McKenzie dismisses Dodson’s ‘journeyman’ taunts
Ovill McKenzie has laughed off Tony Dodson’s comments that he is nothing more than a ‘glorified journeyman’ ahead of the first defence of his Commonwealth light-heavyweight title at Bowler’s Arena in Manchester this Friday. McKenzie required only 15 seconds to wipe out Wales’ Jeff Evans in November to become Commonwealth champion for a second time.
McKenzie’s previous title reign proved shortlived as he was dispatched inside a round by Dean Francis in his first defence in 2007. The win-some-lose-some slugger rebounded by winning the Prizefighter cruiserweight tournament before suffering successive defeats to Tony Bellew in 2010 and 2011. McKenzie’s patchy record currently stands at 19 wins against 11 defeats, arguably giving credence to Dodson’s remarks?
“I don’t care what he’s said about me. He’s trying to sell the fight and get people interested which is fine. He’s from Liverpool and people from there like to talk a lot, just like (Tony) Bellew did. Us Derby boys prefer to do things in a little more style so I’ll let my fists do the talking in the ring,” said the Jamaican born fighter who is now a resident of Derby under the tutelage of trainer Jason Shinfield.
With all eight of his stoppage wins arriving in under three rounds, popular opinion within the trade suggests that either McKenzie will prevail early or be taken out in the later rounds. The Derby man has carved out a fearsome reputation at domestic level for being dangerous initially but has been similarly tagged with running out of ideas the longer a fight goes.
“Dodson’s definitely going to get stopped. I just can’t decide whether I’m going to take him out early or whether I’ll let him go on for a few rounds. I know for a fact that he won’t be able to take my power no matter what. In my last fight (against Jeff Evans) I went looking for the knockout early and I it came but for this fight I haven’t made up my mind yet what I’m going to do,” pondered a drowsy McKenzie who I had inadvertently woken up from his afternoon nap.
Challenger Dodson is enjoying his best run of form since he claimed the British super-middleweight title with an eleventh round stoppage over Allan Foster way back in 2003. Currently on a winning run of four, the 32-year-old impressed when halting Oldham’s Darren Stubbs in seven rounds in October and appears to have put a series of injury and personal problems behind him.
“I haven’t seen much of Dodson, other than watching him against Carl Froch (L KO3) on You Tube where he danced up and down like a chicken. He’s said that he’s going to come forward and take the fight to me which will be his downfall because he’ll walk straight on to my punches and that will be the end,” said McKenzie.
Victory over Dodson could pave wave the way for some exciting domestic clashes against the likes of Enzo Maccarinelli but McKenzie still harbours hopes of enticing rival Tony Bellew into the ring for a third time. In their thrilling first encounter, McKenzie floored Bellew in each of the opening two rounds before he ran out of steam and was controversially stopped in round eight. In contrast, the rematch was a more sedate affair as a cautious Bellew outboxed McKenzie over 12 predictable rounds.
“I was very, very disappointed with my performance in the second fight with Bellew. I let too many people talk to me in the build-up and I ended up placing too much pressure on myself as all I could think about was that ‘I’ve got to knock him out’. I started slowly and just couldn’t change my mindset after that. I watched the fight back but had to turn it off after eight rounds because I was so angry with myself,” reflected McKenzie.
“As always, I’ll fight anyone my manager and promoter put in front of me. I’d like to win the British title and move on to the European but I’ll take it whichever way it comes. Let me take care of Dodson first and Bellew needs to beat Danny McIntosh (the pair meet for the British title in April) and I think he will,” he added.
