BoxRec

Anderson ready for Okine contest

Scottish youngster Kevin Anderson takes on Commonwealth welterweight champion Joshua Okine in Kirkcaldy on Friday.

A world-title shot beckons should he emerge with an impressive victory but the 22-year-old is refusing to cast his mind ahead to the big time.

He said:"I can't afford to look beyond this fight because I know if I do that I will end up losing everything.

"Everything is bubbling along just great but now I am here I'm not going to let this chance pass me by."

The Buckhaven boxer will have the backing of a near full-house at Kirkcaldy Ice Arena but knows he faces a tough test.

The Ghanaian champion defeated Manchester's David Barnes in his hometown earlier this year and that is enough to convince Anderson he is a major threat.

"He came over and beat David Barnes, who was British champion at the time so he is no pushover and I have great respect for him," added Anderson.

"I haven't got a bad word to say about him and I'm taking this seriously which is why I have done my homework and not left anything to chance."

Anderson is unbeaten in 14 fights after beating Ukrainian Vladimir Borovski on points in June.

Former Commonwealth super-featherweight champion Craig Docherty fights on the undercard as do Steven McGuire, Jamie Coyle, Stuart Green and Mike Reid.

"A world-title shot beckons should he emerge with an impressive victory "

I find it funny when they say stuff like that but I see Mike Reid is on the bill so maybe he came up with that one
Really though it's an interesting fight because Okine looked good against Barnes but Anderson is the complete opposite of Barnes style wise and apart from Barnes & Ossie Duran this guy hasn't fought anyone at all, I think Anderson can win this on points with his workrate & pressure.

Any opinions on this one?

Should be a good fight, not sure how Okine will cope with Andersons early pressure.

I Just hope the winner will have the balls to fight Ali Nuumbembe

He did alright with Barnes' early pressure...

That's the only time I've seen Okine. He looks like the kind of guy who'll let you punch him to tire you out.


Could be tough over 12 for the lad as well. Okine didn't look to be the second coming of Azumah Nelson but fitness and heavy hands will count for something.

depends if Anderson can hurt Okine, if he can set on him early and start to push him back, then Anderson can come through on points.

But i think Okine will know a little to much for him and be a bit stronger down the strech to win points, or if Anderson uses to much up early a late stoppage for Okine

Hopefully Anderson can win then when Jennings fights Pryce maybe the winner could face Anderson (Hopefully Anderson - Jennings), could be an interesting one.

It's a serious step up for young Anderson, but I think he has the power of punch to to deter Okine from trying to just walk through him and the skills to turn boxer and win rounds when he needs to. It's a really tough proposition, but Anderson can do it.

I see it as a "no lose" situation for Kevin. Okine showed how dangerous he can be last time out against Barnes, so even if he doesn't win Kevin is plenty young enough to rebuild.

THEBUTCH wrote:It's a serious step up for young Anderson, but I think he has the power of punch to to deter Okine from trying to just walk through him and the skills to turn boxer and win rounds when he needs to. It's a really tough proposition, but Anderson can do it.

I see it as a "no lose" situation for Kevin. Okine showed how dangerous he can be last time out against Barnes, so even if he doesn't win Kevin is plenty young enough to rebuild.

Good post, fair play to Anderson for stepping up and good luck to him tonight.

I agree with the "no lose", he will come out of it a better fighter whatever happens.

edit: although I wish Anderson well I've put £50 on Okine to win. The ladbrokes odds of evens were too tempting

edit: although I wish Anderson well I've put £50 on Okine to win. The ladbrokes odds of evens were too tempting [/quote]


I HONESTLY THINK KEVIN STOPS THIS GUY TONIGHT SO I THINK YOU HAVE LOST £50.



M.T GILLICK

ive got 80 on Anderson at evens youve well lost yer muney m8

well he got a close one then.

i scored it a draw, but it could have gone either way. tonight proves why 3 judges r fair.

3 opinions and all fairly rendered. none of this lop sided nonsense u get with 1 judge.

Have just won £65 on Anderson on Betfair....nice one.

Hopefully the start of a profitable weekrnd, jones-tarver, Toney-Guinn

hitman_hatton1 wrote:well he got a close one then.

i scored it a draw, but it could have gone either way. tonight proves why 3 judges r fair.

3 opinions and all fairly rendered. none of this lop sided nonsense u get with 1 judge.

I reckon he won it by 7rnds to 5. Close fight though, was worried at the end.....his corner didnt look too confident.

Personally I scored the fight to Okine, I watched it with the volume off (was in a pub) and It looked as though Okine did most of the pressing and landed the better shots.

I watched the fight with Ali Nuumbembe and he said he would knock Anderson out.

lets see if Anderson has the balls to defend his belt against Ali?????

