Derry Mathews

By Ian Aldous: Saturday March 30th will see the Echo Arena in the city of Liverpool host a big night for British boxing when Tony Bellew main events in a WBC light-heavyweight final eliminator against Isaac Chilemba. Just as important is the chief support fight in which Derry Mathews (32-8-1) will face Anthony Crolla (25-4) for the vacant Commonwealth lightweight title in a rematch of what was surely the British fight of the year in 2012. Last week, Derry took some time away from training to talk with me about the fight.

Two weeks ago on the set of ‘Ringside’, the weekly hour-long show dedicated to boxing, broadcast by Sky Sports, Mathews and Crolla amicably sat side-by-side as they chatted with hosts Adam Smith and Johnny Nelson about the fight. It was a clear indication of the respect both men have for each other and it was also great to see two fighters not have to disrespect one another to ‘hype’ a fight.

By Scott Gilfoid: Former British lightweight champion Anthony Crolla (23-3, 9 KO’s) wants an immediately rematch against Derry Mathews (30-6-1, 16 KO’s) after Crolla was badly exposed yet again in getting halted in the 6th round by the 28-year-old Mathews last Saturday night.

By Sean McDaniel: In what has to be considered a major upset, Derry Mathews (30-6-1, 15 KO’s) defeated British lightweight champion Anthony Crolla (23-3, 9 KO’s) by a 6th round TKO on Saturday night at the Oldham Sports Centre in Oldham, England.

By Scott Gilfoid: Lightweight Derry Mathews (29-6-1, 15 KO’s) took a savage beating in a 7th round TKO loss to unbeaten Italian Emiliano Marsili (24-0, 10 KO’s) in a fight for the vacant International Boxing Organization lightweight title at the Olympia, Liverpool, UK.

By Nate Anderson: Super featherweight Derry Matthews (21-3, 11 KOs) was taken out in the 4th round tonight by South African Harry Ramogoadi (20-10-2, 6 KOs) at the Echo Arena, in Liverpool, England. Matthews had looked good through the first three rounds when he got caught by a big right hand from Ramogoadi in the 4th, knocking Matthews to the canvas.

By Nate Anderson: Former WBU featherweight champion Derry Matthews (21-2, 11 KOs) was stopped in the 9th round of a scheduled 12-round bout by undefeated Martin Lindsay (13-0, 5 KOs) on Saturday in an BBBofC British Featherweight Title Eliminator at the Hillsborough Leisure Centre, Sheffield, in Yorkshire. Matthews, 24, was ahead in the fight going into the 9th round when Lindsay, 26, tagged him with a huge left hook to the jaw, sending Matthews crashing to the canvas where his head hit the bottom of the rope. It was a case of being knocked out before he even hit the canvas. Referee Marcus McDonnell immediately moved in and stopped the fight at 2:06 of the 9th round.

The ringside doctor was immediately summoned to check on Matthews and oxygen was given to him as a precaution. It was a really bad knockout, reminding me in a lot of ways of lightweight Amir Khan’s recent knockout loss a couple of weeks ago, only worse. For Matthews, who’s ranked #6 in the WBO and #8 in the IBF, it was his second bad knockout in his last three fights. In April, he was stopped by Choi Tseveenpurev in another bad knockout loss. Although Matthews recently rebounded from that loss with an 8-round decision over John Gicharu in July, it appears that it was maybe a little too soon for Matthews to be fighting a tough foe given his almost equally bad stoppage to Tseveenpurev only five months earlier.