BoxRec

Crease wrote:Still doens't change the fact that they knew he was struggling to make the weight... And that because of Frankie Gavin's inability to make weight, GB boxing are a man down...

PLUS, He was 3 pounds over!!! Not just a pund... 3 POUNDS!!!!

Was there another Lightweight who would have taken his place if Gavin hadn't have gone? And what chance would this other Lightweight have had at getting a medal?

Fire every man/woman/janitor associated with the preparation of Frankie Gavin.

Gavin looks like a total muppet to all and sundry right now. I was talking to someone about this mess today and a fella who doesn't follow the sport piped up, even he knew what had happened. If he'd have been sparked out cold in the first 30 seconds of the first fight in Beijing, he wouldn't have had this much bad press.

The only saving grace here is that he now has a helluva lot to prove as a pro. Fire in the belly is better than a porche in the driveway for a prospect with any kind of shot at pro success.

[quote="EddieShredder"

Have a read of "Looking for a fight" by David Matthews.... A journalist who wonders how hard it would be to have a pro fight with no previous boxing experience - good read [/quote][/quote][/quote]


Eddie I have read that book, hell of a read. That guy never fought again, but he said at the end of the book he was thinking of going back. In the space of 2 years the guy got into great space but must have never had the fighter instinct.

Would love to know what David Mattews is up to these days?? Great book, talks in detail about the dark side of boxing

My two cents: shocked and saddened when I read the news. I agree its a bit of a farce that they only declare now, t h i s close to the olympics, that he can't make weight but I refuse to believe that Gavin didn't do everything in his power to try and make weight - to me it seemed obvious that he lives and breathes boxing and sometimes the body just says no. And in response to the poster who said people don't grow at age 22, yes you're very unlikely to add any extra inches to your height at that age but the body is still very much undergoing changes from 20 to 30. Still, chin up lads, its a bitter pill to swallow but lets not forget we still have seven(?) other olympic hopefuls and anything can happen. Lets get behind them

Horse wrote:

Crease wrote:Still doens't change the fact that they knew he was struggling to make the weight... And that because of Frankie Gavin's inability to make weight, GB boxing are a man down...

PLUS, He was 3 pounds over!!! Not just a pund... 3 POUNDS!!!!

Was there another Lightweight who would have taken his place if Gavin hadn't have gone? And what chance would this other Lightweight have had at getting a medal?

i think each weight has a few reserves - but that is spread over the world not for each nation, so it will be some one from another country

in athens we had khan who qualified and Perkins as a first reserve in 69kg, i heard he was gloved up and ready to go at one, not sure what happened in the end, but he didnt end up boxing

So Gavin hasn't taken anyone's place by pulling out of the Olympics at short notice?

Horse wrote:So Gavin hasn't taken anyone's place by pulling out of the Olympics at short notice?

if he had pulled out before the last qualifier GB could have sent #2 Thomas Stalker to the remaining qualifers in an attempt for him to qualify, although there is no guarentee he would have cause its no easy job

Gavin is a disgrace and so is British amateur boxing who are trying to save their arse's now and coming out with all kinds of excuses

what pisses me off the most apart from him pissing my money and yours up the wall is that some poor kid from a slum in africa or south america could have used that Olympic lightweight place as a way out of poverty instead of it being wasted by a fat overfed scouser who cudn't be bothered to train and focus on his diet properly!

exittored wrote:Gavin is a disgrace and so is British amateur boxing who are trying to save their arse's now and coming out with all kinds of excuses

what pisses me off the most apart from him pissing my money and yours up the wall is that some poor kid from a slum in africa or south america could have used that Olympic lightweight place as a way out of poverty instead of it being wasted by a fat overfed scouser who cudn't be bothered to train and focus on his diet properly!

he is a brummie and i expect his place will be filled they usually have reserves

It seems there are a few people on here who think that Gavin is just some lazy bloke who eats too much.
It shows that some people don't know what it is like for a fighter to make weight, all fighters struggle with the weight and if you are not struggling you are at the wrong weight.
And it is often a fine line between making that weight and putting yourself in danger.
As you get older your metabolism slows, there are few fighters who have stayed the same weight over their career. ODLH first won a title at 9st 4, Pac man started off at 8st
Do you think they can do the weight now? Of course not, and it isn't because either is fat or lazy.
Gavin is still young and growing, there is prob no-one more upset than him about this and there were clearly efforts for him to make it right up until the end

I'm pretty sure the REAL story as to why Gavin failed to make weight will come out in time although not til after the Olympic's as they don't want it to disrupt the rest of the squad but if reports are correct and he was 3lbs over than that is SHOCKING!

