Haymer Confident For Oakey Rematch
Source: Press Release
(JAN 21) With less than two weeks to go before his first ever British title
fight, London based light heavyweight Peter Haymer has been tearing through
sparring partners at an alarming rate as he prepares for a rematch with
reigning British champion Tony Oakey on a Frank Maloney promotion at York
Hall on Friday, February 1, 2008.
"Peter has been looking very good in training and I'm very confident that
he'll beat Oakey again," said Haymer's trainer/manager Chris Hall, a former
amateur boxer who is also founder and director of the well respected London
Boxing Academy. "It's going to be either a very close fight or I think Peter
might be able to stop him, but that's a big task because Oakey's never been
stopped."
For Haymer to fulfill Hall's prediction, the hard nosed St. Pancras native
must make better use of his five inch height advantage as he was forcibly
dragged into a bruising 12 rounds of trench warfare by the much shorter
Oakey in June of 2005 and had to summon every ounce of energy to eke out a
razor thin points verdict to retain his English title at the time.
Haymer, 17-4-1 (5), will also have to reverse his lack of momentum going
into this contest as he has suffered defeats in his last two outings while
Oakey, 24-2-1 (6), hasn't lost a bout in all six of his appearances since
the first Haymer clash, including a British title win against Steve
Spartacus in May of last year.
But Hall feels that Haymer's recent disappointments were circumstantial in
nature and in one case, could even serve to spur his trainee on through what
is sure to be a hotly contested British title challenge against a motivated
champion.
"Peter improved immensely for a year and a half after the first Oakey fight
but was going through personal issues that I think had a lot to do with his
dreadful performance when he challenged for the Commonwealth title in 2006;
he just wasn't himself that night," said the trainer, who won three national
titles as an amateur boxer and has university degrees in Sports Science and
Management. We were supposed to be fighting Steve Spartacus on that occasion
but a couple of days before that, Spartacus took a British title fight
against Oakey and David was the late replacement opponent. Peter was really
cheesed off because he had wanted to fight Oakey for the British title but
instead ended up watching two guys that he had already beaten, Oakey and
Spartacus, fight for the belt."
It's a must win situation for Haymer as a loss would make domestic title
challenges a thing of the past for the 29 year old Londoner, but Hall is
certain that "The Daddy" can regain his footing as one of the premier light
heavyweights in the UK.
"Peter is bigger and stronger than Oakey and hits very hard; I've always
fancied Peter being able to stop him," he said. "We hurt Oakey several times
in the first fight but Peter never followed up. I'm really hopeful that in
this fight, if we catch him with a couple of good shots, that we actually
follow up, as we intend to. Peter's really strong, really fit and he been
been fitter and stronger for the last four weeks than he was for the first
Oakey fight. We're really optimistic that we're going to be taking the title
home."
Frank Maloney Promotions presents "The Return" featuring Tony Oakey vs.
Peter Haymer for the Light Heavyweight Championship of Great Britain at York
Hall in Bethnal Green, London, England on Friday, February 1, 2008.
A full undercard features top heavyweight John McDermott, flashy super
feather Kaash "The Bash" Bhatia, light heavyweights Tony Salem and Courtney
Fry, welterweights Mark Thompson and Yassine El Maachi, lightweights Lee
Cook and Danny Harding along with super feather Henry Castle, welterweights
Scott Woolford and Jamie Radford, light welter Ross Hewitt and Women's
boxing sensation Laura Saperstein.
Tickets are priced at £75 Ringside and £40 Open Seating and are available by
logging onto www.frankmaloney.com or by calling the Box Office at 0871 226
1508. Doors open at 6:45PM with first bell at 7PM.
Sky Sports will televise live on SS1 starting at 9:30PM. Press Release
composed by Curtis McCormick for www.frankmaloney.com
