Vengeful Matthew Tinker wants to ‘beat up Boxxer’s poster boy’ Dan Azeez

The tables have turned, Matthew Tinker [8(6)-0] is now the one on a revenge mission.

The former St Francis amateur feels wronged after his proposed Sky Sports fight with Dan Azeez [15(11)-0] was cancelled last minute and in a manner that left a sour taste.

As a result, New York based light heavyweight has a strong desire to ‘beat up Boxxer’s poster boy’ and wants the fight to be remade.

Tinker doesn’t want to point the finger of blame with regard to the fight being pulled by the BBBofC last month – but he is still smarting with how things were handled and wants retribution.

Speaking to Irish-boxing.com the Scarborough-born fighter revealed he wants to get even and fight his old amateur rival next.

“I don’t have a bad word to say about Azeez but I want to fight him but I want to beat up Boxers poster boy,” he says.

“In the short build up to this fight he kept saying how he wanted revenge from an amateur fight. Once this issue is cleared up, lets really see if he wants revenge or was he just happy to build the fight seeing me as a soft touch coming in on 12 days notice.

“For me, I want revenge now, revenge for all my friends who traveled from the States, Ireland and Yorkshire spending their hard-earned money for the fight not to go ahead.”

British Champion Azeez, who went on to defeat Reece Cartwright on the night he was due to fight Tinker, had expressed a real desire to avenge the amateur defeat the Golden Gloves champion and Irish National Elite finalist inflicted on him, suggesting it’s a fight that could be remade once paperwork issues are sorted.

However, Tinker isn’t sure Boxxer would risk giving him notice to fight one of their prized assests.

“I doubt it,” he responds when asked if he thinks he will get the call again.

“I got the impression that Boxxer thought that I was just showing up on 12 days notice to make the numbers up which is not the case at all.

“I don’t think they did their research and didn’t realize how known I was in London from my time spent there. For example, I showed up to find my old club mates Deion Jumah and Daniel Dubois from Dale Youth, who I’ve done a lot of rounds with, amongst others. I don’t think they realized that I’ve been around and boxed as much as I have.

Boxxer may not want it but according to Tinker there is an increased thirst for it among fight fans.

“I think a lot of people wanted to see this fight, now they really want to see it.”

They are unusually strong words from a fighter who is generally very reserved and anti any smack talk. It appears he is still upset with how the week played out.

Having accepted the fight at 12 days’ notice and just after finishing a shift on a nightclub door, Tinker traveled to England, partook in the final press conference, and only found out he wasn’t allowed fight when he turned up to weigh in.

“Absolutely gutting, I can’t really put it into words,” he reflects,

“I traveled from the States on 12 days’ notice, turned down other opportunities and ended up not fighting and getting no compensation for me or my team.

“I had no idea, none at all, that there might be an issue. I still thought I was fighting up until when I arrived at the weight in to see another fighter’s name and face replacing mine on the fight posters.”

The fight didn’t go ahead because the BBBofC found an issue with the brain scan, and many will argue they are obliged to take a safety-first approach.

Tinker doesn’t appear to argue with that logic but remains upset with how the whole affair was dealt with, particularly by Boxxer.

“I’m not going to start pointing fingers because that really won’t get me anywhere in this situation,” he continues.

“I respect how busy promoters are but I think this was handled very poorly with no communication. The fact that I had to do a last minute scan is poor too. I could have done either in the states before traveling or on Monday, as originally scheduled, when I arrived in the UK, not the Wednesday which was two days before the weigh in.”

The phrase ‘issue with the scan’ is one of the scariest in boxing. However, in the case of Tinker it’s more paperwork issue than a medical one.

He assures there is nothing to be concerned about health-wise.

“I have been told that there was an issue with my scan that was done in London on the Wednesday and the board didn’t have time to do the necessary reviews. I didn’t know at the time, but my team, who believed the fight was still on, were working in the background and had top neurologists from the US who work with athletes daily compare the latest scan with previous scans and they confirmed in writing that they saw no issue. So essentially, it was a paperwork issue as my team put forth the required documents.

“Over a week later, I’m still waiting to find out what the issue is and what steps I need to take next in order to fight in the UK. Hopefully I will hear back this week.”