Rees vs Buckland & Selby vs Munroe Previews

By Peter Wells:
 



Gavin Rees (left) & Gary Buckland (right)

As one Welshman fights to keep his career above the line of relevance, another takes a further step in taking the throne in the lighter weight classes for Welsh boxing. Lee Selby will be hoping that a victory on Saturday night will edge him that little bit closer to every boxer’s dream, a world title, something that Gavin Rees held aloft 6 and a half years ago. 

Lee Selby tackles former world title challenger Rendall Munroe in a bid to capture the European Featherweight title, while defending his British title. But first we’ll focus on Gavin Rees 37-3-1(18) who will be looking to keep his career alive when he faces fellow Welshman, Gary Buckland at Cardiff’s Motorpoint arena.

‘The Rock’ will be looking to bounce back from successive defeats in 2013, firstly and unsurprisingly to Adrien Broner (TKO 5) but then against the odds Rees was stunned by Anthony Crolla (MD 12). Crolla’s height seemed to trouble Rees in a way that it had never done in his career before. At 5ft 4in and a career Light Welterweight – now fighting at Lightweight – Rees had become accustomed and thrived on fighting taller opponents but signs that his knack of bullying his foes and using his tireless energy to outwork them were starting to drift away in the rear-view mirror.

Saturday’s contest will be for a shot at the British Lightweight title, currently held by Martin Gethin – who after pulling out of his contest with Anthony Crolla with an injury is likely to have to take on the Manchester fighter before the winner of this all-Welsh clash gets their bite of the cherry.

So while the pressure to perform will be on Gavin Rees, Saturday night also comes around as a crucial night for Gary Buckland 27-3(9). The Cardiff fighter is moving back up to Lightweight having fought at Super Featherweight for the last few years. He reigned as the British Super Featherweight champion after upsetting Gary Sykes (UD 12) in a close contest. Like Rees he also carries a stoppage win over Derry Matthews (KO 2) – Rees has recorded a 4^th round technical draw and 9^th round TKO over Matthews. In his latest contest he was on the receiving end of one of the knockouts of the year when Stephen Smith landed a flush uppercut to leave Buckland out cold.

That latest fight for Buckland is why he comes in as the betting underdog, but at 27 years old he may well be another fighter to capitalise on a man who seems to be entering the twilight of his impressive career.

While one has the feeling that Buckland can have success against Rees, his lack of power and consistent movement will be his downfall as he becomes too easy a target for Rees. Having shipped a lot of punishment Buckland will be saved from himself somewhere around the 7^th round, but any chance of Rees returning to world level seems long gone.


Rendall Munroe & Lee Selby (either side of Eddie Hearn)



While Rees has always been a short Light Welterweight/Lightweight, Lee Selby is quite the opposite as a tall Featherweight. One has to wonder how much longer Barry’s Selby can stay at 126lbs when he stands around 5ft 8in and has a tendency to look 2 or 3 weight divisions above his opponents.

Selby 17-1(6) first turned stones when he stunned Stephen Smith in 8 rounds back in 2011, since then he has become one of the stars of Matchroom Promotions. Wins over John Simpson (TKO 5), Martin Lindsay (UD 12) and most recently Ryan Walsh (UD 12) have followed as he won the British title outright.

To begin 2014 he will face by far his toughest test to date when facing the come backing Rendall Munroe 27-3-1(11). The former ‘Boxing Bin man’ has failed to find his highest form after a valiant losing effort against former WBC Super Bantamweight ruler Toshiaki Nishioka (UD 12). His career best victory still lies in 2009 when he outpointed current IBF Super Bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez (UD 12).  

His attempts to return to former glories were scuppered when he was stopped in 6 by Scott Quigg in a rematch of their earlier technical draw. Three routine wins later and Munroe is in a last chance saloon, but unlike Rees, he comes in as a huge underdog.

While many are raving about the potential of Selby, I for one am still sceptical about how good he actually is. This fight with Munroe will answer many lingering questions.



Erick Ochieng can make a statement in his first fight at Welterweight

My initial pick was to go with the experience of Munroe and while one still believes this will be a tougher fight than the odds would suggest, I see Selby outworking and countering the older Munroe enough to take a close points victory.


The pick of the undercard fights is between Erick Ochieng and Dale Evans in an 8 round Welterweight contest.

Ochieng 14-2(4) is coming off the back of a loss to Liam Smith (UD 12) when fighting for the vacant British Light Middleweight title. The former English Light Middleweight champion is an awkward operator that can work at a tireless pace. While he prefers to box from range, Ochieng is more than adept at fighting in close.


Evans 7-1(3) is a career Welterweight and made a name for himself when losing in the final of a highly competitive Prizefighter last January. He beat both Sam Eggington and Mark Thompson on points before losing a split decision to Glenn Foot.

Evans holds home advantage but Ochieng’s size and strength may be too much for the Welshman. Evans can still push Ochieng close but the pick is for Kenyan born Erick ‘The Eagle’ to take the victory on the cards.



Back in action: Anthony Joshua returns on the undercard

In another exciting all-Welsh affair Jason Cook is looking to bounce back from a 7^th round stoppage defeat to Glenn Foot.


Tony Pace 4-6-1 is also coming off the back of a defeat against Lenny Daws (PTS 6) – whom Cook drew with over 12 rounds in 2010.

Former European Lightweight champion, Cook 29-5-1(15) has fought at a much higher level but he fights for only the 2^nd time since 2011. Still he should be able to retain his Welsh Area Light Welterweight title with a stoppage in 7 rounds.