Unbeaten middleweight boxer Dean Gillen (1-0) from Arnold, Nottingham opposes the seasoned Lewis van Poetsch (4-25-1) in his second professional contest on September 26th at Chilwell Olympia Sports Centre in Nottinghamshire.
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‘Deano’ flying high
The 25-year-old journeyman known as ‘Poochi’ was defeated by Sonny Upton (8-2) on points at the York Hall last weekend and has also taken former British welterweight champion Curtis Woodhouse and Prizefighter winner Johnny Coyle the distance, losing on points.
A daunting statistic for ‘Deano’, who doubles up as a firefighter, is that the journeyman’s last victory came against a home fighter with a 1-0 record.
The 33-year-old commented, “I do know about that stat because I was there that night watching at ringside. He beat a lad from Carl Greaves Promotions Gym – Moses Smith.
“I should have been fighting on the show that night but my pro license was delayed.”
The travelling boxer who operates at multi-weight divisions managed to edge the score at 39-38 to rack up his fourth win on his record at the expense of the favoured home fighter in March this year at Meres Leisure Centre, Grantham.
Finally making his pro bow on May 23rd after a couple of false starts, Gillen defeated a fellow debutant in Sheffield’s 31-year-old Shaun White at the Britannia Hotel in Nottingham in a hard fought battle that saw the home fighter win 39-37 on points.
Improvements and preparation
‘Deano’ commented on what improvements the crowd could see this time out, “You’ll see me with more aggression, even though the last one was a war, I couldn’t let loose because I didn’t have the fitness to keep it up.
“I was wobbling a bit with not being able to catch my breath as I was only at 80% going into the fight.
“Now, I’m doing eight rounds with my teammates Moses Smith, Nathan McIntosh, and Daryl Baptist.
“Every one of us has developed so much, at the moment, we are getting more one-on-one time with trainers Andrew Lowe and Carl Greaves and creating a stronger bond.”
Gillen trains with trainer Andrew Lowe in manager Carl Greaves’ Newark gym.
Due to his profession as a firefighter at Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, Gillen had suffered from smoke inhalation going into his pro bow earlier this year.
“Since my last fight, I’ve moved to office shifts and just got out of the smoke and hazardous situations for a bit. I’m now promoting fire safety in schools and the community and I’ll be hoping to promote health and fitness also, which gives me more time and energy for training.
“From my recent fitness test, I got a great score. It was 69 VO2max – that’s off the chart! A score of 55 is deemed as excellent on the scale but for my last fight my rating was poor, and I noticed when comparing stats that David Beckham’s was 67 when he was playing.”
“Everybody who knows me will say that my fitness is my best strength, my toughness gets me through the first few rounds, and I’ve got mental toughness to stick with them even though a lot of other boxers can be technically better than me with their years of experience – I know that.”
Late bloomer
Gillen joined the pro ranks late at the age of 32 with little amateur experience, only competing in the World Police and Firefighter Games in Belfast in 2013, stopping all opponents en route to winning gold.
The competition is a biennial athletic event attracting 10,000 applicants, just slightly less than the Olympic Games.
Without much of a boxing background, the firefighting pugilist has not developed a large fan base yet, consequently struggling to sell many tickets for his next fight.
“The thing is with this one is that tickets haven’t been great,” he simplified. “I might have a couple of away fights after this because I don’t expect to sell tickets before or even after Christmas now.
“I don’t mind fighting away because I’m fit anyway so I won’t be getting caught short in that respect. I know that I will have to work even harder for the win but I’ve got the fitness and mental strength.
“For the next home show, I’ll be looking at March.”
Promoter Carl Greaves manages in excess of 50 professional boxers ranging from journeymen to Commonwealth champions.
“He’s happy for me to hit the road for a bit both in business terms and for experience, it’s a gamble fighting away at my age as it could go against me when trying to get a title shot.”
Card rundown
In the main event, Merseysider Robbie Davies Jnr. (9-0) takes on Georgian boxer Mikheil Avakyan (31-21-4) in an eight round light-welterweight contest.24-year-old flyweight Jamie Williams (5-1) has a six round contest against Georgi Georgiev (1-1).
Middleweight Daryl Baptist (4-1) gets a four round run out against journeyman Robert Studzinski (3-22).
Nottingham’s Nathan McIntosh (7-0) goes up against Yorkshire’s Danny Little (3-10-2) in a four round welterweight bout.
Nathan Kirk (5-1) from Nottingham has four-rounder boked with Sheffield’s Qasim Hussein (2-37-2).
Newark’s Moses Smith will be looking to bounce back from his previous loss to Gillen’s opponent Lewis van Poetsch against 35-year-old James Conroy (1-6) over four rounds at middleweight.
Debutant Corey Jackson kicks off his pro career at the age of 28 against 29-year-old Dan Foster from Sheffield over four rounds at light-heavyweight.
Gillen concluded, “If all the local people can get behind me for this show, you can get tickets from me on 07909 045477 or from The Townhouse Bar & Kitchen in Arnold or from Jacks of London in Nottingham.”
(Image courtesy of Tim Rickson)
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