Headline NewsNews

Lewis Crocker ready for gear shift after making it a perfect 10

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is liffey-crane-hire-1.jpg

Lewis Crocker [10(6)-0] insists he hasn’t shown anything near what he is fully capable of in the ring just yet.

The much-heralded Belfast prospect made it the perfect 10 when he defeated Ohio Kain Iremiren [4(0)-2(0)-2] at the Ulster Hall last Friday night.

‘The Croc’ registered a six-round points victory against a game late notice foe and whilst he was pleased with his display -especially, as it came after his first under a new training regime – he warned he hasn’t shown anywhere near his full potential as of yet.

The 22-year-old believes he has only shown glimpses of what he can do to date – and with more time refining his skills under Gerard McManus and Daniel Anderson he believes the full array of skills will be visible in the ring soon.

“I was pleased with that,” Crocker said.

“It was a late opponent change, and this guy had four wins, one loss and two draws before our fight. That’s exactly what I needed, straight in with a tough test. And now we want to push on to the next one,” he told the press after the fight in the bowels of the Ulster Hall..

“That was me at 15 per cent. I am nowhere even near what I can do. Trust me. That’s a fraction of what I can do, and people will see that in the comings fights” he added.

“The sharpness is there, and I am getting some quality sparring with the likes of Steven Donnelly coming back to camp next week.That was a good test and that’s what I want. Opponents like that are dangerous because they have nothing to lose.”

“And one of those big, swinging shots can easily land. I didn’t want to try and out-box him because that would give him time to relax and rest.”

Crocker feels he has benefited from a change of scenery and joining the likes of Paddy Gallagher, Conrad Cummings and Donnelly at Gleann ABC.

“I am enjoying the new camp with Ger and Dan. We are only getting used to each other. I was with Mark and Ray [Ginley] since my debut about three years ago. We have been working on new things and it has been really good for me, the S&C and everything.”

After somewhat of an explosive start, Crocker has started to take incremental steps up. He has navigated those successfully, but hasn’t been grabbing the headlines in recent fights.

However, the former amateur standout isn’t too worried and is confident that he will start to work his way up through the gears over the next 12 months.

“It is only a matter of time before we start going through the gears.” This time next year I want to have a regional title or a big fight under my belt,” he said.

“I want to stay active. That was my first fight since June, so now I want to push on and maybe get a fight in December. I can’t wait for my next camp already.”

dpg

Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

x