Watch this space I will keep you all updated.

chado wrote:Personally I scored the fight to Okine, I watched it with the volume off (was in a pub) and It looked as though Okine did most of the pressing and landed the better shots.

I watched the fight with Ali Nuumbembe and he said he would knock Anderson out.

lets see if Anderson has the balls to defend his belt against Ali?????

Watch this space I will keep you all updated.

I tend to agree with Ali, to be honest. How likely is it that the fight can be made Chado? Ali's recent exposure on Sky can't hurt, I guess. Although I presume you'd have to travel to Scotland. Not that Ali would be bothered by that, I imagine.

states wrote:

chado wrote:Personally I scored the fight to Okine, I watched it with the volume off (was in a pub) and It looked as though Okine did most of the pressing and landed the better shots.

I watched the fight with Ali Nuumbembe and he said he would knock Anderson out.

lets see if Anderson has the balls to defend his belt against Ali?????

Watch this space I will keep you all updated.

I tend to agree with Ali, to be honest. How likely is it that the fight can be made Chado? Ali's recent exposure on Sky can't hurt, I guess. Although I presume you'd have to travel to Scotland. Not that Ali would be bothered by that, I imagine.

Where else would it sell out like?

states wrote:

chado wrote:Personally I scored the fight to Okine, I watched it with the volume off (was in a pub) and It looked as though Okine did most of the pressing and landed the better shots.

I watched the fight with Ali Nuumbembe and he said he would knock Anderson out.

lets see if Anderson has the balls to defend his belt against Ali?????

Watch this space I will keep you all updated.

I tend to agree with Ali, to be honest. How likely is it that the fight can be made Chado? Ali's recent exposure on Sky can't hurt, I guess. Although I presume you'd have to travel to Scotland. Not that Ali would be bothered by that, I imagine.

Ali would travel to the moon to fight him if he had to.

Sorry Mr Anderson but, Ali's gonna get ya.

chado wrote:

states wrote:

chado wrote:Personally I scored the fight to Okine, I watched it with the volume off (was in a pub) and It looked as though Okine did most of the pressing and landed the better shots.

I watched the fight with Ali Nuumbembe and he said he would knock Anderson out.

lets see if Anderson has the balls to defend his belt against Ali?????

Watch this space I will keep you all updated.

I tend to agree with Ali, to be honest. How likely is it that the fight can be made Chado? Ali's recent exposure on Sky can't hurt, I guess. Although I presume you'd have to travel to Scotland. Not that Ali would be bothered by that, I imagine.

Ali would travel to the moon to fight him if he had to.

Sorry Mr Anderson but, Ali's gonna get ya.

We shall see.......

Exile wrote:

states wrote:

chado wrote:Personally I scored the fight to Okine, I watched it with the volume off (was in a pub) and It looked as though Okine did most of the pressing and landed the better shots.

I watched the fight with Ali Nuumbembe and he said he would knock Anderson out.

lets see if Anderson has the balls to defend his belt against Ali?????

Watch this space I will keep you all updated.

I tend to agree with Ali, to be honest. How likely is it that the fight can be made Chado? Ali's recent exposure on Sky can't hurt, I guess. Although I presume you'd have to travel to Scotland. Not that Ali would be bothered by that, I imagine.

Where else would it sell out like?

Sorry, that's what I meant. All I was saying was that Nuumbembe would have to travel to Anderson's backyard (and rightly so, he's the champion and the bigger draw) but I doubt he'd have a problem with that.

states wrote:

Exile wrote:

states wrote: I tend to agree with Ali, to be honest. How likely is it that the fight can be made Chado? Ali's recent exposure on Sky can't hurt, I guess. Although I presume you'd have to travel to Scotland. Not that Ali would be bothered by that, I imagine.

Where else would it sell out like?

Sorry, that's what I meant. All I was saying was that Nuumbembe would have to travel to Anderson's backyard (and rightly so, he's the champion and the bigger draw) but I doubt he'd have a problem with that.

Ali sells plenty of tickets and is very well supported, the Gmex in Manchester would also be a suitable venue.

Anderson - Okine

What a fight!!! I had worried about Anderson getting caught with a big right when coming in around the 7th round, but he actually upped his game when the time came! I also thought he might have bitten off more than he could chew by taking this fight, but he chewed it well. Around the 10th I actually felt less tense about him losing because there had been so many ebbs and flows up to that point that he must have picked up so much extra knowledge about pacing, etc. for it not to have been a worthwhile gamble.

