Middleweight prospect Taylor Bevan never thought he’d get to fight in his hometown stadium within his first 10 pro fights.
Bevan, promoted by Matchroom, boxes on the Queensberry Promotions bill at St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton on Saturday, when he faces Manchester-based Pole Ryszard Lewicki.
Bevan is 8-0 (8 KOs) and has caught the eye early on in his career. He is managed by popular Irishman Brian Peters, too.
“It’s very exciting to be boxing at home,” Bevan told BoxingScene. “I haven’t boxed in Southampton for years and it’s a good opportunity for friends and family to come and watch me box because, even in the amateurs, I was flying all over the world to box and people would have to watch me on the live streams and things. But yeah, I can’t wait to be back home. I think it’s going to be a bit of a weird experience, but I’m very excited about it.”
Southampton has not been a hotbed for professional boxing cards for years and it is the first boxing event outdoors in the stadium that is home to Southampton FC.
Top of the bill is local lad Ryan Garner, who meets Michael Magnesi for the vacant WBC interim super-featherweight title, and that has fast-tracked Bevan into a stadium fight he had not expected so soon in his career given it had been a long-term goal.
“No, definitely not. Not in the first couple of years as a pro,” he smiled. “It’s something you dream of down the line in future. But I’m so happy for the opportunity and grateful for the opportunity from Queensberry and for Matchroom for making it happen. I think boxing in Southampton is getting bigger and bigger. There’s a lot of top lads coming through like Ryan Garner, Louis Edmondson, Royston Barney-Smith, and numerous others. So boxing in Southampton is getting bigger and bigger. There haven’t been big shows there in recent years. Chris Billam-Smith’s done an amazing job bringing boxing down South with these shows that he’s had in Bournemouth. But boxing in Southampton has been very little, to be honest. I think if this show sells well, it’ll be the start of some big nights of boxing in Southampton. Hopefully Matchroom might even be able to have me headline a smaller show towards the end of the year or next year if things go well with my tickets. That’s something I’d hope would be on the cards as well.”
There are no feasible smaller indoor venues in the city, but Bevan mentioned the possibility of boxing at the ground of nearby Eastleigh Football Club, or at the Utilita Bowl, the cricket ground of Hampshire CC. It is there when his amateur boxing club, Poseidon, is situated, which adds to the appeal of a fight there.
After just eight fights, Bevan has made personnel changes to his team. He’s left Welsh stalwart Colin Jones and has moved to the Manchester Gym of Jamie Moore and Nigel Travis, which boasts Chantelle Cameron, Pat Brown, Dave Allen, and Aqib Fiaz.
“A lot of reasons really,” Bevan said, asked about the change. “But Jamie and Nigel are such experienced pro coaches that they have so much to learn off of them. Also, the gym environment, there’s so many top lads in the gym to learn off of and it’s a great gym environment. I don’t think there’s many gyms around the country that have an atmosphere like Jamie and Nigel’s just because there’s so many great, a proper mix of characters in the gym, but so many great characters.”
Bevan comes across as confident in his ability but comparatively shy. That is something he thinks might change being around the likes of Allen and Brown.
“A hundred percent. That’s something I’m sort of trying to lean into is hanging around with Dave Allen more because he’s sort of opposite end of the thing to me,” Bevan explained. “He’s very much out there and it’s opposite end of the chart for me. I’m used to training on my own and having quite a reclusive lifestyle really.
“But now I’m in a gym with amazing, loud characters like that, it’s definitely going to bring me out of myself and also improve my boxing because they’re further down the line than what I am. So I’ve got loads to learn off of them.”
He also believes the fighters in the gym now are closer than he was with many of his old amateur team-mates on the Great Britain squad.
“I think it feels more of a team setting the environment I’m in now because in the amateurs you’re part of a massive team but also you’re training alongside people who are the same weight as you,” he said. “You might have two or three others that are your competitors.
“So you have your cliques with certain people and you’re very close with certain people on the team but as a whole you’re always watching what someone else is doing and thinking I need to one-up them with certain things. In a pro gym you’re not really trying to one-up someone. You’re competitive with them and you want to push each other on in training but you want the best for them. You’re not trying to outdo them in terms of getting selected for a team or something like that. You’re not thinking, ‘Am I the coach’s favourite’ because you don’t really care. You want them to do as well as you do. They’re not a competitor of yours. I much prefer the environment I’m in now.”
Bevan is also keeping a close watch on some of his old amateur rivals and their journey in the pros, including Aaron Bowen and Sam Hickey.
“I think everyone’s on their own path. I just take it one fight at a time at the moment,” he said.
“It’s good to compare yourself with people that you’ve been amateur with just to see how you’re doing. But I also want the best for them because I’d say they’re mates of mine as well. But the paths might end up crossing down the line – but I do just take it one fight at a time.”
