The Decline of Frankie Gavin?

Ever since the Michael Lomax fight,Frankie Gavin has looked average. A good but not great performance against Young Mutley was then followed up by a disappointing SD win against Curtis Woodhouse. A fight which could of went either way.

Is this the decline of Frankie Gavin? Is he not going to be the excellent fighter everyone expects him to be or is he just well struggling to make the weight. After last nights performance he needs to think where his future's at. Are we seeing the start of the end for Frankie Gavin?

Just a young kid who has to bed down and he will......

wow two fights and we are talking of a decline????

The kid's career has only just started.....Once he matures which he will then he'll show his class....

Look's a good kid...Don't over react..

Agree with Truss to an extent, and Gavin is still learning the professional game.

It isn't his skill set that concerns me, it is his apparent lack of dedication. There is no reason for a fresh young fighter not to be in seriously good condition. Gavin looks fleshy, is far from ripped, and just doesn't seem to be taking things all that seriously. Now is the time for laying the foundations for the rest of your career, and he should not be slacking or cutting any corners whatsoever.

Let's take Prince Naseem Hamed for example, sure he started cutting corners toward the latter stages of his career, but in the early days he was as dedicated as anyone could ever be, by all accounts, despite his obvious talent.

I have to agree with TRUSS. He is learning the trade at the moment. Jury is still out for me with Gavin but what I have seen of him suggests he has a lot in the locker. Maybe he needs more motivation. Come on Warren do your job.

His application to the game is worrying. He is looking fleshy and the fact a LWW couldnt make 10st 4lb is a worry. Woodhouse is a decent pro but is the type of fight a talent like Gavin needs to excel in.

Needs to take a look at this setup and re-focus his energy and start trying.

Don't totally agree, Truss. He has performed feebly recently, considering the talent that he has at his disposal. He is still not in control of his weight, it would seem, and shows all the signs of a fighter who is cutting corners.

You seem to take it as a given that he will mature, but we've all seen the crackerjacks who never quite do, who squander the God-given ability. The recent decline has to be called just that, when compared to earlier performances. Not too late for him to do what we all expect, but i) it has to be at 140 - he is in no way a welter just now ii) a bit of proper Spartan living is required iii) let's have a proper focus on his job, not on manufacturing synthetic feuds with fighters who should be leagues below him.

Got to say I agree with Fists re the dedication. What really concerns me is you would have hoped the Mutley fight would have been the wake up call but last night would suggest not. Looked fleshy to me. Really hope he sorts himself out as he has genuine talent but it is nothing if not coupled with the right approach.

I think he's relying too much on his talent at the moment, hopefully the fight last night made him realise he need's to go back down and start cutting weight. He's not big enough yet for that weight, and may never be.

Have to agree with the article's general jist, and I don't think Gavin should be given a free pass just for being 'young' or because he's still 'learning the professional game.' Learning with each fight, yes, of that I'm sure. But being dedicated and in top shape for each outing isn't something to be learned as you go along - it should be something which was drilled in to him a long time ago.

Not sure why some people seem so sure that he's suddenly going to become the model professional further down the line, either. He has no God-given right to only take it one hundred percent seriously for the big fights and the big fights only. It's that kind of complacency which has, in part, left us questioning his future right now.

He has time on his side, but I don't care how young or talented he is, he needs to start taking the less glamorous side of the game more seriously, otherwise he'll be a tragic 'what if' case.

dont think the dedication thing is a recent thing, he missed his weight for the olympics, which would have been the biggest thing in his boxing career. if he cant get up for that then i doubt anything else will, especially fighting some of the tin cans warren will feed him.

problem sometimes with warren is that talent can stagnate after being fed so much rubbish, add to gavins seemingly lack of motivation and cant see gavin making world level at this rate. might take a big loss like khans v prescott to make him oull his finger out, but i doubt it. seems like he's a boxer who's just there to make a bit of money not because he loves it or wants to be the best

compelling and rich wrote:dont think the dedication thing is a recent thing, he missed his weight for the olympics, which would have been the biggest thing in his boxing career. if he cant get up for that then i doubt anything else will, especially fighting some of the tin cans warren will feed him.

problem sometimes with warren is that talent can stagnate after being fed so much rubbish, add to gavins seemingly lack of motivation and cant see gavin making world level at this rate. might take a big loss like khans v prescott to make him oull his finger out, but i doubt it. seems like he's a boxer who's just there to make a bit of money not because he loves it or wants to be the best

Good point about the Olympics Rich, he's not exactly standing there like Johnny Owen, what must his team be doing, cutting weight is a major part of the professional game.

