LOCKETT: stuttering but dramatic career from the very beginning
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Hammer-hooking Cwmbran lightweight Gary "The Rocket" Lockett finally primes himself for championship lift off next month.
The Welsh ex-wonderkid, who won four British junior titles and the 1992 European Under-16 championship during a quite sensational junior amateur career, conquered prolonged inactivity and a mysterious viral infection to emerge as a near unanimous pick as the find of 2001.
On 9 February, he enters Britain's fascinating light-middleweight championship mix when he debates one of these vulgar junior titles (in this case the vacant WBO Intercontinental belt) at Manchester's MEN Arena.
Without question the most exciting talent to surface from the Principality since the young Joe Calzaghe, the square-jawed, compact-framed ex-builder has already registered 19 knockdowns in advancing his record to 15-0 (12 early). As a consequence, he is frighteningly short of pro rounds.
Intelligent (a handful of GCSEs) and respectfully confident, Lockett met with BM recently to evaluate his power and assess his prospects.
BM: Last year, you emerged as one of the most clinical left hookers since Tony Sibson. I understand you developed the shot through necessity?
GL: When I was about 12, I was pissing about down the local park and broke my right shoulder tumbling down a bank. Consequently, it stunted the muscle growth in my right shoulder but [smirks] don't let it be underestimated!
I know from messing about on one of those "Test Your Power" punch machines in Ibiza that I hit far harder with my right hand. It's just that I'm a lot sharper with the left.
I've always been very powerful but it took me a while to realise it's about landing your shots.
While my first amateur opponent, at the age of 10, folded in just 12 seconds, I didn't beat anyone else inside the distance until I was 14.
I was boxing a Northern Irish kid called Hugh McNally on an international boys' club charity show and split him from the forehead down to the nose with a right-hand-left-hook combo. His legs crumbled and the ref stopped it in the first round. No one present could believe it. Something just clicked, and, from then on, I stopped everybody. Weird.
BM: Even as an amateur, hand damage forced your withdrawal from both the European and World junior championships. How are your fists holding up to the lesser amount of padding in pro gloves?
GL: Like all big punchers, I do suffer from hand trouble and I've a big problem with one of the knuckles on my left hand that they [specialists] can't do anything for. I've partly learned to combat it by wrapping my hands properly, but it won't last much beyond 30.
BM: You got a taste of your own medicine when Walsall's Kid Halls dumped you in the first round in Dublin in June 1999. Although you rose instantly and almost immediately turned the fight around, how did it feel?
GL: I wish I could tell you that I'd taken a really heavy shot on the chin and dragged myself off the floor to win spectacularly, but that's really not the case. It was only a jab in the mouth, but Halls came in from an angle when my legs were together and there was nothing to go back on. Just a balance thing.
I never had so much as a standing count against me in 88 amateur contests in good class. I'm certainly not chinny.
BM: Your left hook has obliterated almost all pro opposition so far. However, you'll need to produce a few surprises now that you're scheduled to make your title debut.
GL: I find it rather irritating when the media stereotype me as a lethal left hooker because, first, many of my knockouts have been with the right hand and, second, I'm very confident in my technical ability. At Pontypool and Panteg, Tony Williams [the 1976 British Olympic coach] gave me a great grounding until I was 18.
Today during sparring, I like to think I'm quite a classy boxer who can jab, roll, sneak in crafty little body shots as well as throw clever right hands and left hooks.
As I gain more experience and the level of my opposition improves, people should see all this coming through in my fights.
BM: As a junior, you collected 22 amateur titles at Welsh level or above and, at one stage, had an incredible winning streak of 28 (26 quick, 15 in the opening round). However, in your late teens your spark deserted you. You were controversially outscored by 28-year-old international Sean Pepperall in the 1995 Welsh ABA semi-finals and, after turning pro with Munro-Hyland in September 1996, made just two starts in your first 25 months. What happened?
GL: At that time, I'm not sure I had the desire to box. I'd been sort of pushed into it by dad from a very young age and was no longer giving it 100% in training. Looking back, I turned pro far too young and should've stayed another two or three years in the seniors. That said, my style never suited the computer scoring. I didn't have the sharpness.
Shortly after turning pro, I developed an allergy to house-dust mites, which affected my breathing. The Board of Control revoked my licence for a year.
But, if I'm truthful, that was just a small part of it. In those two fights before the break I was a shadow of myself. For a while, for financial reasons, I was forced to work nights stacking shelves at Kwik Save. A lot of the time I felt like packing up. Even when it looked like my licence would be restored, I was thinking: "Do I really want this?"
