Lockett Breaks down Rees vs Broner
Posted: 18 Jan 2013, 06:07
18.01.13
Gary Lockett “Gavin Rees is 100% motivated for Broner”
By Michael J Jones
Ahead of his fighter’s intriguing WBC showdown with fringe-superstar Adrien Broner, Gary Lockett has spoken of Gavin Rees’ motivation to prove his doubters wrong. The bout, which takes place in Atlantic City on February 16, see’s European champion Rees taking on his toughest foe to date in lightweight champion Broner.
The gifted American has barely lost a round in the last two years and impressed last time out in his lightweight debut. Taking on then-champion Antonio DeMarco last November, Broner oozed class in systematically breaking down his durable opponent in eight one-sided rounds. The win took the Ohio stylist’s record to a perfect 25-0 (21) as he became a world champion in his second weight division.
As a former pro middleweight himself, Lockett has done wonders for his charge in the last few years in guiding him to British and European title success. Although at the relatively advanced age of 32, former world champion Rees, 37-1-1 (18), has looked better than ever of late and is talking a great fight in the build-up.
Many are calling the contest a mismatch but the under-rated Welshman’s trainer Gary begs to differ-
LF)So what do you make of Adrien Broner and have you been following his recent fights?
GL) No one can doubt Broner is a good fighter and lovely to watch but obviously we see things we can take advantage of and we think he may have been a little over-hyped.
The only two guys he’s fought who I really rated were DeMarco and Daniel Ponce DeLeon. DeMarco was too ponderous and I actually thought Ponce DeLeon out-worked Broner and beat him by a couple of points. The judge who gave it to Broner by a land-slide I really don’t know what fight he was watching.
LF) Have you seen Gavin be more motivated by this fight in camp?
GL) One-hundred percent. I’ll tell you about Gavin’s motivation as he doesn’t get motivated by much, when we were first offered the fight he said he’d take it even before money was even mentioned.
LF) What do you see in Broner in terms of weaknesses that you can exploit in the fight?
GL) There’s a few things really. His work-rate can be poor; sometimes he only seems to throw a couple of punches a round. He seems reluctant to jab at times and also lead off. I think he can also rely too much on his defence trying to be like Floyd Mayweather who is exactly who he tries to copy.
LF) There’s been a wave of negativity regarding Gavin’s chances in the fight from some quarters. Have you been surprised at how much your fighter has been written off before this fight?
GL) From who though? The real boxing people that I know have all given their support ahead of the fight. The others are people that don’t know anything about boxing. The people out there that are saying Rees will lose in a round…..Gavin has been dropped once in 39 fights and that was only because he had a perforated ear-drum and lost his equilibrium and was all over the place.
I’ve had positive comments from real boxing people like Dave Coldwell, Kevin Sanders etc their opinions matter more to me. Many people have said if Gav’ sets a high pace and fights on the outside he has a great chance.
LF) Why are you sure Rees will give Broner problems?
GL) We’ve got more than one game-plan and I absolutely know for positive that after the first few rounds Broner’s going to be asked questions from Gav’ he’s never had to deal with before. Gavin is so quick on the outside for his size, his jab is very fast and he has a good boxing brain. At one time Gav’ used to come out like a headless chicken and throw a hundred punches every round but we’ve settled him down now to work to his strengths. He gave away a lot of height to John Watson, who was 5’10”, but there he was completely out-jabbing him and beating him to the punch. He uses his lack of height to his advantage.
I’m not saying Gav’ will go out and knock Broner out a piece of cake but he’s got a bloody good chance. There’s no way he would ever have even taken the fight if he didn’t feel he could win it and I know Gav’ has already sacrificed a lot just to make the fight.
LF) Do you see similarities between this fight and the Calzaghe-Lacy fight?
GL) No not really, Joe was a world champion for ten years and was taking on the young gun who was meant to be ‘the next Tyson’. That was the defining fight for Joe as there were so many questions about him beforehand as he was kept in Cardiff and wasn’t allowed to fight overseas. With this fight, Gavin is a former world champion who has been given a new lease of life against a potential pound-for-pound fighter.
LF) Gavin Rees is regularly listed as 5’7”…..surely that’s not right?
GL) People keep telling me that but if he measured that height he would have been standing on a couple of ‘Yellow Pages’. Put it this way; my wife is only 5’4” and she towers above him!