Wonder if it's because he feels he's above these fights...

compelling and rich wrote:dont think the dedication thing is a recent thing, he missed his weight for the olympics, which would have been the biggest thing in his boxing career. if he cant get up for that then i doubt anything else will, especially fighting some of the tin cans warren will feed him.

problem sometimes with warren is that talent can stagnate after being fed so much rubbish, add to gavins seemingly lack of motivation and cant see gavin making world level at this rate. might take a big loss like khans v prescott to make him oull his finger out, but i doubt it. seems like he's a boxer who's just there to make a bit of money not because he loves it or wants to be the best

I could be wrong on this, but with the Olympics I think the problem was Gavin was unable to maintain the weight for the duration of the tournament. I think every fighter had to weigh under the limit for the entire tournament, but he had outgrown the weight. Supposedly he would have been risking his health had he tried to do so.

The Olympics wasn't his fault. He had been campaigning at LWW, they tried to drop him down to LW so Saunders could compete at LWW and they would have another medal hope, and he couldn't make it.

Scottrf wrote:The Olympics wasn't his fault. He had been campaigning at LWW, they tried to drop him down to LW so Saunders could compete at LWW and they would have another medal hope, and he couldn't make it.

Dont think the olympic team would have risked there best medal hope if they didn't think he could make the weight, he didn't. None of us know why, but at least some surely must be at gavins feet, I just cant imagine the olympic team making such a risk

compelling and rich wrote:

Scottrf wrote:The Olympics wasn't his fault. He had been campaigning at LWW, they tried to drop him down to LW so Saunders could compete at LWW and they would have another medal hope, and he couldn't make it.

Dont think the olympic team would have risked there best medal hope if they didn't think he could make the weight, he didn't. None of us know why, but at least some surely must be at gavins feet, I just cant imagine the olympic team making such a risk

They must have thought he could, but it was a risk. A lot of people in the know have said Gavin was always unlikely to make it. I don't believe he had competed there in close to a year.

I don't think that Gavin is on the decline, but I do think he has been overrated somewhat he was thought as a model professional, a fridge contender, but before lomax he was still a hot prospect. He is still young enough to make a impact on the world scene.

Two unconvincing wins against 2 poor opponents isn't good though. Although to date lomas was his standout win which was at Welter, I think it's either LWW or nothing. His lack of discipline is a but worrying and his evident weight problems from the Olympic days is a definite problem. He was fleshy, his reflexes weren't there and he doesn't seem to go up the gears very well.

He needs to become focused and look for opponents who can beat him so he doesn't receive criticism as he struggled to beat journeymen.

Scottrf wrote:

compelling and rich wrote:

Scottrf wrote:The Olympics wasn't his fault. He had been campaigning at LWW, they tried to drop him down to LW so Saunders could compete at LWW and they would have another medal hope, and he couldn't make it.

Dont think the olympic team would have risked there best medal hope if they didn't think he could make the weight, he didn't. None of us know why, but at least some surely must be at gavins feet, I just cant imagine the olympic team making such a risk

They must have thought he could, but it was a risk. A lot of people in the know have said Gavin was always unlikely to make it. I don't believe he had competed there in close to a year.

Gavin won the World Championship at lightweight in 2007, but subsequently competed in the 2008 EU Championships as a light welter. Seems strange he was allowed to compete at this weight in the last major tournament before the Olympics, if he could make the lightweight limit. Personally I feel it was a case of team GB getting greedy and trying to have as many medal hopes as possible.

Decline is the wrong word to use, but clearly he isn't looking trim at all and he looks a bit fleshy and clearly isn't giving his opponents enough respect, he doesn't have to be going 12 rounds with Woodhouse and to have it that close by the end is a bit of a joke to be honest given how talented one is and how limited the other is.
I watched him box on his debut the other night on BoxNation (Sky Channel 456) and he was in FAR better condition and looked relatively muscular so he clearly he's been having a bit of a pie eating contest with himself and he doesn't need to do a Ricky Fatton at the start of his career, and difference was with Ricky that he always got himself into the best possible shape he could for fights, he just doesn't look up for being a top contender at the moment and would be blown away at world level right now for all the talent he's got so he just isn't close to it, needs to work so much harder than he is. Someone needs to really have a heart to heart with him and set him straight... Easier said than done, some people just don't have the mentality for training day in day out.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Just a young kid who has to bed down and he will......

wow two fights and we are talking of a decline????

The kid's career has only just started.....Once he matures which he will then he'll show his class....

Look's a good kid...Don't over react..

He's not a kid he's 25....the same age as Mitchell was when he lacked dedication and was absolutely slated by everyone....

Fighting a genuinely poor fighter in Woodhouse and struggling like that.....worrying

He got caught far too easy off a footballer who's technique's truely terrible.....

Has to lose weight and move down fast.....claims he's growing....he's not a WW, end of story....a lightweight he looks like but will probably be better suited to lww.....

Why do you insist on jumping on every post I write??

Annoy someone who cares..

Yeah but difference is he hasn't had anywhere near as many fights as Mitchell had at that time. HE's still far more green than Mitchell was in terms of experience.

Also it ust seems his reflexes for his defense is soooo poor at the moment, the poor quality technique that Woodhouse has shouldn't be getting through and causing problems like that to an up an coming fighter.