BM: After securing your release from Munro-Hyland in late 2000, you exploded back into the limelight with eight successive wins, six by spectacular knockouts, since re-aligning with Brendan Devine.
GL: I've no regrets about my time with Munro-Hyland. They looked after me, put me up in hotels and paid for specialists when I had the ailments. I tried very hard to stay loyal but wasn't having regular work. In the end, I had to think of number one.
In Brendan and my trainer Colin Moorcroft, I'm now associated with two of the most genuine guys in boxing. When I began searching for new management, Brendan offered me a weekly sponsorship wage and as many fights as I wanted. He also had links with Barry Hearn at the time. Colin has me over for tea every night and he'd give you the last fiver in his pocket. I owe them both a lot.
Also, Matchroom kept me very busy and I showed improvement every fight. If you're only fighting every four months or so, you can forget what you learned in your last contest. You start from scratch again.
BM: A dispute between Matchroom and Sports Network for promotional rights to your services could ultimately cause your career to stagnate. What's the situation?
GL: As far as I'm concerned, I'm self-managed, sponsored by Brendan Devine and promoted by Sports Network.
Brendan and Barry Hearn had a fall out to the extent that Brendan felt he could no longer work with Matchroom and I respected that decision.
In the short time I've been with Frank Warren, he's marketed me very well. I've been in The Sun three times, the News of the World twice and on Ringside [the Sky TV magazine-style boxing programme].
BM: Having not fought in Wales for almost seven years, you must be distraught that your championship debut, scheduled for the postponed Calzaghe-Brewer bill, has been shifted from Cardiff to Manchester.
GL: I've never boxed professionally in Wales, so I'm devastated. Still, while I'm Welsh through and through, I'm confident that, with my style, I can win over any crowd, wherever I box.
BM: All but four of your opponents have been dismissed inside two rounds, leaving you disturbingly light on pro rounds (just 37 in 15 starts). Are you daunted by the prospect of 12 hard rounds against a championship-class opponent?
GL:Without wishing to sound too confident, I'm fully aware that I only have to catch someone half clean and they'll "go". Consequently, the desire to chase the knockout is very great. The possibility of going 12 rounds against the big boys means you have to stay patient. That's the challenge.
These people who highlight my inexperience forget I had 88 amateur fights, most of them at championship or international level.
I was almost holding my own sparring Joe Calzaghe up in Newbridge when I'd only had two fights. As for pacing and lasting the championship distance, I'm very lucky that Colin also trains champions like Peter Culshaw, Gary Thornhill and Johnny Armour. I'm not afraid of tapping into their insight into how to do 12 rounds.
Yesterday [mid-January] I did four rounds sparring, four rounds on the pads, three drills on the bag and a round of shadow. There's my 12 rounds, and I guarantee I was working a lot harder than I would in a fight.
Next week, I'll step it up to 13 rounds, the following week, 14 rounds and so on. I'll probably spar 12 rounds straight off once about 10 days before my contest.
Monday to Friday, I run at least four miles, sometimes up hills and sand dunes, other times interval runs. Then I have a solid 10-mile trot on Saturdays. I'll be ready.
BM: For your most recent start (a two-round trouncing of Chris Nembhard last November) you scaled 11st 5lbs (159lbs). You are yet to make the light-middleweight division limit as a pro. Any reservations that making the championship weight might cause your power to diminish?
GL: I walk around at about 12st 5lbs [173lbs] and, at a recent press conference, I was bigger than Anthony Farnell and he's just moved up to middleweight.
As a pro, the lightest I've weighed is 11st 2lbs (156lbs), but that was watching the fluids for only four days. For this fight, I'll be watching my liquid intake for two-and-a-half to three weeks. I can't see a problem.
BM: You are to be commended for refraining from criticising your potential rivals
- Takaloo, Richard Williams, Wayne Alexander, Steve Roberts, Ryan Rhodes - in Britain's most hotly disputed division. How important is it to establish yourself as the nation's number one?
GL: Personally, I couldn't give a toss. At the moment I honestly feel Richie Williams is the only one who has got any chance of beating me, but I can't see me fighting him or Steve Roberts any time soon because they're both with Matchroom.
Match-ups with [Sports Network's] Takaloo or Wayne Alexander could be made about 12 months from now. But Frank Warren's a smart guy. He's not going to chuck us together unless there's about a hundred grand each in it for us, which is brilliant management. It would be nice to beat those with the more prestigious titles, but when I retire I just want to look back and think: "I'm glad I made all this money!" So I can look after my family.
