Darren Tetley: Bring on the big fights!
Darren Tetley says that last year's Fight of the Year contender with Liam Taylor has given him a new lease of life – as he prepares to take on Samuel Antwi for the vacant English welterweight title on next week's huge #MTKFightNight.
Tetley (20-1, 9 KOs) faces Antwi (12-1, 5 KOs) at the University of Bolton Stadium on Friday 19 February, live in the US on ESPN+ in association with Top Rank, and worldwide on IFL TV.
The Bradford boxer received high praise for his efforts in the fight with Taylor, and he now wants to kick on and continue to put in similar performances for years to come, starting with his showdown with Antwi.
Tetley said:"I'm over the moon with this fight. Not only is it a big fight, it’s for a title too which was a nice surprise after coming off a loss, so I can’t wait.
"I was taken aback from all of the feedback from the Liam Taylor fight. Obviously I hadn’t lost for around 10 years so it was a worry on how it would affect my boxing and stuff like that, but as soon as I got out of ring you had everyone in the venue saying what a fantastic fight it was, so that was a massive appreciation.
"You could say that it's made me even hungrier. I just want to be in big fights. After my two TV fights have been Fight of the Year contenders, these are the fights I want to be in.
"I’ve seen little bits of Antwi and I’ve seen some stuff that I can work on. I think he's going to be very tricky and awkward with the style he has, but I think after few rounds it will turn into my fight."
Elsewhere on next week's huge card, Sean McComb and Gavin Gwynne meet for the vacant Commonwealth lightweight title, DP Carr defends his Southern Area super-featherweight title against Dean Dodge, Pierce O'Leary fights Irvin Magno, Mark McKeown takes on Brad Daws, Paddy Donovan returns, and Mohammed Sameer is back in action.