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Search forStep up in weight suits city's Drake
Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 07:00
Drake certainly looked impressive in ending Leicester opponent Simon Fleck's resistance, midway through their scheduled six-rounder at the Guildhall last Saturday.
The Plymothian avenged a draw with Fleck in the latter's home city last year, and also helped erase the memory of Drake's first-round defeat to Taz Jones at the Guildhall back in June.
Welshman Jones ended Drake's bid to win the international light middleweight masters title in just over two minutes.
But this time it was Drake's turn to force the referee to step in on Fleck's behalf, less than a minute into the third round.
It was a win-win situation for the 33-year-old, who insists he feels far more comfortable and confident at the 11stone 6lb weight limit.
He said: "I'd stepped up for this fight (with Fleck) and hopefully, this has shown what I can do when I feel right.
"To be honest, I felt I'd beaten Fleck when we fought last time, so I didn't want to leave it to chance in how the referee was going to score the bout.
"Obviously, being in Plymouth with all the local support helps, but I felt much more comfortable at middleweight.
"I'm just glad to bounce back from my previous fight with Jones, because I knew that wasn't the real me in the ring that night.
"I'm just a lot happier at middleweight."
However, David 'Dezzy' O'Connor insisted he is not entirely happy, despite gaining a points victory last Saturday.
O'Connor and trainer Dave Smith felt opponent Ibrar Riyaz's weight advantage had given the city star too much to do on the night.
The 24-year-old had weighed in at 9st 7lb for the six-round lightweight bout while Reading's Riyaz tipped the scales four pounds heavier.
O'Connor was awarded a narrow 58-57 points win over Reading's Riyaz by referee Reece Carter, which seemed overly-generous, although the Plymouth camp were delighted to take it.
"To be honest, I'd have taken a draw – I didn't fight at my best, I know that," said O'Connor.
"But, then again, given how much heavier he was than me coming into the fight, I felt at a disadvantage to start with."
Smith added: "It was a tough fight for Dezzy, made harder because he (Riyaz) came in a lot heavier than we'd expected."
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