By Scott Gilfoid: It doesn’t seem to have registered yet with Britain’s Gavin Rees (37-1-1, 18 KO’s) that he’s going to be obliterated by the talented WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner (25-0, 21 KO’s) on February 16th at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Rees is still going on the belief that he’s going to win this fight and it’s somewhat amusing to see him spouting off.
Rees said to Broner “You’re keeping the belt warm for me.”
Keeping the belt warm for him? Are you kidding? It would be believable if Rees was actually fighting world class opposition in the last four years, but the guy has been taking the easy route since being stopped by Andriy Kotelnik. I don’t know what happened to Rees but he went from fighting world class opposition following that loss to just dining on domestic and European fodder for four consecutive years.
I don’t know why Rees did this, and I don’t understand why his promoters matched him so weakly for long. Was it a confidence thing or just a situation where his promoter was just dropping the ball in a major way? Rees’ promoter is Eddie Hearn from Matchroom Sport, the same promoter that promotes Kell Brook. He’s the welterweight who has faced few quality opponents during his 9-year career and who is just now finally stepping it up against a good fighter in IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander.
Rees’ last five fights have come against the following opposition: Derry Mathews, Anthony Mezaache, Derry Mathews, Andy Murray and John Watson. Can you tell me what’s wrong with this picture? This is domestic opposition stretching out two entire years. Why on earth has Rees been facing such weak opposition? I don’t understand but it makes me think there’s a problem here that’s not being talked about.
Let’s face it, Rees is going to get destroyed by Broner and there’s not much he can do about it. Hearn can yap all he wants about how good he thinks Rees is but at the end of the day he’s going to be either flat on the canvas or stopped on his feet, and there likely will be a lot of blood on him. Broner is too talented and Rees is just too hittable.
I’d prefer that guys like Rees were weeded out before they got a world title shot. Rees should have had to fight someone like Antonio DeMarco, Ray Beltran, and Jorge Linares before getting a world title shot against a talent like Broner. At least in that way we might get a better fight instead of a slaughter.
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