LF) All the best for the fight Gary.
http://www.livefight.com/news.php?news_ ... =2013&m=01
Gary Lockett “Gavin Rees is 100% motivated for Broner”
By Michael J Jones
Ahead of his fighter’s intriguing WBC showdown with fringe-superstar Adrien Broner, Gary Lockett has spoken of Gavin Rees’ motivation to prove his doubters wrong. The bout, which takes place in Atlantic City on February 16, see’s European champion Rees taking on his toughest foe to date in lightweight champion Broner.
The gifted American has barely lost a round in the last two years and impressed last time out in his lightweight debut. Taking on then-champion Antonio DeMarco last November, Broner oozed class in systematically breaking down his durable opponent in eight one-sided rounds. The win took the Ohio stylist’s record to a perfect 25-0 (21) as he became a world champion in his second weight division.
As a former pro middleweight himself, Lockett has done wonders for his charge in the last few years in guiding him to British and European title success. Although at the relatively advanced age of 32, former world champion Rees, 37-1-1 (18), has looked better than ever of late and is talking a great fight in the build-up.
Many are calling the contest a mismatch but the under-rated Welshman’s trainer Gary begs to differ-
LF)So what do you make of Adrien Broner and have you been following his recent fights?
GL) No one can doubt Broner is a good fighter and lovely to watch but obviously we see things we can take advantage of and we think he may have been a little over-hyped.
The only two guys he’s fought who I really rated were DeMarco and Daniel Ponce DeLeon. DeMarco was too ponderous and I actually thought Ponce DeLeon out-worked Broner and beat him by a couple of points. The judge who gave it to Broner by a land-slide I really don’t know what fight he was watching.
LF) Have you seen Gavin be more motivated by this fight in camp?
GL) One-hundred percent. I’ll tell you about Gavin’s motivation as he doesn’t get motivated by much, when we were first offered the fight he said he’d take it even before money was even mentioned.
LF) What do you see in Broner in terms of weaknesses that you can exploit in the fight?
GL) There’s a few things really. His work-rate can be poor; sometimes he only seems to throw a couple of punches a round. He seems reluctant to jab at times and also lead off. I think he can also rely too much on his defence trying to be like Floyd Mayweather who is exactly who he tries to copy.
LF) There’s been a wave of negativity regarding Gavin’s chances in the fight from some quarters. Have you been surprised at how much your fighter has been written off before this fight?
GL) From who though? The real boxing people that I know have all given their support ahead of the fight. The others are people that don’t know anything about boxing. The people out there that are saying Rees will lose in a round…..Gavin has been dropped once in 39 fights and that was only because he had a perforated ear-drum and lost his equilibrium and was all over the place.
I’ve had positive comments from real boxing people like Dave Coldwell, Kevin Sanders etc their opinions matter more to me. Many people have said if Gav’ sets a high pace and fights on the outside he has a great chance.
LF) Why are you sure Rees will give Broner problems?
GL) We’ve got more than one game-plan and I absolutely know for positive that after the first few rounds Broner’s going to be asked questions from Gav’ he’s never had to deal with before. Gavin is so quick on the outside for his size, his jab is very fast and he has a good boxing brain. At one time Gav’ used to come out like a headless chicken and throw a hundred punches every round but we’ve settled him down now to work to his strengths. He gave away a lot of height to John Watson, who was 5’10”, but there he was completely out-jabbing him and beating him to the punch. He uses his lack of height to his advantage.
I’m not saying Gav’ will go out and knock Broner out a piece of cake but he’s got a bloody good chance. There’s no way he would ever have even taken the fight if he didn’t feel he could win it and I know Gav’ has already sacrificed a lot just to make the fight.
LF) Do you see similarities between this fight and the Calzaghe-Lacy fight?
GL) No not really, Joe was a world champion for ten years and was taking on the young gun who was meant to be ‘the next Tyson’. That was the defining fight for Joe as there were so many questions about him beforehand as he was kept in Cardiff and wasn’t allowed to fight overseas. With this fight, Gavin is a former world champion who has been given a new lease of life against a potential pound-for-pound fighter.
LF) Gavin Rees is regularly listed as 5’7”…..surely that’s not right?
GL) People keep telling me that but if he measured that height he would have been standing on a couple of ‘Yellow Pages’. Put it this way; my wife is only 5’4” and she towers above him!
LF) All the best for the fight Gary.
http://www.livefight.com/news.php?news_ ... =2013&m=01