It'd be great if Gavin decided to stay an amateur till the 2012 games because of this, he'll still be young enough afterwards to have a good professional career plus can move up to a weight that suits him best

Coco wrote:It seems there are a few people on here who think that Gavin is just some lazy bloke who eats too much.
It shows that some people don't know what it is like for a fighter to make weight, all fighters struggle with the weight and if you are not struggling you are at the wrong weight.
And it is often a fine line between making that weight and putting yourself in danger.
As you get older your metabolism slows, there are few fighters who have stayed the same weight over their career. ODLH first won a title at 9st 4, Pac man started off at 8st
Do you think they can do the weight now? Of course not, and it isn't because either is fat or lazy.
Gavin is still young and growing, there is prob no-one more upset than him about this and there were clearly efforts for him to make it right up until the end

Exactly. I'm shocked at the criticism to be honest. Some people have no idea.

i dont know what all the fuss is about he wont do nothing as a pro

1southpaw wrote:i dont know what all the fuss is about he wont do nothing as a pro

The fuss is about a British World amateur champion failing to make the weight for the Olympic games, where he was one of the favourites to win a gold medal. Whether he will make a successful pro or not has nothing to do with it.

exittored wrote:Gavin is a disgrace and so is British amateur boxing who are trying to save their arse's now and coming out with all kinds of excuses

what pisses me off the most apart from him pissing my money and yours up the wall is that some poor kid from a slum in africa or south america could have used that Olympic lightweight place as a way out of poverty instead of it being wasted by a fat overfed scouser who cudn't be bothered to train and focus on his diet properly!

The places are fixed by continent, so he would have been replaced by a European. Maybe some old guy from Poland or Azerbaijan.

It was a big risk they took, knowing how hard it was for him to hit 60kg at the Worlds, and then having to hope he could stay there for almost a year. They gambled and lost. I wonder if any other prominent fighters will also miss weight. I know Rau'Shee Warren of the US wanted to move up last year, and there are several other fighters who have been fighting at higher weight classes since the Worlds. The early qualification could put a crimp on things.

Exactly. I'm shocked at the criticism to be honest. Some people have no idea.

Stop trying to pull rank, most of us here have boxed at some level or been avid fan's of boxing all our live's! I'm as much angry for Gavin than at him as he's the one who'll have to live with such a lost opportunity but i just can't get my head around how he could be 3lbs over if the reports are true, that tell's me something major has gone wrong in his preparation!

thought I heard a rumour he had a chest infection or flu and that stopped him training for a few weeks properly.

could be bollocks but am sure it was knocking around the press at some point recently.

Black Panther Good post

Matt Skelton didn't have a pro fight until he was in his mid 30s, although he did have extensive fight experience.

The late comers always tend to be Heavyweights.
Maybe to do with the quality and lack of "Heavyweight sized" potential fighters out there I guess.

Everton FC wrote:He said he was 61.6 and something stupid like 4% body fat!! You ask any athlete on the planet and they'll all tell you that it isn't healthy to be that low in body fat!! The kid was dehydrated to death and it could have been very dangerous to go into a bout where he's going to take head punches while being dehydrated..Remember Spencer Oliver and Paul Ingle..It could have ended up a tragedy for Frankie..

He's more devastated than anyone in the world and anyone on this site right now!! He's just lost out on becoming a Millionaire before he even threw a proffesional punch!!! It's like having the winning lottery ticket and losing it..This is so very sad for Frankie and British Boxing..

No way would he be 4% even If he was struggling to make weight.\

Is It true that the ABA sheffield camps train 5 times a day like the big suits and boxers themselves have said? That sounds like BS or that the ABA are overkill.

Horse wrote:

Twinkle Toes wrote:

Horse wrote:How were they meant to handle it?

How about, better than they have?

Care to elaborate?

To be honest Horse, you've got access to the internet just like me, do your own research ya lazy sod.

Kerry Kayes appears key to this whole thing, because he was brought on board to help Gavin with his weight, which he was well on target for when he stepped on the plane to Bejing.

Maybe if Kayes had been made more welcome by the ABA and encouraged to travel to Bejing, we wouldn't be having this discussion now. Kayes has stated he would have guaranteed Gavin hitting the weight.

