By Scott Gilfoid: British welterweight champion Frankie Gavin (14-0, 10 KO’s) will be defending his domestic level strap against challenger Jason Welborn (11-1,5 KO’s) on Friday night at the Town Hall, Walsall, West Midlands, UK. Gavin recently captured the British strap against Junior Witter last November in beating him by a 12 round unanimous decision.
This wasn’t a prime Witter, however, as he’s lost a lot of his stamina and fighting ability in the last five years. A prime Witter would have likely schooled Gavin badly.
As it was, Witter gave Gavin all kinds of problems for the first three rounds, but then after that Witter stopped punching and mostly just stood and postured. He was obviously too gassed out to keep throwing punches, as he just couldn’t let his shots go. Gavin then took over the fight and coasted to a 12 round decision.
Gavin, #8 WBO, plans on fighting five times in 2013, and wants to try and capture the European Boxing Union welterweight title before the end of the year. It’s good that he’s not talking about wanting a world title shot because he’s not ready for that kind of a step up right now.
Welborn doesn’t have much of a chance in this fight. He’s got little power, little speed and little experience. You can say the same thing for Gavin, but he’s clearly a level above Welborn in those areas. Welborn’s best wins have come against James Flinn and Scott Haywood, neither of which are exactly what you’d call big household names. He has been winning, so he has that at least going for him. I can’t see how Welborn can beat Gavin on Friday night because he doesn’t have a puncher’s chance of winning.
If he could punch his way to a victory then he might have a little chance, but he’s pretty going to be out of his league in this fight. I don’t rate Gavin as being a good fighter, and I think his #8 WBO ranking is 20 places too high. I don’t see him as a 1st tier fighter, but he’s good enough to beat 2nd tier guys like Welborn.