Frankie Gavin expecting to outbox Sam Eggington

Frankie Gavin [23(14)-2(1)] believes that his Birmingham derby this weekend against Sam Eggington [18(10)-3(0)] will be another example of the old adage that ‘a good boxer beats a good fighter.’

The former Irish light welter champ finally takes on ‘The Savage’ on Saturday, 11 months later than previously planned, at the Barclaycard Arena with the rankings-enhancing WBC International title on the line.

At 31 years old, the fight is something of a do-or-die affair for former World title challenger Gavin, but he is supremely confident of the win/

Gavin pointed to Eggington’s bout with Bradley Skeete this March. Skeete [who had previously been beaten by Gavin] outsmarted and outpointed Eggington to take his Commonwealth and British titles.

The 2007 World amateur champion, feels that Saturday’s bout will follow a similar pattern, telling Sky Sports how “I know people will say it’s a completely different fight but it’s not completely different [in terms of style], it’s just I am a better boxer than Skeete; I’m harder to hit than Skeete.”

“This is going to be a good night for Frankie Gavin.”

The local derby has had a testy build up, with 23 year old Eggington taking umbrage with some of Gavin’s comments which he construed as an accusation of stupidity.

Gavin however clarified how “when I said about him being dumb, I didn’t mean about him being dumb as a person, I just meant boxing wise.”

“I don’t think he’s got a very good boxing IQ. I think it’s very low. He’s very poor technically and I still stick to that.”

“I don’t think he can change. I remember talking to his coaches, when the fight was never on and we said things like ‘you know what you’ll get with Sam.’ I don’t think he can change much.”