MARTIN Gethin believes the heat he is planning to bring to his upcoming
clash with John Fewkes will see him crowned the new English lightweight champion.
Gethin meets 'Fireball' Fewkes in what looks set to be a cracking
trade fight for the vacant title in Nottingham on September 5.
And the 24-year-old from Walsall, a rugged type with plenty of gears
and no little boxing ability, feels his go-forward gameplan will pay off handsomely on the night.
"I've got to bully him and not let him box and use his in and out
movement," said Gethin, youngest of the Black Country boxing brood completed by brothers Darren and Steve.
"I'm going to rough him up - the same sort of thing I did to Nadeem
Siddique - and just break him down.
"I'm confident I can do that and he has had more weight to shift
than me as well.
"Last I heard he was 12 stone about a month before the fight. He
can whip in and out as much as he wants, but as soon as I get into him he won't be able to do that."
Gethin, 14-0-1 (6), poured on the pressure to impressively snap
Siddique's perfect record via seventh round stoppage in his last fight.
And although he is convinced he has what it takes to topple slick
Fewkes, he knows he is in for the hardest test of his career.
The Sheffield stylist - unbeaten like Gethin - has defeated current
Commonwealth welterweight champion Craig Watson and dangerous Gary Reid in his unblemished 17-bout run.
But with just two stoppages to his name, Gethin believes he will
be able to climb all over Fewkes and has taken the best part of a month off work to get into peak shape for the fight.
"I know he is a good lad but I can walk through those daft little
tip, tap punches," said Gethin, part of Errol Johnson's bustling Wednesbury Boxing Academy.
"Like against Siddique, he was tickling away but he couldn't keep
it up because I was pushing him back all the time and he couldn't put up with that.
"I kept banging him and broke him down and there is still a lot
more to come from me.
"Because I work in a builder's merchants bagging up 35 kilo bags
all day and then come straight to training.
"I only had three days off before Siddique, this time I've done
it differently and broke up three weeks before the fight.
"I've got to have the time off, because I know it's going to be
a tough fight."
The winner will move closer to a crack at British champion
John Murray or possiby Commonwealth titleist Amir Khan.
And should he come out on top, Gethin fancies his chances with
both of them.
"To me I think I deserve to be right up there with the best lightweights
in the country," he said.
"Murray called me the last couple of days to box for his old English
title because Fewkes pulled out.
"But it was too last minute and I was working as well. But when
I watched him against Youssef Al Hamidi he didn't box his best and I think I would have had a chance of beating him.
"Khan has got some power and he is in and out fast. But Michael
Gomez and Willie Limond almost stopped him and they weren't at his weight.
"He hasn't really boxed a proper lightweight who can give a dig
as well."
But it's first things first for Gethin (pictured top), with Fewkes
in the opposite corner at the Harvey Hadden Leisure Centre.
"Winning a title would mean a lot to me and I'm going the right
way," he added.
