Boxing: CIA date set for Rees to defend title

Feb 7 2008 by Gareth Jones, South Wales Echo

GAVIN Rees will make the first defence of his WBA light-welterweight title against mandatory challenger Andreas Kotelnik on March 22 at Cardiff International Arena, the venue which saw him upset Souleymane Mbaye last July.

Promoters Sports Network, after considering taking the fight to Newport – nearer to Rees’s Newbridge base – have finally opted for the larger CIA.

And the 27-year-old Welshman is taking encouragement from the achievements of the rugby boys at Twickenham.

“For a small country, we don’t do bad at sport,” he says. “My gym mates Enzo Maccarinelli and Joe Calzaghe have got massive fights either side of mine and I’ll do the business in the second leg of what’ll be a glorious hat-trick.”

German-based Ukrainian Kotelnik was widely considered unlucky to get no more than a draw when he challenged Mbaye in Liverpool last March and his only defeats have been on points to Mbaye, in Paris, and to current WBC boss Junior Witter.

“It took so long to win this title, I’m not giving it up in my first defence,” vows Rees. “Beating Mbaye was a massive shock to many people, but not to me.”

Cwmbran middle Gary Lockett, waiting for his mandatory shot at the WBO belt, will keep in trim with an international 10-rounder, while the undercard will also feature a potential cracker for the vacant Welsh welter title between Rhondda boy Barrie Jones and Pontypool puncher Tony Doherty.