Skelton's a man in a hurry

Matt Skelton is a heavyweight in a hurry after becoming British and Commonwealth champion by halting Michael Sprott in the final round of only his 13th fight as a boxer at Reading on Saturday.

Skelton, the one-time martial arts exponent who switched to boxing after campaigning in K-1 in Japan, has lifted the Lonsdale belt in quicker time that recently-retired world champion Lennox Lewis who won it in his 15th paid fight when he stopped Gary Mason in seven rounds at Wembley back in March 1991.

But, while Lewis was the Olympic gold medallist from the 1988 Games in Seoul, Skelton never boxed as an amateur.

The new champion knows time is not on his side – he insists he is 35 while others claim he is older – but maintains he can go higher.

“The experience is one thing I am never going to get because I am not hanging about, I’m not ducking any fights, I’m just taking them as they come along,” he said.

Skelton’s win over Sprott upset the formbook but he was confident after analysing the January fight in which Sprott overcame the odds to depose Danny Williams at Wembley in January.

“Their punch ratio was a third of mine so we knew my workrate would be more but Sprott covers up very well.

“I am a bit inexperienced compared to these guys but there’s nothing I can do about that. There’s little things that I know if I get right mean I will be able to stop a lot of opponents earlier.

“I’m still coming in too close and crowding my work but hopefully it will come. The thing about this game is that I am fighting regularly but the sparring partners we are bringing over make you learn,” he said.

Skelton’s camp, which includes Frank Maloney, former manager of Lewis, his brother Eugene and trainer Kevin Saunders, who persuaded Skelton to turn professional after seeing him in the gym, imported a pair of Russian sparring partners in the build-up to Skelton’s latest triumph.

“These guys are trying to take your head off. I had hard sparring with these Russians and it paid off for me,” said the new champion who revealed the closely-guarded secret that his preparations had been interrupted for 10 days by a shoulder injury.

Luan Krasniqi’s European title is a possible target and promoter Frank Warren said: “I’d make that fight tomorrow. I think Matt just rises to the occasion.

“As he says himself, time is not on his side but at the moment he is doing everything that is being asked of him he is doing.”

The one thing Skelton does not lack is confidence and he said: “We have Frank Maloney on board now and he has a lot of experience with one of the greatest.”

Lewis’ former manager was instrumental in Skelton setting up training camp at Maloney’s ‘Fight Factory’, the family gym in London’s Old Kent Road, and the new champion said: “It paid off.

“For this fight they said I had to put it on him, I couldn’t afford to stand off. In the middle rounds he came back and I had to put my foot on the gas. It shows I have got it in the tank to produce the finish in the 12th round.

“I could have just seen the round out because I knew I had won the fight but I want to win. I want to hurt while I’m in there and I believe someone who comes to the ring with my attitude is going to be a tough fight for anyone.”