c+p from the daily mirror
Gary Lockett - the British Rocky with just one shot at greatness
14/05/2008
Gary Lockett is sitting on a low stone wall outside Enzo Calzaghe's gym at the foot of a hillside in Abercarn. We're talking about the shot.
The shot. The chance he's been given. Out of nowhere. The tilt at the title that no one thought he'd ever get.
It's a Rocky script. The fight that could change his life. The fight that could give him a one-way ticket out of Palookaville.
The opportunity, he says, to send his toddler son, Jac, to private school when he grows up. To give him a better life.
It'll be goodbye to small halls and undercards and purses of £30,000, which is the most he's ever earned.
Well, it will be if he wins. But no one expects that to happen and Lockett, a prize fighter for 12 years now, knows it.
Lockett, 31, smiles when I stumble around the suggestion that most people expect him to be knocked out. Early.
"What you meant to say was 'are you sure you deserve this shot?' "I know what you're thinking. I know a lot of people are saying 'Gary's going to get hammered into the ground'."
He's right. Alot of people are saying that. Hasn't got a hope in hell. Variations on that theme.
On June 7, Lockett will climb into a ring at the famous Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City to face the awesome knockout machine that is middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik.
Pavlik's a proper champion. Not just an alphabet soup title holder. He's universally recognised as the world's best middleweight.
He's a throwback fighter. The 2007 Fighter of the Year. A blue collar hero from Youngstown, Ohio. A banger who's won 29 of his 33 fights by knockout.
Pavlik's been down four times in his career. But each time he's got back up and knocked his opponent out. He's 26. In his prime.
He's facing Lockett because he thinks the Welshman will be an easy title defence after two hard fights against former champion Jermain Taylor.
Lockett, born in Pontypool, represents easy money for Pavlik. A quick night. A bit of a breather before another superfight.
Lockett knows all that, too. Like a lot of boxers, he's a bright man. Articulate, open and honest, too.
He's married to a schoolteacher. He's got a small property portfolio. He's studied nutrition at Swansea College.
He works as a personal trainer and a gym instructor, too. He's got a happy, prosperous life outside boxing. To him, the fight game is a business.
"Someone said to me recently that I hadn't earned out of boxing. But I am not an extravagant guy.
"I like to go out to nice restaurants once a week. I like my wine.
"I have always been able to do what I want within reason. Could I go over to the Caribbean four times a year on holiday? No, I couldn't. But I have got four houses which I wouldn't have been able to get without boxing and the help of my builder dad.
"And I have got a few qualifications for when I finish. So I don't think I have done too badly. I have underachieved but I've done okay.
"Yes, my biggest purse until now is £30,000 but for a non-extravagant guy, that is a year's wages."
Sure, Lockett's fought out plenty of his career in small halls. But let's not pretend he's a mug as a boxer, either. He's won 30 of his 31 fights, 21 inside the distance.
I saw his one defeat to Yuri Tsarenko in Cardiff back in April 2002. He was a bloody, snotty mess by the end but his courage made a massive impression.
He never gave up even though at times it seemed it would be a mercy if the referee stopped the fight.
He's good enough to have been offered a shot at the IBF title holder, Arthur Abraham, which he turned down because the money wasn't right. He's good enough to be ranked the No.1 contender by the WBO, which put him in place for the fight with Pavlik when Pavlik's fight with John Duddy fell through.
He's beaten respected fighters like Kevin Kelly, Ryan Rhodes and Lee Blundell and now that he's being trained by the brilliant bundle of energy that is Calzaghe senior, he says he's fitter and more focused than ever before.
"There are a lot of people who think I don't deserve the shot," Lockett says. "Well, I've got here the hard way. Fighting on small hall bills for very low money, giving away weight just to get the right opponent.
"I've had so many knocks and injuries and been messed about by promoters. Anyone who knows me won't begrudge me my shot.
"But the Pavlik fight came around and it has revitalised me. A whole new world opens up if I win. The guy's been down four times. He's killing himself to make the weight. Maybe I'll catch him at the right time. Maybe they're underestimating me. Maybe this, maybe that. Who knows?
"Pavlik is going to stand in front of me and try and knock me out and anyone who does that is going to get hit - and hurt. I guarantee you.
"He is not a Superman. He can be beaten. It only takes one punch."
