By Ian Aldous: On Saturday night, VIP Promotions presents top-class British boxing, when former British super-lightweight champion, Tyrone Nurse (35-4-2) rematches Liam Taylor (19-1), in an eliminator for a shot at the British welterweight championship, live and free to stream on vipboxing.tv. It’s a fight worthy of being on television and with only a handful of live shows on free TV in the UK, credit must go to Steve Wood and VIP Promotions for making it available to fans. Ahead of another hectic day at the gym, Nurse took some time to chat with me over the phone as he prepares to enter fight week.
IA: You’ve fought Liam Taylor before. How do you reflect on that victory back in 2015?
TN: He came in at fairly short notice, about a week at most. Obviously, I was supposed to fight Chris Jenkins originally, who had issues at the check-weight. Liam Taylor stepped in. He were inexperienced, he’d only done six or eight rounds at most, I think. He were coming off two decent wins against kids with winning records and fancied his chances, obviously, and looked at it as an opportunity for bigger and better things. It were a fairly comfortable win, if I remember rightly. I think I dropped him twice, but referee only called one of them. (I) can’t take nothing from it because of when it was and the situation with how the fight came about.
IA: So, you’re expecting a much improved Taylor this Saturday?
TN: I’m not one for slating fighters, ever. I’m not going to slate him, but looking at what he’s done since – it’s hard to see how he’s really improved. He’s not fought anyone of note since me. He might have knocked out five out of (his last) six, but he’s not boxed anyone (of note) since (me). It should have been used as a platform to progress in that sense. He might have been trying to get an English title shot or something. Three and a half years later and he’s still not fought for a title of any kind. I’ve not seen his name in the mix. I’m not going to sit here and say he’s not improved – we all improve over time, but at the same time I’m not sure how much he could have improved with the opposition he’s been facing.
IA: You’re by far and away his toughest opponent as he’s almost exclusively fought journeymen. Is it a case of not knowing quite how good he might be?
TN: There is that to take into consideration. He’s training with Steve Maylett now and Steve’s a great trainer. (He’s) done great things with Terry Flanagan. I can’t see how Steve won’t have improved him. I’m not going in there underestimating him. I’m expecting the best Liam Taylor you could ever expect. I’m expecting him to show up and be like Chavez Sr., you know what I mean? I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited and eager to fight again because it’s been a while.
IA: You’ve been mixing it at a high domestic level for many years now including wins over Tommy Coyle and Willie Limond. Are you simply too tough and experienced for him?
TN: I can’t see how I lose, to be honest. Even if, somehow it turns into a complete war, I don’t think he’ll come out on top. My fitness, my experience, my toughness – I’ve done twelve hard rounds so many times. I’ve done it that many times in sparring in the gyms with other fighters. Half of the fights I’ve had that people thought were hard fights, weren’t hard – they were fun! People talk about the Tommy Coyle fight like it were a hard fight, it weren’t a hard fight – I just enjoyed a good scrap.
IA: The winner should get Johnny Garton for the title. What are your thoughts on him and his win over Gary Corcoran?
TN: I’ve not caught the whole fight yet. I caught the end of it and a few of the early rounds. He boxed well, it were nip and tuck to start with, but he just seemed to keep his shape and hold it together that bit better. He (Corcoran) were getting caught with the left hook a lot. (It was) a great win for Garton who achieved something he probably never thought he would achieve in boxing. Credit to him, he’s done well.
IA: Are you no longer likely to fight at super-lightweight?
TN: No, not a chance. I think it were me and Tommy (Coyle) talking at a press conference about how we boxed at ten stone when we were fifteen! I were a big super-lightweight, not in the terms of someone like Timothy Bradley with bulging chest and shoulders, but I’m tall and I carry the weight well. I think welterweight’s going to suit me much better. I’ll not have to worry about those seven or eight pounds like I were doing.
IA: Am I right in saying you were due to fight Viktor Postol on the World Boxing Super Series card in Glasgow?
TN: We got offered the fight six weeks out, which would have been at ten stone, which were (the) only issue I had with the fight. But, I said to myself, ‘these opportunities don’t come often’. You don’t get chances to fight former world champions and I’m all about testing myself – I’ll fight anyone. We said, ‘yeah’. I sat down with my nutritionist and he said we can do it but we’ll have to be super strict, no cheating at all with the timeframe being a bit shorter. We cracked on and spent three weeks training for it with sparring and working on tactics for it. It just went very quiet and we were chasing them up (Sauerland), but because they had the show in Jeddah, they were a bit busy. Ten days before we got told the fight weren’t happening, the fight was on still. Eventually, three weeks before the fight, Postol’s team had said they don’t like the fight.
IA: You lost your last fight on the scorecards out in Australia against Jack Brubaker. It’s been widely reported as a bullshit decision. In your opinion, what happened?
TN: Exactly what you just called it, a bullshit decision. I’ll say if I thought I won and if I thought I lost. I’m not going to sit there and bullshit. I just don’t see how I lost that fight in any way, shape or form. When I watched it back, I gave him four rounds at best. He had a good round in the fifth when he caught me with a right-hand. I beat him at his own game on the inside when I got a bit tired in the later rounds. We only went out (to Australia) a week before the fight. It were short notice. I was comfortable in there. They said, ‘the winner, in the blue corner’, and I’m like, ‘why’s my hand still down?’ I looked over to my corner and they’ve got their hands on their faces in disgust (laughs). I couldn’t believe it. We appealed it with the Commonwealth (board of control) and they didn’t do owt about it. Absolutely everyone had me winning comfortably. The referee even messaged me the morning after saying he couldn’t believe it when they showed him the scorecards. He asked the guy if they’d double-checked them! What can you do?
IA: Well, on to more positive things now, what’s your prediction for Saturday night?
TN: Same as every time – a Tyrone Nurse win. I’m not one to disrespect opponents and say I’m gonna knock him out and do this and do that. I’m pretty confident it’ll be a Tyrone Nurse win and it’ll be me and Johnny Garton next year.
VIP Promotions presents an evening of boxing at Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse on November 17. Headlining will be Middleton’s Liam Taylor and Huddersfield’s Tyrone Nurse in a British Welterweight Title eliminator.
Also appearing will be Salford’s Luke Evans and Luke Vaughan; Manchester’s Charlie Schofield, Brad Rea and Kane Gardner; Delph’s Andy Kremner; Leeds’ Bob Ajisafe; Rochdale’s Muhammad Ali; Oldham’s Joe Eko; and Liverpool’s Adam Farrell.
Tickets priced at £35 (general), £60 (ringside) are available from all boxers, or at vipboxing.tv
The show will also be streamed live and free at vipboxing.tv
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