Kevin did keep getting caught, but I didn't score them as much as Adam Smith because I disagreed that they were 'quality punches'. They looked more like wild haymakers to me, though to be fair they were heavy. I liked the way Anderson boxed out of range for periods - felt the Sky team didn't really pick up on this as much as they could have. He looked quite slick the way he would step back from that wide lead right hook, and the way he'd bob up close. I agreed with Tommy Gilmour and Glenn McCrory - I had him up by a couple of rounds. Can't complain about the SD though as both gave a hell of an effort, though Anderson really took the fight to the champion and showed so much heart and determination I must say I would've been gutted if he'd lost.

PS: was it Phil Edwards (of Simpson - Williams fame, and who I keep mixing up with Howard Foster for some reason) who scored against Anderson?

Craig Docherty - John Mackay

Docherty looked a lot bigger than the talented and game Mackay, but he also looked a bit sluggish at the start - maybe he could have come down a bit in weight? It was the power and strength that told though, and the ref did well in jumping in from behind - those knockouts where the fighter is totally knocked out on his feet are rare, so the ref was good in quickly getting in there.

Steven McGuire - Marcin Radola

The Pole looked fit but Stevie looked to have a good dig down below - and that knockout punch to the solar plexus was a beauty. He still doesn't look like he's completely shook off the amateur style to me, but he certainly liked to get stuck in so it will be interesting to see how he matures.

George Hillyard - James Gorman

Lookin' good in the neighbourhood! George showed good composure against an obviously out-gunned opponent. Very stylish the way he went about taking James Gorman out - that sneaky overhand right that he slipped in after the first knockdown was pure Eubank. Good to hear him in the interview afterwards saying he likes a tear-up since a) there's a good chance that means he won't be a bully boy b) there's a good chance he's going to be in some complete barn-burners when he steps up to someone who can take his punch (at least in the early rounds).

PS: what happened to that other southern prospect Matthew Marsh? Looked hyper-aggressive in his debut and really up for the boxing in his post fight interview, yet he's never appeared again.... just checked his record - still no knockouts after 3 more fights. Maybe they're giving him time off to mature and see if he can develop some strength? He's 23 though, so hopefully it won't be too long...

Good analysis Manos. I'd never heard of Hillyard before, but I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for him. Like you say, that overhand right after the first knockdown was a beauty. The thought that came to mind when he was being interviewed was 'David Walker'. Hopefully he can perform at a higher level, though.

Yeah nice breakdown

I thought Anderson deserved it alright, he showed especially in the last part of the fight that he really wanted it and just kept pushing, his desire to win was pretty evident but he had to take some cracking shots especially that uppercut in the last, that looked like a nose breaker! A great win and yes a very good learning fight as well (That's a tough first 12 rounder eh!)
I've always had a lot of time for the Doc and his fight was harder than I expected but he was well above weight and had been out for a while so we can forgive him for some rustiness, Stevie McGuire looks like a mini version of Docherty to me! and the guy Hillyard looked good in the short time we saw him, no doubt he'll be in some good scraps in the future.

Edit: I must have still been half asleep! meant to say 'Bigger' version of Docherty

I didn't score the fight but thought Okine was probably taking over mid fight and had done enough, however i was glad Anderson got the nod as i had him on points in the Predictions League. I thought Anderson looked better when he forced Okine into a lead and worked off Okine's mistakes, at times he rushed in a bit rashly and got picked off but will obviously iron out the mistakes with experience.

Liked the look of Hillyard on the undercard, he looked flashy and his punch picking was excellent, that lead right he caught Gorman with was a corker. There are of course sterner tests to come but Gorman was on a run of decent form going in so a good win for Hillyard.

I didn`t keep a score of the fight but felt Anderson had won it by a round or two.

Okine just missed so often and Anderson would just grab, hold and tie-up Okine when it got too close.

Didn`t think it was the best fight to watch, frustrating really, but Anderson did what he had to and I think he deserved it.

I feel it may be a little early for a Jennings fight but a fight against Barnes could be good.

chado wrote:

states wrote:

Exile wrote:
Where else would it sell out like?

Sorry, that's what I meant. All I was saying was that Nuumbembe would have to travel to Anderson's backyard (and rightly so, he's the champion and the bigger draw) but I doubt he'd have a problem with that.

Ali sells plenty of tickets and is very well supported, the Gmex in Manchester would also be a suitable venue.

Your getting ahead of yourself, Chad my old son. Unfortunately for you, there aren't as many people around as daft as Neil Fannan who let you bring Ali to Hartlepool to beat up on (then unbeaten) Francis Jones!

Ali is in the British top five of the 'Who needs him?' club.

Anderson is still learning the game. If I was Tommy Gilmour, I wouldn't let him anywhere near the Silent Assassin. It's a compliment I'm paying, but one you probably would prefer not to hear.