same opponent and was of course so close winning the coveted Lonsdale belt outright that it was a tough pill to swallow, Sykes took six months before returning to the ring. He outpointed old foe Dean Mills over six rounds and was hoping for another shot at the British title, but what he got was much more.
Sykes was handed a chance to fight for the WBO world title against Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner in Las Vegas on the undercard of the Khan v Peterson rematch. Broner of course is now breaching the pound-for-pound rankings. The fight was scheduled for May 19th 2012, although many saw this as a huge mismatch, and a ‘tune up’ for the latest prize asset of Golden Boy promotions. Sykes quite rightly jumped at the opportunity however, with the chance of his biggest pay day to date and he wasn’t travelling all that way to lose, he wanted to shock the world. In one of the ‘troughs’ of Sykes career however the fight was not meant to be, with the card being scrapped after Lamont Peterson’s failed drug test and resulting scandal. This was a huge blow to Sykes, made all the more bitter by the fact he couldn’t have done any more, and the cancellation was completely out of his own hands.
to shock the world. In one of the ‘troughs’ of Sykes career however the fight was not meant to be, with the card being scrapped after Lamont Peterson’s failed drug test and resulting scandal. This was a huge blow to Sykes, made all the more bitter by the fact he couldn’t have done any more, and the cancellation was completely out of his own hands.
Sykes of course went on to fight at lightweight in the Prizefighter tournament, losing to Flannigan in the final but certainly not doing his reputation any harm, and at only 28 Sykes still has plenty of time to achieve his ambitions in boxing.
If Sykes decided to stay at lightweight it would be a match-makers dream, as it’s a division packed with domestic talent, including Crolla, Mathews, Farrell, Rees and of course world champion Ricky Burns, who
‘Sykesy’ was scheduled to fight for the British title in 2009 until Burns had to withdraw.
If reports are correct however, Sykes intends to return to his favoured Super-Featherweight with his eye on that Lonsdale belt, held by his 2-time conqueror Gary Buckland in a fight that the boxing world would love to see.
Sykes is one of the good guys in boxing,
always humble and always exciting, ‘Sykesy’ will never be short of work, never short of fans and has his best years ahead of him.
Gary Sykes ready for a ‘5 star’ 2013