Across The Pond – Lockett Ready to Shock The World

By:  | Posted: Sunday, June 1st, 2008 at 11:24 pm.

YET another British boxer goes for glory in America on Saturday night – and his trainer insists he’s ready to shock the world.

Welshman Gary Lockett is a 10-1 shot with one online oddsmaker to upset Kelly Pavlik in their middleweight title fight in Atlantic City.

Pavlik’s promoter, Bob Arum, is expecting no surprises. He has already agreed a deal for Pavlik to defend his titles again in the States on September 27, with the possibility of an eventual meeting with Lockett’s stablemate, Joe Calzaghe, looming on the horizon.

But Lockett’s trainer, Enzo Calzaghe, who masterminded his son’s victory over Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas in April, tells me he has a good feeling about the fight.

“He’s never been in better shape in his whole life,” Enzo said of Lockett. ”At the end of the day, we haven’t cut no corners and he’s been training 200 per cent.”

Lockett, 31, is known as a puncher in Britain but will need all his conditioning if the fight goes into the later rounds. Pavlik, 26, is unbeaten in 33 fights and renowned for his strength and resilience, which were shown in both his two biggest wins, against Jermain Taylor. 

Bruce Trampler, matchmaker for Pavlik’s promoters Top Rank, told me the other day that Pavlik was definitely not underestimating Lockett even though the challenger was a virtual unknown outside the UK.

But Enzo said: “Everybody knows what Pavlik does. He’s good, we’re not taking nothing away from him. He’s solid, he’s got a good engine. He’s nothing spectacular, but [he's] effective. [But] the unknown quantity is Gary. I’ve been training him a year-and-a-half and I still don’t know him in and out myself.”

Although Lockett’s best chance is to land the big punch – he has 21 KOs in his 31 wins – Enzo says he will be more than happy if the fight goes the scheduled 12-round distance.

“Mentally and physically, he [Lockett] has got to be prepared that a [single] punch might not do it,” Enzo said. ”If he gets him [Pavlik] down, he’s got to finish this guy off. He gets up. As a trainer, I bear that in mind. So the plan is, there is no plan. The plan is we’re just going to play it by ear. This guy could get up, he could stay down. But vice-versa, it could be the other way as well.

“So understand me that we’ve got a great chance. Gary’s over the moon at the fact he knows in his heart he’s got a great chance.”

Lockett is the mandatory challenger for Pavlik’s WBO title but will also be gunning for the WBC belt held by the Ohio-based champion. Victory would see the underdog emulate the London fighter Nigel Benn, who stormed to the WBO title in the same city 18 years ago by recovering from an early knockdown to blast Canada’s Doug DeWitt in the eighth.

The fight will be screened live on regular HBO in America and in Britain on Setanta Sports, which has just agreed a new three-year deal with Lockett’s promoter, Frank Warren

Lockett was due to fly to New York with his camp on Monday after work permit problems delayed his departure by 36 hours. After a two-day stop, the fighter and his entourage will travel to Atlantic City to begin the countdown to the biggest fight of Lockett’s 12-year career.  

Enzo said: “Let me tell you this now, I’m excited about it. For some reason, I’m quite relaxed. As Gary said himself  ’I'm a massive underdog and I’ve got nothing to lose’. He’s going in with that attitude.

“It’s going to be hard, it’s going to be very hard. We’re in America. But at the end of the day, the guy [Lockett] has got class. Gary can do it, he’s got the ability to do it. That’s what we’re going for.”

CATEGORIES:Boxing