McKenzie’s manager explains reasons for rejecting Bellew chance
Mike Shinfield, manager of Ovill McKenzie, has explained to BoxRec News why he rejected the opportunity for his fighter to contest the Commonwealth light-heavyweight title against Tony Bellew. Following his one round demolition of Billy Boyle on Frank Maloney’s show in
The article, entitled ‘Ovill looking to turn the lights out’, began, ‘Ovill McKenzie is looking to produce a big performance and push his chances for a fight with Tony Bellew in the process.’
However, despite Bellew’s understanding that a deal was in place, on Monday Maloney issued a press release to the contrary and criticised Bellew’s behaviour at ringside claiming, “Bellew was out of order with his aggressive cut throat gestures and should know better than to behave like that towards another professional.”
Friday’s fall-out has even spilled onto Boxrec’s British forum with both Bellew and Maloney seemingly contradicting one another.
“The fight with Bellew had been offered, and we said ‘yes’ we were interested, but following Ovill’s win on Friday we’ve now done a deal with Frank Maloney,” explained Mike Shinfield, manager of Ovill McKenzie, to BoxRec News over the phone.
“Ovill is applying for his British passport at the moment so rather than jump in against Bellew straight away, we decided the best way would be to get him a couple more fights and then go for the British title (currently owned by Nathan Cleverly) first by which time Ovill will have his British passport.”
Given that McKenzie is one of the most avoided fighters in
“As I’ve said we’ve now done a deal with Maloney. Ovill’s going to be boxing again in April , more than likely in Coventry (on the undercard of Rendall Munroe’s WBC final eliminator against Mexico’s Victor Terrazas),” Shinfield reiterated.
“Depending on who he fights, and how he performs, we could be looking at challenging for something pretty quickly. Ovill’s got the credentials to be challenging for titles. He’s been Commonwealth champion before and he’s shown previously what he can do.”
“Ovill’s been avoided in the past which has meant he has had to take a lot of fights at short notice which is no good. But given notice, at the right weight, Ovill is a match for anybody and we’re hoping that Frank Maloney can get him the right fights at the right time now,” added Shinfield.
The Jamaican born McKenzie, now based in
“Ovill’s a natural light-heavyweight. The only reason he went into Prizefighter: The Cruiserweights was because the previous Prizefighter tournament had been at light-heavyweight at which Ovill had been a reserve for but he never got to fight on the night. Although we knew Ovill was going to give a lot of weight away in the Prizefighter Cruiserweight tournament, when we saw who was in it we fancied our chances of winning so we decided to enter,” said Shinfield.
Despite only recording seven stoppages in his 18 wins, all of McKenzie’s inside-the-distance victories have come in three rounds or less.
“Ovill’s nickname is ‘The Upsetter’ which sums him up perfectly. If he connects on anyone he is going to hurt them. He used to be very conscious that he could do that (hurt opponents) and all he used to try to do was bomb everyone out,” conceded Shinfield.
“We’ve now got him to think about his boxing more and set them up for it rather than simply trying to blast them. But on Friday he caught Billy Boyle very quickly with a punch and set about him straight away and it was all over.”
The dangerous McKenzie would represent an intriguing benchmark for former amateur standout Bellew who is also regarded as a puncher having blasted eight of his twelve opponents since switching codes in October 2007.
“I’ve said all my views (on the Boxrec forum). The fight was made and we had both agreed terms and then Maloney pulled the plug on it all for no reason,” bemoaned an exasperated Bellew to BoxRec News.
Sadly, for now at least, the pair seem destined to be kept apart.