This looks very bad, coming on the eve of the Olympics, but what were 'Team GB' meant to do? Gavin qualified 9 months ago, as world champion. Bradley Saunders qualified at the same tournament, they could hardly bump Gavin up a weight. So what, should they have pulled Gavin out months ago? Because that's what they'd have had to do, the way the qualifiers are staggered. Does Britain have another lightweight who could have qualified? They took a gamble, which they had to do. Gavin hasn't made it, which is a kick in the nuts, but should Terry Edwards have decided before the last qualifier that Gavin definitely wasn't going to make it, months out?

As for him being 3lb's over the weight: if this was a pro fight, yes, it'd be a disgrace. But he's not trying to make a one-off target, 30 hours before a fight, is he? He's got to stay on his weight for the whole tournament. I dare say if he had to make the weight, for one fight, he could do it.

It's a shame, and it certainly doesn't look good. But I cannot believe anyone's more gutted than Frankie Gavin.

TerribleTerry wrote:Absolutely gutted for the lad.

He has been boiling his body down for YEARS to get on weight and he has finally completely outgrown the division. If there was an way he could have made the weight I am sure he would have.

This isnt a case of him having too many burgers or somthing like that but rather the result of natural growth and added lean muscle mass from his pro style training regimes.

I remember seeing Frankie having his weight monitored at 15 after sparring sessions so no wonder it has finally become impossible to get down.

Dont blame him and Team GB for trying til the last hour to get him on weight - he is a world champiion after all.

What about the other guys who could have had his place?... theyve been robbed of a chance too... its a farcial and tawdry affair... I blame the trainer and people around Gavin who should have been looking after him and should have avoided an embarrassment like this... outrageous it is really... amatuer in the true sense of the word... edwards should be sacked imo...

It's all a bit farcical in the sense that if Frankie's weight has been an issue for some time then the ABA have obviously not thought this one through. Why wasn't he selected to box at light-welterweight in the Worlds? Did they think that perhaps he might not be so successful at the higher weight in that tournament? Either way, it just doesn't add up.

They've also had 8/9 months to get things sorted since the Worlds, so I'm totally perplexed.

Fact he struggled to make weight in November------based on this they should off had it in the back off there minds he may struggle 10 months later.

Fact they do train , together and he had a head trainer, dietiscion , ect ect at his disposal,-----They would of known he was struggling.

Fact he was 3 pound over a few days before -----What the fack was he 3 months before .

Fact if he was 5-6 pound over 3 months ago and it was not coming off-----why did'nt the alarm bells ring

For fook sake i've trained countless ameteur lads and i can tell you now , i've known them so well that i can tell if they put 1 pound on by looking and by christ i don't know how many i've said yor struggling lad your last time at that weight , no point trying your getting weaker , time too go up a weight .

Point being these people are supposed to be profesionals , there very well paid in very good jobs and they let this farce go on if he has not been in regular tournaments his weight should off been getting checked at camp .

So what does this smell off simple a COVERUP they have known for a while ,i refuse to believe that these so called profesional people are not having him weigh in having body fat tests done regular and did'nt know 2-3 -4 months ago. Fack sake these well paid sports politicians have hinged Britains medal hopes on a nudge nudge wink wink , don't worry Frankie boy will make it he's a good sport.

Too be honest i'm glad he could'nt get the last 3 pounds off because you know why if he had these facking nutters would off let him in and when he was stumbling round the ring in a daze punching at shadows. getting hit by a hard punching russian or cuban who had been trained correctly and was at optimun strenght , these facking stupid peanuts would be sat drinking there latte saying oh well poor frankie its a shame but he knew the risk.

Sack the facking lot of them give the job to a trainer who cares , its obvious that Edwards don't give a shit about the boxers or he would off stepped in earlier , even if he quietly had a word and said Frankie off the record mate but you know your gonna be that week come the time even if you make the weight you probably will be too week to win , think about them big money offers son , off the record.

But he would'nt you know why because he was willing to let the lad go in the ring in a dehydrated state just on the off chance a medal will come and make them look good .

Frankie you were facking LUCKY tell em to stick the ameteurs go up a weight make some in roads at jnr welter and be waiting for KHan tto step up in weight wich won't be long

Them fackwits will get a kid killed, boxers are fighters and will put themselves through hell trainers are there too make sure they don't go too far