Lowe looking forward to Masters shot by Kev Parker May 12th 2008

Andrew Lowe, managed, promoted and trained by Carl Greaves is fighting May 31st at The Grove Leisure Centre, Newark against Barnsley's Jonny Musgrave for the third time. This rubber match will decided two things. One, who is the superior fighter, and two, who will be the new British Masters champion at welterweight. Andrew was originally down to face Mansfield's Karl Chiverton (9-1) for the title, however as May seems to be the month in which every other match is falling through, Lowe will be facing Musgrave for the vacant title. I had the chance to catch up with Andrew for a few words to get his thoughts on his upcoming fight. What do you know on why Karl Chiverton had to pull out and what's your thought's on the opponent change? I was really looking forward to fighting Karl, he has a better record on paper than me. I was very confident for the fight and it would have been a good local derby but he had to pull out because he has a bad back. Hopefully we can meet in the future, I'd like to fight him down the line. Jonny is a different kind of fight, he's tough and rugged and I do know what to expect. It's going to be a tough fight. I could have had a different fighter, but it would have to have been a six of eight rounder. Me and Carl sat down and we both wanted to go for the title still so Musgrave was really the only option. People know we've had two good fights so this is to settle it once and for all. The fight's at 10st 7lbs, you've been mostly coming in around 10st 12lbs, I notice the lightest you've fought is 10st 9lbs. Do you think you'll have any trouble at all making the weight? No I'll be fine with the weight, my weight's good already and I've still got three weeks to go. Training's going really well, I'm on target all round, my diet's been going well, I'm eating well and I'm only a few pounds above the weight so I'm happy with how it's going. It's your first ten rounder, how's the training going? I think the three-minute rounds suit me a lot more, I'm not a slow starter but I build up momentum and can do alot of good work in the final minute of a round. I'm naturally a fit lad so I like the extra minute, I did six-threes last time and felt really good. I'm not known as being a puncher so I have to increase my workrate, even though my strength is coming on all the time in the gym. I'm looking forward to doing the ten rounds. You're still a novice fighter, how do you feel you've been developing over the last 18 months? Since Christmas I've come on a lot more, Carl's changed gyms and set up his own now so I've been doing alot more work with him. I think I've improved so much since Christmas and your going to see it in this fight aswell. I'm much more relaxed, I pick my shots better, I've got a better variety of shots and my fitness is getting better. Sparring's been going really well, I've been in with the local lads from the gym. I've been sparring Amir, he's a good lad, nice and sharp and also Kev Hammond a lot. I've been doing a lot of rounds with Kev,we always have a really good spar. There's a few of the heavier lads I've been going in with too. Everything's going great, there's been no problems. What are the ultimate goals that you would like to achieve in boxing? I'd love to fight for the British title and win it. I never look past each fight though, to win this British Masters title will be amazing. To win a professional boxing title would be so good for me, like I said though I never look past any fight or fighter. To be fighting in my eighth fight for a title in front of my home crowd is great. I'm hoping within the next year I'll be ranked high enough to fight for the Midland Area belt and then just take it from there, welterweight is the biggest division in the country so I've just got to keep working hard and winning fights so I can get up the rankings and get the shots at the titles. How do you approach training, I know you work full-time so obviously training has to fit around that. Do you have training camps or is it more of a continuous regime? I normally give myself eight weeks for a fight, training full-time. So once work is finished it's 100% boxing. I run in the morning before going to work then in the evening I concentrate on the boxing side of it. In between fights I do train but usually it's just a little bit of swimming, squash, running or a bit of weights, just enough to stay in shape. After a fight I like to relax, have a bit of time off then ease back into it, it's nice to get away from the gym for a couple of weeks after the hard work is done. It's a good atmosphere down the gym, Carl is a great coach, we've known each other for years but when it's time to work it really is all business. He has loads of knowledge since he's been around so many different gyms and picked up so much over the years. It really shows when we train, no two sessions are the same with him, he always throws something in to keep the variety and freshness there for us all when we're training. It's that really that's bringing me on, I enjoy training there and there is always someone to spar.

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