Revitalised Krence hopes to land British title shot by Ben Carey May 14th 2005

Mark Krence feels like a new man ahead of his British heavyweight title eliminator with Welsh banger Scott Gammer at Sheffield's Octagon Centre tomorrow. The Chesterfield stylist bounced back from a shocking knockout loss to Ukrainian Konstantin Prizyuk last September to record a career best win when outscoring John McDermott to capture the vacant English heavyweight title at London's ExCeL Arena in December. Referee Dave Parris's 96-95 scorecard raised eyebrows and incensed the portly McDermott, but Krence remains adamant that the right man got the nod. “It was a close decision but I got the win in his backyard so I must have done something right. I was the one who wanted it more and who was prepared to work. It wasn't my best performance but I did get knocked out in my previous contest which did affect my confidence a little bit,” admitted Krence to BBN. And the boxing butcher's preparation for McDermott was far from ideal… “I was knocked down in sparring by Buster Keeton and to make things worse the McDermott fight came only a day after my close friend Mark Brookes suffered his life threatening injury (when stopped in the final round by Peter Haymer for the English light-heavyweight title) and was lying in hospital. I'm not making excuses but all this did play on my mind.” Thankfully, Brookes was able to make an astonishing recovery after suffering a blood clot on the brain and has made a complete recovery though he will never box again. He will be providing Krence with moral support ahead of the most important fight of his career. The Yorkshire beanpole will need all of his ring savvy to thwart the heavy-handed attacks of the unbeaten Gammer, though. The former amateur standout, 12-0-1, is in a rich vein of form after decisioning the unbeaten Micky Steeds and blowing away Roman Bugaj in two rounds, and is confident of inflicting only the third defeat on Krence's 23-fight ledger. “I'm looking forward to it. Gammer's a strong kid and a big puncher so he'll be dangerous. But I think he'll run out of ideas after four or five rounds and I'll end up outboxing him over the distance. My fitness is excellent and I've had seven weeks of great preparation under Richard Poxon this time,” maintained a quietly confident Krence earlier this week. With Matt Skelton and Danny Williams colliding for Skelton's British title in July, Krence and Gammer have a massive incentive to emerge victorious tomorrow. “I can't afford to look beyond Gammer but Skelton against Williams is going to be a brilliant fight. I lean towards Skelton. I just think the sheer size of him and his determination will decide it in his favour. But no one expected Danny Williams to knock Mike Tyson out so you don't know,” said an excited Krence. The local favourite, at his best, is a smooth and capable boxer despite lacking a knockout dig and gave Olympic champion Audley Harrison a fright before dropping a points decision three years ago. It's conceivable that he will make Gammer look predictable and ponderous for long spells. The Welshman is yet to travel beyond six rounds and has blown hot and cold, too. However, Krence can bust up and does suffer from lapses in concentration. Based on this I expect Gammer to come from behind to force the referee's intervention in the middle rounds with Krence under heavy fire trapped against the ropes. But it's not a confident pick. Fight Academy promote this five-bout Sunday afternoon show.

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