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Midlands Area champion Mark Krence believes this will be the year when he makes his mark on the domestic heavyweight scene. The Chesterfield boxer has been paired with “Big Bad” John McDermott for the English title vacated by British and Commonwealth ruler Matt Skelton at the ExCeL Centre in London next month in an intriguing battle of fringe contenders. McDermott, 18-1 (12), has rebounded with two wins since Nicolay Popov shattered his unbeaten record when the Londoner retired with an injured ankle after being floored in the second round a year ago.
“I’m very confident of beating McDermott, you could say he’s tailor made for me,” suggested Krence speaking to Doghouse Boxing. “I’ve seen him before and have been very impressed. He’s very strong and he’ll probably have a stone and a half weight advantage over me so I’ve got to outbox him. If I stand in front of him that’s when I’ll encounter problems so I’m going to have use lots of movement in order to frustrate him.”
Victory for Krence, who turned 28 last month, would be the perfect tonic following some publicised incidents outside of the ring which have checked his progress in the last 12 months. First though, he must come through a routine six-rounder against Konstantin Prizyuk on the undercard of Carl Thompson vs David Haye at the Wembley Arena on Friday. It provides the Yorkshireman with an opportunity to register an early psychological blow over his future foe.
Last May, the then 1-6-1 Prizyuk extended McDermott over eight rounds and Krence, who has halted five of his last eight opponents, will be aiming to go one better. “I want to get stuck into the best of the heavyweights but I’m trying not to think too much about the future until I’ve got this Ukrainian out of the way first,” he said. After an indifferent start to his pro career Prizyuk has won three of his last four fights, but to put this in perspective, the Ukrainian was hammered inside a round by unbeaten prospect Roman Greenberg last September.
Krence’s progress, currently 20-1 (6), has been largely overlooked as he has quietly gone about his business on big-fight undercards. His sole blemish remains a 58-55 points reverse to Audley Harrison, a fight which saw the Olympic champion rocked to his boots by a left hook in the fourth from the late substitute in an entertaining scrap. “That was two years ago now and sometimes it’s the only thing people ask me about,” bemoaned Krence. “I don’t want to be remembered just for that. But I realise I’ve got to earn the right to be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Audley and the rest. I should have believed in myself and gone for it more when I had him hurt. I’ve improved a lot since then.”
With newly discovered confidence, the Chesterfield stylist would have no hesitation about mixing it with anyone in Britain. “I might still be a couple of fights away from being ready to take on the best but if I was offered a fight I’d take on any of them.”
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© Copyright / All Rights reserved: Doghouse Boxing 1998-2004
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Interview by Ben Carey (September 7, 2004) 
