Interview with unbeaten York prospect Harry Matthews

York’s middleweight prospect Harry Matthews returns to the ring this Saturday night at the MK Dons football stadium. Harry comes up against Birmingham's Terry Carruthers (5-3-4) in a six-rounder.

Unbeaten Matthews (8-0) has finished the hard graft in the gym and Is now ready for fight night. With just a few days to go, Harry spent some time with BoxRec News to give his thoughts on how his career has panned out so far and what the future may hold.

“I’m really enjoying the success and enjoying being undefeated. I am just really glad that I haven’t lost any pro fights and I want to keep it that way. Losing is not an option for me.

"I wont lie to you, sometimes when I’m in training for a fight there’s a lot of stress, physically and mentally but come fight night I am always ready.”

Harry goes on to talk about the pressures that a young boxer can come under.

“The hardest part of this sport is the personal sacrifices you have to make, not being able to live like a normal person. You have to stay extremely disciplined, you can't go out with your mates as much as you’d like, always watching what you're eating and drinking because you have to monitor that kind of stuff.

"I don’t go out and get pissed every week because that will start to affect my performance in the ring.”

Harry is very well known at home in York where he has a big army of fans; this can also add extra strain on a young boxers career.

“People are always asking when am I fighting for this title and that title, they always want to refer you to Amir Khan.

"I do want to get there but I just tell them it's one fight at a time. I’m amazed at what I have achieved so far, I’ve got this far so I want to go as far as I can and win titles. Every champion has two arms and two legs, they’re only human.”

Harry obviously has his head screwed on as he talks about what he expects of his peers.

“It's very important that the people around you accept what you do. If they can't accept what you do, you have to get rid of them. Boxers need people who are going to be there to support them.” Harry got the boxing bug and started out as an amateur at the age of fifteen.

“I was an amateur for five years, I won 34 of my 42 fights. My losses always ended up against guys that went on to the ABA finals and they were all points losses. I used to fight at 69 kg and struggle like mad to make the weight, but I found I was too slow fighting at 75kg. After a while I never felt 100% at 69kg so what I usually did was try and fight a good opponent at a catch weight.”

Saturday sees Harry take part in his ninth fight and he feels he is learning more about the pro game week in week out.

“I’m certainly progressing experience wise.” Harry has recently linked up with Finchley based trainer Joe Gregory who now trains him at weekends.

“I felt like I needed to bring more people in, Glen who I work with in Yorkshire is a great trainer and we started out together. We have done real good for what we know so far ,but we needed to learn more from elsewhere.”

Working with Joe has opened up a whole new world for Harry. “I’ve changed my stance so my balance is a lot better now, my punches are flowing a hell of a lot better.”

Harry only has one stoppage on his record and looking to improve in this area. “I’ve learned little hand and foot movements that are going to give me much more power. I’ve built up my strength, now my power and fitness is coming on real good.”

Harry has stepped up his sparring too, training with more high profile fighters in Finchley will give him valuable experience, two weeks ago Harry did a few rounds with London based Moroccan Yassine El Maachi.

“I thought I did alright against him, if I sparred him again I could do a lot better, He didn’t hammer me and I managed to hold my own. It was the first time I’ve been in with someone at that level, I learned a lot with that sparring, it's like the better the opponent, the better I fight.”

This year Harry feels he needs to take a breather from boxing, so he will just have the two fights.

“I’m fighting in March and then I want to take a bit of time away from boxing, then I want to have a big fight in York around October time. This is my ninth pro fight in less than two years (Hear that?  That's Ray Robinson chuckling - Ed.) and I want to give my body a rest, recharge my batteries then get back on it and come back stronger than before.”

When asked about potential opponents for his next fight there was one name which cropped up that would interest a lot of Yorkshire’s boxing fans.

“Lee Noble, he seems to be the one that likes to call me out quite a bit! To be honest he’s a journeyman with a half and half record, alright he’s been in with some decent people like Billy Joe Saunders and George Hillyard but I still feel I would beat him.

“It would be a real grudge match and I would make sure that I trained ten times harder for that one. That fight would attract a lot of local publicity as he likes to shout his mouth off and hopefully one day I can shut it for him!”

Back on the subject of this weekend,s fight.

“Losing is not an option, its all about winning, that’s why I do it. If you're not going to win and you're not 100% then what’s the point in putting my body through the pain?”

If dedication to this sport was a currency, then Harry would be a very well off young man.