Frankie Gavin: Everyone knows my best beats Eggington’s best

Their cross-city clash has perhaps lost some of its appeal following Sam Eggington’s loss to Bradley Skeete, but Frankie Gavin contends that his fight with ‘The Savage’ is still “massive.”

Welterweights Gavin and Eggington will lock horns on October 22nd in Birmingham almost exactly one year on from their initial fight date.

Last year’s bout was unfortunately called off following a foot injury sustained by former Irish champ Gavin.

Recovery, a subsequent ban for Gavin, and Eggington losing his British and Commonwealth belts to Skeete, have all conspired to delay the bout, but it finally now looks set to be the chief support/spiritual headliner of Kal Yafai’s rumoured super flyweight World title fight at the National Indoor Arena this Autumn.

Both will fight in warm-up bouts later this month in Leeds to shake off any rust, but all eyes are firmly on October’s long-awaited showdown.

Former World title challenger Gavin [22(13)-2(1)] is confident of the win and cites both skill and experience, telling the Birmingham Mail that “If I bring the best I’ve got and he brings the best he’s got, we all know who’s going to win.”

“It’s about me. If I box to my ability, I honestly believe it will be one-sided.”

Perhaps tellingly, Gavin holds a close 2014 win over Eggington-conqueror Skeete and notes that “Sam was beaten by someone I beat.”

“Everybody had me winning against Skeete. I don’t think one person thought Sam won against him. Sam struggles against counter-punchers.”

“He has wars, even sparring sessions are wars, and he gets marked-up.”

Describing the gulf in quality of their respective opponents, 31 year old Gavin argued, “look who I’ve boxed – Junior Witter, Denton Vassell when he was on the way up, Leonard Bundu and Kell Brook.”

The pair have sparred each other throughout their careers, and Gavin alluded to the outcome of these gym sessions, hinting that “I’m not going to go on about what happens in sparring, but I’ve sparred with Sam many times and John [Pegg, Eggington’s manager] knows what he saw. He knows who the better boxer is.”

“Sam is a nice lad, I’m not going to slag him off. He made the most of his opportunities, but he only got those titles because I gave them up. After the fight I will shake his hand.”

Read Mike Lockley’s brilliant in-depth interview with Gavin here.