Lindsay injury prompts postponement
21 January 2009 – By Mark Doyle
Martin Lindsay has been forced to pull out of his March 7 clash with British featherweight champion Paul Appleby.
The Belfast native sustained a minor injury in sparring and the bout has now been rescheduled for April 25.
“I was in sparring and just felt a bit of pain down my side. It was nothing too bad and something I’d felt before but it just flared back up a little bit,” Lindsay explained to irish-boxing.com.
“The doctor says that it should be healed up completely inside four weeks, so with a bit of rest I’ll be 100 percent again.
“If it had been the week of the fight or something I would have been very annoyed but because it was over seven weeks away anyway it was still early days so nobody was too put out by it.
“The fighters on the undercard hadn’t started serious training, so it hasn’t really caused much disruption.
“And because it’s been pushed back to April 25 I’ll still have plenty of time to get ready for it when I am allowed back training so it’s not too bad at all.”
Indeed, Lindsay is just relieved that his title shot, which he earned in such spectacular fashion by knocking out Derry Matthews last year, has not been jeopardised in any way.
“I’m looking forward to it so much. This fight means an awful lot to me, it’s the biggest fight of my career and if I win it it’ll open up a lot of doors,” he enthused.
“This is what you go into the game for, big nights like this on the major TV channels, and it’s going to be great.”
However, Lindsay is well aware that he will have his hands full with Appleby, who, at just 21, and with one title defence under his belt already, is rated as one of the most exciting fighters Britain has produced in many years.
“I know that there’s a lot of big talk about him and he got the young boxer of the year award last year, so I’m not going to take anything away from him because clearly he’s a talented fighter. But, at the same time, I know what I’m capable of and am confident of victory,” he said of the Scot.
“I mean, Derry Matthews was the number one fighter in Britain and Ireland at the time I fought him so I earned my shot at this title. I wasn’t just handed it.
“I’m going to relish this chance and really make the most of it.”
