Frank Warren
Frank Warren, Britain’s premier and longest-serving boxing promoter, has been building champions in the professional sport for nearly 45 years and was acknowledged for his work across the industry in 2008 with his entrance into the International Hall of Fame.
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Brad’S Got The Gift Of The Jab
By Queensberry Promotions
PUNCHLINES
By Richard Hubbard
Every successful boxer needs a top operator in his corner and Bradley Skeete has one of the best in the business in the hugely respected Alan Smith, proprietor of the thriving iBox Gym in Bromley.
Smith, who recently reached the milestone of 50, somewhat typically, deflects most of the credit for navigating Skeete to title level away from himself, choosing to pass most of the plaudits towards his amateur mentor.
What Smith will wax lyrical about though is his pupil’s most natural asset, his range-finder, which also happens to be his most potent weapon.
British champion Skeete is back in action on Friday at the Brentwood Centre where he makes the second defence of his title against mandatory challenger Shayne Singleton.
Smith is expecting an even more polished performance than in his first defence - against John Thain in November - when, due to an injured right thumb, he eventually took his opponent apart left-handed, with very sparing use of his right.
“If you look at Brad he has got an incredible jab, a bit like Larry Holmes, Virgil Hill - those type of fighters,” reasoned Smith, who also has Lewis Pettitt, Danny Carr and Jake Pettitt - Lewis’ younger brother - fighting on the Brentwood card. “Everyone has got a punch that suits them more than others and that is his key weapon.
“His left hand is so strong that a lot of people don’t get close. Sometimes his right hand hurts and he just does it with one hand. That is Brad and I don’t think you should change him because he has come all this way.
“He has got such a good jab and he can chuck it in so many different ways then, if you walk onto that right hand, it is a bit of a weapon too. It is his biggest attribute and his biggest advantage.”
Smith insists Skeete possessed all of his favourite tools before he took over the reigns to plot the Penge man’s professional journey.
“I’ve known Brad since he was 11 years old when he boxed a few of my amateurs. He was always a nice boy, a very, very polite boy and always a nice neat boxer. He came from Earlsfield with Sid Khan, who is a bit of a growler, but probably the most caring amateur trainer. He just doesn’t pretend he is like that.
“He was well, well schooled and, if you know Sid, you know everything is straight - one-two, right hook, uppercut, left hook - he had everything nice and straight and came here polished. He was an England international and Sid had taught him the fundamentals brilliantly.
“When he turned pro I didn’t think he was going to be strong enough, but he has worked hard. Dean Powell (his late manager and Frank Warren’s matchmaker) was instrumental to him and did everything bit by bit and matched him through the steps.
“With a kid like Brad you haven’t got to say too much to him. You tell him once, but he won’t chuck a shot when you tell him to, he’ll chuck it when it suits him. He knows he has got fantastic timing.
“I don’t care if he knocks someone out, although it is great for the fans, as long as he wins. He has got better, if you look at his first 15 fights he was maybe a little bit boring, but the old saying is 20 for learning, 20 for earning.
“I know the game has changed - it has fundamentally changed because of TV - and in his first 15 fights he wasn’t exciting, but now he is exciting when he needs to be.
“I’d rather him be like someone like Clinton Woods and be a good all-rounder, rather than just good in one department.”
When it came to crunch and his biggest fight to date in beating Sam Eggington for the British title last year, Skeete did box to orders when it appeared he would much rather have let his hands go and forced a stoppage.
Those thoughts were drummed out of his head by Smith between rounds and a points victory was duly added to his now 25-1 record.
“Do you know what, I could’ve made a mistake there because if he’d carried on he could have won it easier than he did,” admitted Smith. “I’m a massive fan of Sam and I really like him and Jon Pegg, but you could do that and get caught and end up thinking ‘what did I do that for?’. It is all hindsight.
“With the Sam fight I said you are not going to be able to run for 12 rounds. He held his feet when he needed to and moved when he needed to. If you watch it he adapted more in that fight than any other.”
With his second defence now looming, Smith does go along with the train of thought that Skeete has become hostage to his desire to have custody of his British title belt for keeps, while spurning offers of bigger fights in the meantime.
“He is really, but he wants to keep it and he’s in control here,” he conceded. “Frank, myself and Andy (Ayling) sometimes get frustrated, but you’ve got a young man who is more proud to hold the British title than making bigger money that is on the table.
“He’s not old, he’s fresh and has never been in a hard fight, so will him being patient for another six months make a lot of difference?
“He wants to win it for his legacy and for his little girl, so I appreciate that. I can also understand where Frank and Andy are coming from, but in six months that big fight is going to be there.
“He should get past Shayne Singleton, but I take every fight as the hardest one.”