Maxwell: Im bring Rose's title back to Birmingham !
25.01.12
Max Maxwell; “I’m bringing the title home to Birmingham”
By Michael J Jones
BIRMINGHAM bruiser Max Maxwell is raring to go ahead of his British title shot at old foe Brian Rose. Speaking exclusively to Livefight, the 32-year-old oozed confidence with ten weeks still remaining to the domestic dust-up, a rematch of Maxwell’s spectacular six-round knockout 19 months ago. That fight saw the then-unbeaten Rose build a tight lead on the scorecards before a huge right-hand flattened the Blackpool prospect. It is to-date by-far Maxwell’s biggest win in an otherwise patchy career that has seen the Birmingham-based warhorse lose many close decisions on the road.
After claiming his finest victory, former Midlands champion Maxwell endured a disappointing 2011. Whilst Rose bounced back from his lone loss with title-winning efforts for first the English belt, and then an impressive dethroning of in-form domestic champion Prince Aaron, Maxwell suffered a controversial first-round stoppage to Welsh prospect Tom Doran. It was a bitter pill to swallow for the proud contender, who had dropped and rocked the Hatton-promoted prospect moments before being stopped on his feet. Maxwell calls it “the worst decision I’ve ever suffered in my life.”
In the weeks following Rose’s win over Aaron the new champion made it clear who he wanted his first defence to be against, even announcing his intentions on social network site Facebook. The fight tops the bill in Rose’s hometown of Blackpool on March 31.
“I take my hat off to Brian Rose, I was a bit surprised to get a shot at him, but I give him respect for giving me this chance. I’m very happy he asked for this fight. He wants to prove himself the best in the division, starting with me” acknowledges Max.
Max, 15-10-3 (3), hasn’t hit fully-intense training as of yet with over two months to go. The well-conditioned challenger is mindful of peaking at the right time, the Birmingham-based Jamaican rarely gets anywhere near this amount of notice before a fight.
The former Prizefighter semi-finalist was impressed with the champion’s British title-winning performance against Aaron. “It was a great win for Brian; he boxed (Aaron’s) socks off. I really didn’t think he’d win beforehand but it was very impressive from him” said Jon Pegg-trained Maxwell, who has also fought Aaron twice (drawing once and losing the return).
Max is predictably not daunted by facing Rose on his home turf, the tough veteran has rarely fought local to his native Birmingham; a fact that could explain so many controversial decision losses on his record.
“When I fight away from home, there’s no pressure on me” explains Max, “when I beat Rose, I’ll bring the title to Birmingham and then I’ll fight there.”
Does Max think that he can stop an improved and more confident Rose? “At the end of the day, it’s not about knocking him out it’s about taking that title by any means necessary. I’m going to be training hard, whether it goes one round or twelve, I’ll be fit to do a hard twelve-round fight come the end of March” promises the confident contender.
Despite their previous meeting, Brian Rose at 18-1-1 (5), coming off the best win of his career, with home-advantage and six years the younger-man, is a difficult proposition. Most neutral experts would bet their money on the younger, taller champion to box his way to a points decision, but one can never quite write off the grizzled veteran.
“I’m coming to win. I’m not going to say I’ll stop him or anything like that. It will be a hard fight where we both give 100% but I’m going to win that belt and bring it to Birmingham. I can’t wait for the fight, I’m very confident of victory.”
Max Maxwell has done things the hard way; it would be a real Cinderella story if he were to upset Brian Rose a second time. Whether “Mad Max” wins or loses we can be assured, as always, he would have given everything in pursuit of victory.
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