Confident Keeler ready to “go through” Taylor in Dublin headline fight
Luke Keeler [11(5)-2(1)] is a qualified engineer and is looking to continue building tonight in Dublin.
The middleweight tops the Red Corner Promotions ‘Unfinished Business’ card at the National Stadium, taking on former English champion Lewis Taylor [19(3)-2(0)-1] over eight rounds.
The fight, which will take place at 164lbs as per Taylor’s request, is Keeler’s second since his high-profile explosive loss to Tom Doran on Sky Sports, and a win will push him right up the European rankings.
It is no gimme however, and the challenge posed by Taylor is a substantial one. A solid all-rounder, the Dronefield boxer has British title ambitions and a minor upset tonight will push him into the mix.
Keeler is not phased by challenge posed by the former Commonwealth title challenger. Indeed, ‘Cool Hand’ Luke believes that his opponent is Taylor-made for him, so to speak.
“I’ve seen bits of him,” Keeler told Irish-Boxing.com. “He does everything right, nothing spectacular. He’s the same every fight, he just boxes. He suits me.”
“I’ll do own thing. I want to put on a show and do well. I have the sharpness back so I just have to go through him now.”
While Taylor may not have a fearsome KO ratio, Keeler is wary of reverting to his old ways and looking for a tear-up. The Ballyfermot banger described how “I’m just going to stick to my boxing for the first four rounds then up the pace and hopefully break him down. I know I have it in the tank now, so if I see that he’s wilting I’ll load up and keep throwing.”
“If it comes it comes.”
It’s a second successive Red Corner headline gig for Keeler following his points win over Pryce, and a second successive eight rounder. The 29 year old is feeling comfortable with the number of rounds, noting how “it was a bit in the back of my mind [for the Pryce fight], I hadn’t done eight rounds before, the lay-off, camp wasn’t as good as this one.”
“I did the eight rounds comfortable enough but I still held back a bit because I didn’t know if I had it in me. I’m in a different position now, I’m going through the gears well in sparring.”
The last fight I was coming off a defeat, but this one is about keeping the ball rolling. If I win this it’ll be big, he’s known, he is a name, he’s ranked ahead of me on BoxRec, it’s a good fight.”
