Sprott wins Prizefighter
Michael Sprott trod the fickle line between heavyweight world title contender and domestic oblivion and came out triumphant as he won the latest incarnation of Prizefighter.
Sprott was the man who fell to Audley Harrison in April during a European title bout which subsequently turned in to a WBA title eliminator. Sprott was about two minutes away from ending the career of the former Olympian but a zipping straight left saw him meet the canvas in the cruellest of fashion. Harrison, who only got that EBU tilt thanks to a triumphant Prizefighter, has now gone off for a huge payday while Sprott was thrown back into the rough domestic sea.
Prizefighter has provided an escape route from the scrapheap and Sprott’s career is now revived thanks to a unanimous decision win over Matt Skelton in the final. However in truth this was a poor Prizefighter, a sluggish showing from the heavyweights with little quality to write home about.
Former Mike Tyson destroyer Kevin McBride wobbled his way to the semi-final with an unconvincing victory over Franklin Egobi, before Matt Skelton hugged his way past him in a bout of clinching and flab which bizarrely saw Skelton dropped, but the ref didn’t bother to count for some reason.
Sprott had seen off Danny Hughes in straightforward enough fashion in his opener before taking on Shane McPhilbin who had scored the only knockout of the night in his opening fight against Declan Timlin.
The Reading man saw off Timlin in yet another uninspiring contest setting up a final with Skelton, their third ever clash. Anyone who saw these two in action in 2007 or the one in 2004 would know what to expect from this, a lot of clinching a lot of slugging and little technique and that’s what was on show for third instalment.
Sprott landed the better punches despite Skelton being the aggressor. The Berkshire fighter stayed behind his jab and despite a slight wobble late on he was able to take a split decision.
Where Sprott goes from here it’s hard to say, he’s been written off and come back countless times. He seems to have a syndrome where he is too good for the domestic circuit but doesn’t know what to do to advance to the next level. An EBU title could be in the offing but, as Harrison proves, the dearth of quality in the heavyweights is so bad that a European strap isn’t that much better than a British belt these days and Sprott may as well aim for the world.
With Harrison fighting Haye and Derek Chisora getting Wladimir Klitschko just off the back of a British belt it wouldn’t actually be a surprise to see Sprott get some sort of title shot in the future. The only thing counting against him is his poor record which boats 15 defeats, but certainly an EBU shot at the very least.
He may not be from the Muhammad Ali school of heavyweights but there’s no doubt he has the ability to cause his rivals a Sprott of bother.
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