Derry Mathews has warned Curtis Woodhouse that he’ll be out of his depth when they clash for Derry’s Commonwealth Lightweight title at the sold-out Liverpool Olympia on Saturday night. The Liverpool man defends the belt for the first time after his dramatic tenth round KO of Tommy Coyle in Hull in July, and he predicts that knockout power will be too much for the Driffield challenger to handle.
“Curtis is a strong man with unbelievable desire but he’s swimming in the deep end now,” said Mathews. “He’s going to find out the hard way that championship class is a million miles away from anything that he’s used to.
“I’ve beaten guys who I know would do a good job on Curtis and that’s because I’m a fighter who has been fighting at title level for the majority of my career. I’ve won titles at all different kind of levels against guys who have competed at the very top of the game so this is like a Cup Final for Curtis. I admire him so much for what he’s done but this is going to end horribly for him.”
Mathews may feel Woodhouse is out of his depth on Merseyside, but the former Sheffield United midfielder says it’s his power that will be the lethal weapon on Saturday night.
“I’m a big Lightweight, make no mistake about it, I’m huge for the weight,” said Woodhouse. “I’ve been up at Welterweight and Light-Welter against big strong guys who can certainly be considered punchers and I’ve held my own with them.
“Although Derry is a class act who’s got a good record at Lightweight, I’m one million per cent confident that I’m getting in there and knocking him out and that’s my honest belief. This isn’t fighting talk for the sake it, I really believe that I’m getting in there in front of his home fans and knocking him out.”
Mathews’ clash with Woodhouse is one of two big Commonwealth crackers in Liverpool, with Rocky Fielding tackling Ghanaian Mohammed Akrong for the Super Middleweight title.
Liam Smith and Erick Ochieng clash for the vacant British Light Middleweight title, while the youngest Smith brother, Callum, faces Patrick Mendy for the vacant English Super Middleweight title, and Robbie Davies Jr., Steve Jones and Peter Spencer are all in four-round action.
