gammer in control, and steeds lacking the power and reach to trouble Gammer. Scores were 118-110 twice, and 120-108 which was a bit harsh. Hopefully, Gammer will get a crack at Danny Williams before long for some proper exposure. Kinda like the undertaker v yokozuna from the glory days of WWF ;)