Skelton is carving his way through the heavyweight ranks at a rapid pace with seven fights, seven wins, all of them by way of stoppage or knockout. Co-managers Eugene Maloney and Kevin Sanders can afford to move him quickly. Skelton is a former leading kickboxer who once fought in front of 65,000 people at the Tokyo Dome in Japan (where Mike Tyson lost to James "Buster" Douglas in front of a mere 30,000). Last time out in July, Skelton stopped the normally durable French southpaw Antoine Palatis in four rounds (who had taken Danny Williams the full 12 and Holden the full six), and he also holds a fourth round stoppage of Pele Reid conqueror and British Masters heavyweight champion, Jacklord Jacobs, as well as a first round knockout over Alvin 'Slick' Miller, who floored Keith Long.
Heavy-handed and a 'big' heavyweight at around 18 stone, Skelton didn't turn pro till he was already 30 (he is currently 32, though some have claimed he is older) but has the look of a kickboxer who can do something as a boxer, unlike Pele Reid before him. A fight with Holden will certainly provide evidence of that, for or against. After all, Holden was scheduled to fight Herbie Hide in late July in Norwich (till Hide pulled out injured).
The former British heavyweight champion from Manchester is knocking on a bit at 35, but will be in good shape after the hard training he must have done for the Hide fight and has fought all the 'name' heavyweights of the past few years, Danny Williams apart (and the two were once scheduled to meet). He captured the British title with a solid points win over Julius Francis in March 2000 (Francis's first fight after losing to Mike Tyson), went 10 rounds with Keith Long in a subsequent British title eliminator (losing on points) and was stopped in four rounds by the red hot Michael Sprott earlier this year. He actually never lost his British title in the ring, vacating the title just prior to a scheduled defence against Danny Williams after coming down with a virus infection (enabling Williams to take part in his memorable clash with Mark Potter). He lost a rematch with Francis over 12 rounds and was outpointed Poland's Albert Sosnowski over six rounds in his last fight in April. It's fair to say his form has been in and out of late, but his 10-8 (6) record is still deceptive. He's fought a lot of good men and holds a stunning first round kayo over the normally durable Derek McCafferty (who has done plenty of sparring with Skelton), and also finished another normally durable man, Israel Ajose, inside a round.
Make no mistake, if Skelton has any weaknesses, Holden will expose them.
One obvious concern eminating from Skelton's record is the fact he has never been past four rounds as a pro. Holden is well capable of soaking up punishment and sticking around for the full 10 rounds. How will Skelton cope in the later rounds? Kickboxing is kickboxing, and sparring 10 rounds at a time with the likes of Danny Williams and Michael Sprott as he has been doing, is, well, sparring ("Sprott was very, very good," he says, "and I feel of all the guys I was sparring he was the one who could vary his game").
None of that will help him in the later rounds of a real fight. Holden is one of the biggest, toughest, bravest heavies out there today, domestically, and never looks for the easy way out.
But Skelton still has to be favoured. He should win the inaugural crown by late stoppage or on points.
