Windle: I want Euro light-flyweight belt

Matt Windle...still chasing glory at lowest weight division

AT the age of 34, the remarkable Matt Windle – the game’s only professional poet – has stressed he’ll continue to chase titles at boxing’s basement weight, light-fly.

He was Britain’s first Commonwealth champ in the division and now wants to be the first to claim a European belt at 7st 10lbs.

Matt’s commitment to light-fly appears at odds with trainer Spencer McCracken’s comments in June. He told me then: “I don’t want to see him at light-fly for one reason – he can make it for a fight and need another six months to make it again. You’d have three training camps a year and that would be it. It’s not realistic.”

Making the poundage won’t be any easier for Birmingham’s Windle after a long break following his Commonwealth title stoppage loss to Craig Derbyshire last December.

And he admitted: “I haven’t been on the scales. If I did, I’d probably be on Amazon buying a three-legged chair and rope.”

It has, however, been a fulfilling, busy year, much of it spent in Barrow, Cumbria, as part of an arts project helping men suffering mental health problems.

“We had a poetry night and there were working class men performing who if you’d told them at the start they’d be on stage reciting poetry, they would never have believed you,” said Matt.

“I haven’t had a chance to commit to training, I’ve had to think about what pays the mortgage.”

The Rhyming Rocky plans to shed ring rust with an undemanding four or six rounder early next year – and he admits that will be well above the flyweight limit.

After that’ll he’ll begin the grind down to light-fly for titles.

“I’ve always said if you’re not an EBU European champion, you’re not European champion,” said Matt.

“But my thinking is, because the EBU don’t recognise the light-flyweight division, any European title you collect is the European title by default.

“Blow away the cobwebs, get a win and go for a WBF European title, for example. Ninety-eight per cent of the population don’t know the difference between the EBU, WBO, IBF or WBF European titles.”

Windle has certainly trampled on the accepted “norms” during his 14 fight career. For starters, he’s a poet.

He didn’t move to light-fly until he was 30 – an age when most boxers are moving up in weight.

He rose from nowhere to challenge for British and European titles at fly and, at light-fly, halted South African Siphelele Myeza for the Commonwealth crown in 2022.

Add to the mix the fact Windle was an amateur champion in 2012 at featherweight – five professional weight division below where he competes today – and you have a pretty amazing ring story.

Windle said: “Look at my title fights at flyweight and look at my title fights at light-flyweight. You can see the flyweights are all bigger than me, the light-flys are the same size.

“If I can make weight 100 per cent the correct way and still struggle (in the ring) I’ll know I need to knock it on the head. Next year will be a big year as far as assessing my future.”

He added: “I need to fight again to put the last performance to bed (the loss to Derbyshire) because I knew it wasn’t me in the ring, everyone who saw it knew it wasn’t me in the ring.”