GARY SYKES vs KEVIN O'HARA BRITISH SUPER-FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE

Gary Sykes vs Kevin O'hara Live British Super-Featherweight Title

Friday 28th May 2010, 22:00GMT

Preview of British super-featherweight title match-up between Gary Sykes and Kevin O'Hara

The British title is the oldest championship in boxing history. However when the Lonsdale belt was originally created in 1909 by Hugh Lowther, Earl of Lonsdale, it did not include the Super-bantamweight division. The British super-featherweight title was inaugurated in 1968 with the first champion being Waltham's Jimmy Anderson.

Gary Sykes makes a quick return to the ring this Friday night when he makes the first defence of his British super-featherweight title at the Huddersfield Leisure Centre.

Sykes, 15-0 (4KO’s), won the title after a tightly contested fight with Andy Morris at the beginning of March and feels fresh enough to take a quick defence against Belfast’s former amateur star Kevin O’Hara.

O’Hara 17-5 (5) has lost three of his last seven, and despite being a reasonably good boxer seems to lose the important ones. Losses to Willie Limond, Eddie Hyland and most recently Ricky Burns amongst others highlights O’Hara’s problems at title level, but to his credit the loss to Burns, for the Commonwealth title, was close enough to warrant O’Hara a shot at the British crown.

Prior to the Burns fight, O’Hara had a reputation of falling short when taking a step up in class, and whilst he still lost against Burns, he at least showed he belonged at that level.Sykes, a proud Yorkshireman, will be fighting in front of his hometown fans for the second time in a row, having won the title at the same venue. He can be a classic boxer at times and can switch hit effectively, but Sykes’ main expertness is undoubtedly his stamina, he can fight ferociously for the full twelve rounds, as he proved it against Morris and previously against Anthony Crolla. O’Hara is a well schooled boxer who can be a handful when allowed to get into a rhythm; he isn’t a hard hitter but is busy and is a good body puncher. Both boxers have got a solid chin, which, along with their lack of knockout power, means this fight is pretty nailed on to go the distance. Sykes’ trainer Chris Aston has warned his charge that the fight will be a tough one.

Having scored easily the most impressive win of his career last time out, edging the talented Andy Morris on points to pick up the vacant British title, Sykes is a decent talent and hasn’t really had enough exposure. Despite beating Morris nobody has really been mentioning Sykes’ name and frankly O’Hara isn’t the sort of opponent to change that, although he does present a genuine danger.


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