Matt Skelton - the old man done good

Starting in September 2002 against Gifford Shillingford who had a winning record - bang, a knockout in round two for Skelton - this was the beginning of his journey. Matt was obviously in a hurry, he was not one of these boxers who were fighting men with upside down records for the first ten bouts of their careers.

 

There was a pattern emerging; after seven fights in ten months Matt had not been taken the distance by any of his opponents, his push forward, brawling, non-stop pressure style was proving to be very successful. He was turning out to be a stoppage specialist, throwing clubbing shots from all angles his opponents could not avoid.  Stoppage after stoppage Skelton was making a name for himself and had caught the imagination of the UK’s boxing fans.

 

In September 2003, with Frank Warren promoting, Matt found himself headlining a Fight Skool card in Dagenham, fighting for the English heavyweight title. Matt’s high punch output style proved too much for Michael Holden and Skelton had battered him into submission, the fight was stopped in the sixth round. Matt had won a belt after only eight fights.  Where could he go from here?

 

Amazingly he finished out 2003 with three more fights and three more stoppages and ended the year with a record of 11-0 with 11 KO’s.

 

Next up was seasoned pro and Mike Tyson victim Julius Francis who met Skelton at the York Hall in Bethnal Green, defending his English heavyweight title. For the first time in his career Skelton had to go the distance. After ten rounds the referee scored the bout 98-92 in favour of Skelton. This fight was his first real test, required to use more boxing in this bout than any others previously Matt showed he has good skills as well as raw strength and power.

 

Skelton continued his amazing run, picking up the British and Commonwealth heavyweight title by knocking out Michael Sprott in the last round of their twelve round scrap, then stopping credible opponents Bob Mirovic, Keith Long and Fabio Moli (for the lowly-regarded WBU title.)

 

Could anyone beat this guy?

 

Next up was a hugely anticipated domestic match up with Danny Williams; with 37 stone in the ring, this was a true heavyweight battle. The two fighters did not disappoint. Skelton using his usual brawling, push foward style to impose himself on Williams was paying dividends. Matt was seeming to land the better shots while showing excellent conditioning once again. For the first time in more than two years one of Matt’s fights went to the scorecards. In a fight that could have gone either way, Williams edged it by split decision. For the record this writer had it 115-113 to Skelton.

 

Not deterred by losing his 0, after a tune up fight against an Armenian journeyman Skelton was back in the ring with Danny Williams. After a tough first fight, Danny must have felt like he needed to bulk up to deal with Matt’s strength and bullying tactics and weighed in at a career heaviest, 20 stone 8 pounds. This was a grave error. 

 

Matt had a game plan, he started the fight boxing in and out showing real movement, jabbing and moving. Where had the brawler gone? Matt was the boxer in this fight, all 20 stone of Williams couldn’t cope with the movement and could not get anywhere near the Bedford man. Skelton got the nod from all three judges, twice by the margin of 117-112.

 

The world title shot came in January 2008 against unbeaten Ruslan Chagaev of Uzbekistan. Skelton had to travel to Dusseldorf for his chance to claim the WBA heavyweight title and be the next British heavyweight champ since Lennox Lewis retired in 2003.

 

After the first rounds of the fight it was clear that Chagaev had the purer boxing skills. Skelton was finding it difficult to land though he did have his moments throughout the fight, mainly pushing his opponent back to the ropes and throwing flurries of punches. The cleaner punches were coming from the champion whose shots were bouncing off Skelton’s chin but not having the impact he would like.

 

After a valiant effort Skelton lost on the score cards 117 – 111 twice and 117 -110 by the other. This was by no means a disgrace, in fact it just proved how tough and durable Skelton really was.

 

The world title defeat was not the end and ten months later against Paolo Vidoz, Matt won the European title when Vidoz could take no more punishment and retired after nine rounds.

 

Matt lost his next two fights, being stopped for the first time in his career in a barnstormer against Prizefighter winner Martin Rogan. Rogan was hurt several times during the fight and somehow came back to knock over and then stop Skelton in the eleventh. Another defeat came by way of an EBU title shot versus unbeaten Italian Francesco Pianeta. Skelton had to retire from this fight with an injury after eight rounds.

 

If you look back at the last seven years of your own life, gone quick haven’t they?

In just seven years Matt has achieved a great deal, maybe more then even he expected. It just shows that with commitment and pride and a good team behind you, the sport of boxing can treat you well. The one thing that failed to materialize from his career was a fight with Audley Harrison!

 

I have heard rumours about retirement, but is there one last fight left for Matt?