Sykes - 'There will be no excuses this time'

Gary 'Five Star' Sykes insists he will prove that Gary Buckland got lucky when he stopped him in one round last year. The British super-featherweight champion is eyeing revenge when he risks his British super-featherweight title against the Welshman in a rematch at Ponds Forge Arena on Saturday September 24.

Sykes, 27, was hammered in 45 seconds by the Hatton Promotions hitter when they clashed in Prizefighter last November. Dewsbury’s Sykes who has sold 200 tickets for the Steel City showdown said: “Everything now is geared towards Buckland. There will be no excuses this time.

“When I lost to him in Prizefighter, there were lots of excuses as I went into that at very short notice.

“Me and my trainer, Julian McGowan have worked on a game plan to beat Buckland and I can assure that he won’t be doing another Prizefighter on me.”

The Buckland loss is Gary’s only loss in 20 fights and he’ll win a Lonsdale belt outright if he succeeds next week. He won the title against Andy Morris in March 2010 and outpointed Kevin O’Hara and Carl Johanneson in subsequent defences.

He added: “I still rank my victory over Anthony Crolla as the best performance of my career, especially when you look what he has gone on to achieve.

“I’ve had bigger and better nights, winning the British title against Andy Morris and the win over Carl Johanneson but the night I fought Crolla, I felt brilliant and I know I will have to be the same against Buckland.”

Image courtesy L Lustig