No, Cammarelle was the only time I ‘froze? It was a one off really, but what a time for it to happen.
I’d only been stopped once before in the amateurs, by Canada’s Bermane Stiverne in 2004. I was quite new to the England set-up back then, wasn’t that fit and just walked into a big right hand. It wobbled me and the ref stopped me on me feet.
Though I’d been down a few times in the amateurs, I’d always got up to win, which I like to think showed my grit and character. In the 2004 Europeans, I was only 20 - and a young 20 - when a good Norweigan called Andreas Barkhall, who’d previously stopped Robert Helenius, put me flat on my back with a big right hand. But I got up to drop him and beat him convincingly by about 10 points.
Probably the most notable time I was down, the one everyone keeps carping back too, was when that big Indian southpaw (Varghese Johnson) dropped me three times in the 2006 Commonwealth Games semi in Melbourne. I just wasn’t seeing his shots but my fitness pulled me through and I stopped him in the fourth (with just 12 seconds remaining).
The only other time I can think of was when Alan Kasango, an African representing Wales, steamed out swinging, and caught and dropped me with a left hook when I wasn’t concentrating in the opening round of the 2005 Four Nations. I got up to win that one on points. The Ukraine’s Vyacheslav Glazkov also stopped me at the Strandja Cup in Bulgaria but that was on that ****** 20 point ‘outclassed?ruling.
I’d only been stopped once before in the amateurs, by Canada’s Bermane Stiverne in 2004. I was quite new to the England set-up back then, wasn’t that fit and just walked into a big right hand. It wobbled me and the ref stopped me on me feet.
Though I’d been down a few times in the amateurs, I’d always got up to win, which I like to think showed my grit and character. In the 2004 Europeans, I was only 20 - and a young 20 - when a good Norweigan called Andreas Barkhall, who’d previously stopped Robert Helenius, put me flat on my back with a big right hand. But I got up to drop him and beat him convincingly by about 10 points.
Probably the most notable time I was down, the one everyone keeps carping back too, was when that big Indian southpaw (Varghese Johnson) dropped me three times in the 2006 Commonwealth Games semi in Melbourne. I just wasn’t seeing his shots but my fitness pulled me through and I stopped him in the fourth (with just 12 seconds remaining).
The only other time I can think of was when Alan Kasango, an African representing Wales, steamed out swinging, and caught and dropped me with a left hook when I wasn’t concentrating in the opening round of the 2005 Four Nations. I got up to win that one on points. The Ukraine’s Vyacheslav Glazkov also stopped me at the Strandja Cup in Bulgaria but that was on that ****** 20 point ‘outclassed?ruling.
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