Butlin - Fitness the key to heavyweight tournament by Tom Podmore Mar 28th 2008

Melton Mowbray heavyweight Paul Butlin believes that his superior fitness and conditioning will seem him emerge as Barry Hearn's Prizefighter champion at the York Hall on April 11. Butlin will line up with the likes of Sunderland's former Commonwealth Games gold medallist David Dolan, 7-0 (3), former Southern Area heavyweight boss Colin Kenna, 16-6-2 (7), and Belfast's undefeated Martin Rogan, 7-0 (4) and touted as a future world champion by Tim Witherspoon, in Bethnal Green next month. But the Leicestershire doorman says the eight heavyweights, who also include Portsmouth's former ABA champion Billy Bessey, 7-5 (0), hard-hitting North Shields scrapper Dave Ferguson, 5-0 (2), Swansea's Darren Morgan, 5-3 (3), and Stoke's Alex ‘The Bull' Ibbs, 3-1 (0), aren't giving him any sleepless nights. “It's going to be a really explosive night's worth of boxing,” said the Andy Goodwin and Lui La Mora-trained Midlands heavyweight. “I really don't care who I end up fighting at the York Hall, however, as I'm sure I can beat any of them when I'm at my 110 per cent best. “But I might as well get out of the game if I'm going to start worrying about who I'm fighting, worrying about what my record will look like if get a few losses. I'm a fighter and will be ready to beat anyone and everyone who steps into the ring with me in a few weeks.” The draw for the event will be held on Soccer AM next weekend and each contest will be over three rounds, the winner leaving London with their bank balance £25,000 healthier and the runner-up with a cool £10,000 in his back pocket. The losing semi-finalists will bag £7,000 and £3,500 will go to the quarter-finalists. The victorious fighter will have had to have boxed three times (potentially nine rounds) by that time and the 32-year-old, who has sparred with Matt Skelton in the run up to the Bedford brawler's last five contests, is convinced that the fittest man will be the man who wins. “The fights will be over three rounds, so everyone will be putting everything into the punches from the first bell – which suits me down to the ground,” added the crowdpleasing big man, 11-5 (2), who lost a close six-rounder to Sebastian Koeber in Germany last month. “But I'm going to have to start a lot quicker than I have in my last couple of fights,” he candidly conceded. “Those slow starts ended up costing me the verdicts against Derek Chisora in January and Koeber, who I thought I beat easily, incidentally, at the end of February. “Still, I'm 100 per cent convinced that I'm the fittest fighter in this Prizefighter event,” he continued. “I think that this will become evident when I win and leave London with the £25,000 in my pocket. “I've got to take this opportunity.” Tickets are available from Butlin on 07983-522899.

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