THOMAS STALKER, the captain of Britainโs last Olympic team, suffered a devastating defeat when he fought Jack Catterall in October. To rebuild he has joined forces with trainer Danny Vaughan.
โNothing went right for me. I was just ashamed at how bad I boxed,โ Stalker said of the loss. โBut its not like Iโm not with [Seamus Macklin] now I got beat. He didnโt have the time as much, heโs based back in Birmingham. Iโm staying in Marbella. Iโm happy Iโm with Danny Vaughan. Iโve got a big year coming up. Iโm trying to do lightweight as well for this fight. Iโm going to weigh at 9st 12lbs and see how I feel.โ
Heโll be doing his strength, conditioning and nutrition with Jason Lowndes, aka โThe Taffanatorโ. โI didnโt diet in camp,โ Stalker explained. โI was three pounds over on the morning of the weigh in. I ended up going two pounds underโฆ Itโs my own fault. Thatโs not why I got beat. Obviously I didnโt turn up on the day, I boxed terrible. Itโs a learning curve now.
โTaffโs done my diet plan now. He does all my food. So itโs nice to have a plan and see the weight gradually coming off.โ
Thomas insists, โI got beat by the better man on the day but Iโm just saying youโve got to take everything seriousโฆ Every time we sparred I thought I was the better boxer but in the fight I just couldnโt get away from his jab. I was getting hit with everything.
โI have good timing but his timing was a lot better, he was beating me to the punch and that doesnโt really happen with me. But it happened in the fight.
โYouโve got to give respect to Jack and he did really well in the fight.โ
Catterall will continue to work his way up the rankings. He boxes Cesar David Inalef on the March 6 bill headlined by Paul Butler at the Echo Arena in Liverpool. Stalker will fight on the same show against Michael Mooney.
โItโs an up and down sport but nothing went right for me on the night. Iโm going to come back from it,โ Thomas promised. โIโve got a great team behind me, great people behind me. Itโs just rebounding back now and getting back to the top. Derry Mathews has lost nine fights, heโs now fighting for a world title. Thatโs inspiration to never give up and always stick with it, that says it all really.โ
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