Andrew Selby reflects on his last fight
Andrew 'Superstar' Selby (13-1) made it two wins in two weeks by overcoming Fadhili Majiha (24-14-4) in Newcastle over eight rounds, but the Welshman looked under par as he suffered a first round knockdown to the Tanzanian and African champion, but gritted his teeth to come back to edge a tough 76-74 points win.
The 30-year-old from Barry reflected on his presentation, "Five out of 10 my performance, he boxed out his skin the other guy, his timing was right. I thought I did everything wrong. We only had two days off after my last fight in Dubai. Before that was a three month hard camp. No excuses. It weren't the best performance and I will be back 10 times better.
"I kick myself in the arse daily. A lot of boxers wouldn't have got up off that shot and carried on. I had to get through that because I want the world title fights. The African champion, the IBF, I want to fight Moruti [Mthanlane], I want to fight him. If I perform like that I ain't gonna' win. I need to kick myself up the arse and get back to basics."
'Babyface' Mthanlane (38-2), 36 from South Africa, is the current IBF flyweight champion. He won the world title in July 2018 and has successfully defended it twice.
Selby went on to talk about his recent bereavement and subsequent troubles, "My mother passed away, I picked up a bottle and was drinking a lot. I hated boxing, now I actually love it. Even when he punched me and put me down, I enjoyed it!"
The double European amateur champion and World amateur double medalist then turned his attention to talk of world title shots, "I think I was ready for the world title the day I turned professional, but that's just me, I know I got the skills, I know how good I am; today I didn't show it, that's why I am really pissed off.
"If you seen the things I done in the gym, I don't plan what I'm gonna' do so it just comes. As soon as that world title is thrown at me, I know for a fact that 90 per cent I'll grab the win. It's just a talent that comes out of me that I've never seen before, it just comes. I perform when I really, really need to."
Selby was very clear that his fitness was not the reason for the under average performance in his 14th professional contest.
"My timing was bad but I stayed in there, I gritted down. It’s back to the drawing board, we’ll have a week off and then I’m off to MTK Marbella. I've had the British [title] for three years and no one will fight me for it, now everyone is going to want to fight me, which is good!"
Selby is open to defending the British flyweight title next, and his trainer alluded to looking towards the European belt, which is currently in possession of fellow countryman Jay Harris.