BoxRec

Hi guys, just been speaking to Wayne and he has asked me to post a few things:

He says he has no excuses for Saturday night, he just got caught with a great punch, end of story.

He said he just couldn't get going, being out for so long didnt help, but Mellis had been out over a year himself so its no excuse really

He has nothing but respect for Delroy, who he knows has done things the hard way and he wishes him well.

Obviously he would like a rematch to put the record straight but appreciates Mellis may have offers on the table now. He hopes Mellis will give him the opportunity though, just like he gave Mellis the opportunity.

Finally he said retirement hasnt crossed his mind once... he see's this as a wake up call and will be back better than ever. He still wants to be world champ and this is just an unfortunate setback.

He thanks you all for your support.

Thanks there KO, hope to see Wayne back in action soon.

Wayne can still come again. One hard loss doesn't end a career. And Mellis is a dark horse. I was doing a preview of Allan Gray's abortive Southern Area title defence against Matthew Tait recently and saw that Gray had only ever been stopped once in his long career...by Delroy Mellis.

bennie wrote:Wayne can still come again. One hard loss doesn't end a career. And Mellis is a dark horse. I was doing a preview of Allan Gray's abortive Southern Area title defence against Matthew Tait recently and saw that Gray had only ever been stopped once in his long career...by Delroy Mellis.

Mellis can certainly bang.

Isnt he managed by Bruce Baker?

bennie wrote:Wayne can still come again. One hard loss doesn't end a career. And Mellis is a dark horse. I was doing a preview of Allan Gray's abortive Southern Area title defence against Matthew Tait recently and saw that Gray had only ever been stopped once in his long career...by Delroy Mellis.

and Brian Magee never came close to stopping Nembhard, something Mellis did

knockout artist wrote:

bennie wrote:Wayne can still come again. One hard loss doesn't end a career. And Mellis is a dark horse. I was doing a preview of Allan Gray's abortive Southern Area title defence against Matthew Tait recently and saw that Gray had only ever been stopped once in his long career...by Delroy Mellis.

Mellis can certainly bang.

Isnt he managed by Bruce Baker?

Yes, he's managed by Baker. He deserves a shot at something now. Perhaps, Takaloo's WBU title.

bennie wrote:

knockout artist wrote:

bennie wrote:Wayne can still come again. One hard loss doesn't end a career. And Mellis is a dark horse. I was doing a preview of Allan Gray's abortive Southern Area title defence against Matthew Tait recently and saw that Gray had only ever been stopped once in his long career...by Delroy Mellis.

Mellis can certainly bang.

Isnt he managed by Bruce Baker?

Yes, he's managed by Baker. He deserves a shot at something now. Perhaps, Takaloo's WBU title.

Tak would definately love to get one over Wayne thats for sure...

Ian Darke made me laugh when he said in his commentary to the Mellis-Alexander fight (they showed the fight from round five the following day), "Wayne's absence this year has never been fully explained." Talk about not wanting to upset Mr. Warren.

best thing Wayne can do is jump straight into another tune up. No delays, just get anybody to build his confidence. Fight 6 times next year if he has to.

shakermaker wrote:best thing Wayne can do is jump straight into another tune up. No delays, just get anybody to build his confidence. Fight 6 times next year if he has to.

i agree. he has to get busy.... but it will be end of January earliest before he fights. he has 45 day ban and i am not sure what Warrens schedule is in 2004..

I hope he does get plenty of fights next year, forgot about the ban ruling!!. Feb would be a good start anyway. Have xmas off and then train hard starting 2004

Knockout - any chance of Wayne campaigning back at Middle, I think it might be easier to build some momentum at that weight, the light middleweight devision is now conjested with Alexander (who was once top of the tree) way down the pecking order.

Such a costly defeat means that he's struggling to keep a place in the top ten at Light Middle, a few wins at the Higher weight and he should be in contention for a British title fight.

I think he's approaching an age where he needs to do the best for himself, he needs to take risk - I think moving up to Middle is a risk he MUST take now.

Article from the croydon Guardian

Boxing: Bloody, beaten but unbowed
By Joseph O Shea


Croydon's Wayne Alexander has vowed to avenge Saturday's knock-out defeat by Brixton's Delroy Mellis, after the unfancied underdog shattered his world title dream in Cardiff.

Mellis' vicious left hook sent the former British and European light-middleweight champion crashing to the canvass in the eighth and final round, to wreck his unbeaten domestic record as a professional.

Alexander, 29, of Westcombe Avenue, was returning to the ring after 11 months, and was expected to comfortably dispatch Mellis, before challenging Daniel Santos for the WBO world title in April.

Although 32-year-old Mellis is a former Southern Area champion, he had an unimpressive record of nine losses in 19 fights, and Alexander had only lost once, at short notice against world champion Harry Simon in February 2001.

With 16 knockouts from his 19 fights, overwhelming favourite Alexander looked comfortable and took the first five rounds, before ring-rustiness, fatigue and poor defence saw Mellis' power start to tell.

By the final round Alexander looked exhausted, and Mellis delivered a brutal left hook to his chin to claim his best career win. Alexander bravely rose to his feet to beat the count, but the referee stopped the fight.

Having been cleared by the ringside doctors, Alexander faced the long and lonely walk back to the dressing room, with his world title dreams shattered in front of a television audience.

But despite being written off by some pundits, the 29-year-old is still determined to fulfil his world title ambitions, starting with a rematch against Mellis.

He told the Guardian: "Credit to Delroy, he won the fight fair and square, but I am really angry and upset with myself. I fought the wrong fight and I was getting hit too easily because I was trying to knock him out.

"I won the first five rounds, but I was so intent on stopping him. In every round I got more tired and he came back into it. I was ahead on points, and should have kept away from him. But it was a great shot that took me down I didn't see it coming."

Alexander has now lost his ranking as the WBO's number one contender and faces the hard slog of re-establishing his domestic reputation.

Almost a year's inactivity, and an ill-advised step up to middleweight had removed Alexander's sharpness, but now he will return to the gym looking to avenge the defeat.

He added: "I was over-confident because I thought he wasn't in my class. I won't make the same mistake again. I want a rematch Delroy thanked me after the fight for giving him the opportunity, and now I want one."

Following Saturday's defeat Alexander's road to a world title is barred by domestic rivals including new British champion Jamie Moore and Takaloo.

To get another chance to fight for the world title he will have to get past Mellis and at least one big name domestic rival.

He added: "I still have three years left in boxing and I am going to prove to everyone that I am not finished. There are still big fights in the pipeline and I want to become world champion."

bennie wrote:Ian Darke made me laugh when he said in his commentary to the Mellis-Alexander fight (they showed the fight from round five the following day), "Wayne's absence this year has never been fully explained." Talk about not wanting to upset Mr. Warren.

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The sad thing about this is that Alexander and guys like Richard Williams, Steve Roberts and Takaloo should have made a lot of money fighting each other. People were calling for these matches for years.

It really is a damning indictment of their promoters and managers matchmaking and negotiating abilities to say that they are all defeated, have not made nearly the amount of money they could have and are all looking at the winter of their careers without actually having fought each other.

Talk about failing to capitalise on an opportunity.