Gary Lockett
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| Gary Lockett | |
 |
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| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Real name | Gary Lockett |
| Nickname(s) | Rocket Man, Pocket Rocket |
| Rated at | Middleweight |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Reach | 28.5 cm (11.22 in) |
| Nationality |  Welsh |
| Birth date | November 25, 1976 |
| Birth place | Pontypool, Wales |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 32 |
| Wins | 30 |
| Wins by KO | 21 |
| Losses | 2 |
| Draws | 0 |
| No contests | 0 |
Gary Lockett (born 25 November 1976) is a professional boxer from Cwmbran, Wales in the United Kingdom, who fights in the middleweight division.
[edit] Professional career
In his first professional fight in September 1996, Lockett defeated Ernie Loveridge by KO in the first round on a card that included Eamonn Magee, Andrew Murray, Jim Rock and Neil Sinclair.[1]
February 2002 saw Lockett fight WBA No.4 ranked Kevin Kelley for the WBO Intercontinental title. The Welshman came from the brink of being stopped with a badly cut eye to knockout Kelley with an overhand right in the 4th round.
In April 2002 Lockett suffered the first defeat of his professional career when he dropped a 12 round split decision to Yuri Tsarenko of Belarus, for the WBO Inter-Continental light middleweight title. Lockett gained revenge for this defeat with a 10 round points victory in a rematch in May 2003.[2]
After the Tsarenko rematch Locket continued his winning ways putting together a streak of 6 further victories over some lightly regarded fighters and journeymen when in March 2006 he faced off against Gilbert Eastman for the vacant WBU middleweight title. Lockett won the title in emphatic fashion with a first round TKO victory. He made his first defence of the belt against Ryan Rhodes in July 2006, winning a unanimous decision over 12 rounds. Since then he has made 1 further defence of his belt, a 3rd round TKO victory over Lee Blundell. These performances along with additional non title wins against Ayitey Powers and Kai Kauramaki led to Lockett being ranked as the #1 contender by the WBO for , their middleweight title.
It was announced on 13th March 2008 that Locket would be the next opponent for the unified WBC & WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik. The bout took place on June 7th, 2008 at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and as well as his WBC & WBO belts Pavlik’s Ring magazine belt was also on the line. [3]. Lockett was considered by many boxing pundits & fans to be a big underdog going into the fight and few predicted that he would even be able to last the distance let alone have a chance of winning. Ultimately this proved to be true and Lockett was unsuccessful in his attempt to take the titles away from Pavlik, hitting the canvas 3 times before his cornerman Enzo Calzaghe threw in the towel in round 3 to end the fight. [4]
[edit] References
- ^ "Lockett profile - Boxrec". Boxrec. Retrieved on 13 December 2007.
- ^ BBC SPORT | Boxing | Lockett gains sweet revenge
- ^ BBC SPORT | Boxing | Lockett lined up for Pavlik fight
- ^ BBC SPORT | Boxing | Lockett destroyed by Pavlik power
[edit] External links
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