JEAMIE TKV has put the frustrations of fights against David Adeleye and Dave Allen falling through to concentrate on becoming British heavyweight champion.
The 31-year-old gets a second crack on October 25 when he and Frazer Clarke battle it out for the vacant belt. It’s a significant occasion for promoters Boxxer as well who begin their broadcasting agreement with BBC which will show Clarke vs TKV live on terrestrial UK channel BBC2.
TKV’s first bid to win the Lonsdale belt came in April when referee Ron Kearney controversially stopped the fight in round six. Since then TKV, 8-2 (5 KOs), has seen Adeleye vacate the title and move on to world-level against Filip Hrgovic – a fight which ended in a points win for the Croat two months ago.
“Everyone knew what happened with Adeleye, but then I was supposed to fight Dave Allen,” he told Boxing News.
“He signed, I signed – that fight was going to 100% happen on October [11], the date that he’s fighting. But the [British Boxing] Board ordered Frazer to fight me for the British title.”
The events surrounding the defeat to Adeleye left a bitter taste in many mouths, not least TKV who was annoyed not to get a rematch.
“I was definitely p****d off when I saw that he was moving on and vacating the belt. Just got to win the British and then we can circle back.”
Allen, who faces Arslanbek Makhmudov next weekend, is still a target of TKV’s. However, the Londoner has disputed Eddie Hearn’s claims that TKV’s promoter Ben Shalom pulled the plug on the Allen fight.
“It wasn’t Ben Shalom,” he said.
“He agreed for me to fight Dave Allen, but the Board decided I should fight Clarke for the [British] title.”
TKV and Clarke, 9-1-1 (7 KOs), have had their own little rivalry brewing in recent years and their fight later this month is a perfect way to end matters.
“It was definitely going to happen. It was just whoever got in the best position. If Frazer had won the British title [I] probably would have fought him.”
Asked what would be the key to beating the Olympic medallist, TKV said: “Just show up and turn up.”
