Darren Tetley- “He was better than me, but I will come again"

After a tough and entertaining 10 round fight which resulted in a unanimous decision defeat against Liam Taylor, I managed to speak to an upbeat Darren Tetley to get his view on what was his first defeat as a professional. From start to finish, it was back and forth with punches, two knockdowns and it was unfortunate that there was not any crowd to witness it first-hand. Liam Taylor, who had previously only suffered the one defeat in his career, came into the ring with a bit more experience and it showed over the course of the fight.

With three rounds gone, Tetley was knocked down for the first time in his career in the second round with a vicious left hook to the body and then again in the third round with a well-timed right hand to the jaw. I asked Darren what he remembered of the two knockdowns.

“I remember being against the ropes then suddenly I blinked, and I was on my knees. It was a good punch, but I got up and finished the round strong. In the third round, I felt fine, but he caught me on the jaw with a punch that never really hurt me, but I felt my jaw click and a weird shooting pain. Once I got through the third round and started the fourth, I was always playing catch up and knew it would be a struggle if it went to the scorecards.”

The cleaner work in the fight came from Tetley with his left-hand catching Taylor at will down the pipe and looked assured as each round passed. Having spoken to Darren before the fight, he told me he would get stronger as each round passed and that is exactly what happened.

“I felt like I was getting stronger as the fight went on and I remember hurting him in the fifth round and I thought there was a chance I could get him out of there but his experience kicked in. Not for one minute did I feel the fight was getting away from me He is a tough man that took the shots really well, I did not think he would take them as well as he did but full credit to him, he was better than me, but I will come again. I have no complaints; he picked his moments in each round and I can take away loads from the fight. I have spoken to my trainer and we already know where I went wrong, and I plan to learn from it.”

The fight has received a lot of praise on social media for an entertaining thirty minutes with both fighters hurt and having to dig deep. Darren was happy with the reaction of the fans and states that is what he wants to do in boxing is give fans value for money and enjoyment.

“Every time I fight I want the fans to enjoy it and find it exciting, I do not want to be in a boring fight which is why I am not too disappointed losing in the way I did. I am happy and fine, slightly sore today but that is to be expected. I would like to thank everyone for their messages and support, it means a lot to me.”

Finally, I asked Darren what he'd like his next steps to be.

“I am going to take a couple of weeks off, enjoy eating curries, cheesecakes and Dr Pepper before I get back to business. I will be back in the gym within a couple of weeks and it was the first time really as a professional that I stuck to a diet plan and discipline for an entire training camp, I felt the difference in the ring. I do not want any more easy fights; I want to continue being in hard fights and challenging the best.

I still want to win that British title and I will do my best to achieve that. I want to try and fight again before Christmas, whether that is possible I am not sure, I will have to see what MTK Global say and what they offer me. The only way is up from here”.