Carl Ozimkowski is in tip-top condition for his big comeback
Carl Ozimkowski has put in the hardest training camp so far for his comeback fight on March 21st at York Hall to earn his first victory in four attempts as a professional boxer.
The night of championship boxing on March 21st titled ‘Best of Enemies’ features the highly anticipated rematch between Michael ‘The Look’ Lomax and Chas ‘Croydon Bomber’ Symonds for the British Masters Silver light-middleweight title.
The co-main event features ‘The Ace’ Andreas Evangelou v Marco Stephenson for the same honours at light-heavyweight. Polish welterweight Ozimkowski 0-3(1)-0 and has been training relentlessly for an entire year for this next fight since deciding to make a comeback to professional boxing last year. The home fighter faces opponent Paul O’Brien 0-2(1)-0 in a six round welterweight contest – both seeking their first win in the paid ranks.
“Definitely will get the win in March,” Coach Alec Wilkey confidently predicted. “We’re looking for big things from him, not this season but next season, we’ll be looking for titles.”
Known as ‘The Doctor’ he originally had his first spell in the pros back in 2008 suffering back-to-back defeats to two unbeaten prospects in African champion Badru Lusambya and Portsmouth’s Johnny Creamer.
After being mis-matched in his debut and arguably unfairly outpointed in the following contest, Ozimkowski went back to amateur boxing feeling disappointed with the pro game.
After rebuilding his confidence with a long stretch in the amateur circuit collecting many trophies and representing England on two occasions against Germany and Scotland, 'The Doctor' returned to professional boxing and established himself within The Lansbury ABC in Poplar, London and enlisted the help of Alec Wilkey as his first ever professional coach.
Suffering a further setback in his pro career in the comeback fight on November 29th, Ozimkowski was stunned by a first round KO defeat at the hands of journeyman Mick Mills 1(1)-5(3)-0.
On the ropes and under duress from Ozimkowski, the 28-year-old southpaw Mills from Gillingham threw a wild left hook into the air that landed cleanly on his attacker, thus scoring his first ever career win.
Coach Alec Wilkey commented on that punch, “We looked at the DVD of the fight a few times after and he rushed it, got carried away in the heat of the moment, even with all his experience he rushed everything, his hands were down and that kid won’t ever throw another punch like it!”
Highly respected trainer Alec Wilkey from The Lansbury ABC in Poplar trains Ozimkowki as well as an array of other exciting young fighters such as unbeaten welterweight southpaw Johnny Coyle who enjoyed Prizefighter glory in 2014.
“Getting KO’d in his last fight really stunned me, he’s such a good fighter but he boxed terrible. He’s never even sparred that bad before. Everybody was ringing me the next day saying they couldn’t believe it. He was doing ten rounds with John Wayne Hibbert in the gym who was getting ready for his WBC International title fight and he even text me the next morning saying that he was stunned.
“The positive is that it was a good learning fight. I did say before that the danger of this kid is that he can punch from anywhere,” said Wilkey.
On his Polish boxing pupil, he went on to comment, “He’s so dedicated, always at the gym early. He lives right, eats right, and trains right.”
Ozimkowski’s lives by his motto, “Don’t ever give up,” and was at the track the next morning with Alec and the team for Sunday morning sprints, already looking ahead to his next fight.
“That’s how good he is, he can do six rounders straight away. He needs to get his confidence back up now. He spars with great people but now it’s a mental thing, he can’t go in with someone that’s too tough.
“When Ozimkowski first came to Team Wilkey, there were inevitably a few bad habits from the amateur style to iron out,” Alec explained, “He’s not fighting like an amateur now. When I was fighting as an amateur, all those years ago, you could actually fight but now they’re like sword fencing, and he’s tall so he came in like a sword fencer, so we got him sitting on his punches more. Being a good amateur he had quick hands. There’s been a big change in him and he’s getting fitter all the time as he’s working to a programme. “Sometimes I have to say to him to have a rest, I can see his tired but he wants to keep going. He’ll say that he’s got to do something, a run, a few rounds on the bag but I’ll tell him not to and to get a day’s rest – that’s what a good trainer knows, if he looks sluggish in the gym then give him a day to rest. “There’s a danger that you can get too sharp, too quickly. It’s not all about what happens in the gym, you always get off days, days of not sparring well, but it’s how you do it on the night.”
In the ‘Best of Enemies’ headlining fight, the crowd-pleasing pair promise fireworks in their much debated rematch. The 36-year-old Londoner, Michael Lomax claimed the vacant British Masters light-middleweight Gold title on their last encounter in September 2014 winning on points over ten rounds at York Hall, Bethnal Green. Both fighters enter the contest off the back of a loss.
The elder of the Evangelou brothers Andreas ‘The Ace’ 10(2)-0-1 co-headlines the event. The unbeaten 31-year-old defends his International Masters honours against Jamaican Marco Stephenson in a ten round title fight at light-heavyweight.
Chief support to the action-packed main events sees Ryan ‘Crash Bang’ Taylor 9(3)-3(1)-1 bid for his second Masters belt as he goes for the vacant International Masters Bronze lightweight title in his second fight after signing with manager Steve Goodwin.
The youngest of the Evangelou duo Chris ‘The Flash’ 12(2)-3-0 also defends his International Masters welterweight title over ten rounds. The Enfield 28-year-old won his first ever title by defeating Croatian, Zoran Cvek at the York Hall on September 27th last year.
For tickets to the show call 07922 843 199 or visit http://carlthedoctor.com/ As well as standard unreserved and reserved ringside tickets there are also VIP tickets priced at £100 which includes a guaranteed reserved ringside seat in rows one and two together with a free private bar from 5pm until 7.30pm with food snacks included.
To follow Carl ‘The Doctor’ on Twitter click here @CarlTheDoctor
Carl would like to thank his sponsors; ID Block, No.1 Fitness, Body by Nature Supplements, Aggressive Art and PR Manager Tim Rickson