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Mark Krence has insisted he can still capture domestic honours despite his upset loss to unheralded Ukrainian Konstantin Prizyuk on the undercard of Carl Thompson vs David Haye at Wembley earlier this month.
In what was expected to be a routine warm-up before Krence’s scheduled meeting with John McDermott for the vacant English heavyweight title, the boxing butcher shockingly stepped on the banana skin that was waiting for him disguised as Prizyuk’s left hook. Though the Yorkshireman beat the count he was “gone”, and the action was wisely halted with two minutes still remaining in the sixth and final round. It was only the second loss of Krence’s 22-fight career, and this to a man who is regularly used as target practice by reigning British & Commonwealth ruler Matt Skelton in sparring.
“I don’t know what to say. It’s just one of those things, he caught me. I got straight back in the gym afterwards and have been working hard. I’ve asked my team to get me an immediate rematch and I hope it can happen,” explained Krence. “That was the hardest I’d ever trained and I thought I’d won every round and was boxing well before the stoppage,” he added, rather ironically.
The Chesterfield boxer may not get his wish, however. “I’ve heard this morning that my fight with McDermott for the English title could still be on for the beginning of November so I’ll have to wait and see,” he revealed. “The defeat hasn’t knocked my confidence and I’m still willing and ready to fight the likes of McDermott and Sprott and be confident of winning.”
As confident as team McDermott? Last May the Londoner, 18-1 (12), outpointed Prizyuk over eight rounds and will surely fancy his chances of catching up with Krence over the English championship distance (10 rounds) should their mooted clash materialise. Refreshingly, the Midlands Area champion is refusing to make excuses for his loss although he was hampered by a cut to his left eye following a clash of heads in the fourth.
“Getting cut was a new experience for me but I wasn’t really affected. Richard Poxon did a great job with it, didn’t he? I had six stitches in my left eye as a result but I’ve recently had the stitches taken out and you can’t even tell I’ve been cut,” admitted Krence. “I suppose I could say that my missus gave birth to our baby two days before (by emergency caesarean) but I’m not even going to use that as an excuse either.”
In the aftermath of his unexpected derailment, doubters will question the 28-year-old’s commitment that was distracted by out-of-the-ring complications last year. However, having spoken to Krence before his fight with Prizyuk I was struck by his focus and determination. Gym insiders also confided that Krence had performed admirably in some spirited sparring sessions with Carl Thompson. But in a sport where one punch can dramatically change things in an instant, Krence is now fully aware of the potential pitfalls.
“I’ll be back. This is heavyweight boxing and anything can happen.” Absolutely. |
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© Copyright / All Rights reserved: Doghouse Boxing 1998-2004
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Interview by Ben Carey (September 28, 2004)
