Not finished yet. The three-word statement of defiance from Troy Williamson ahead of his English super-middleweight title challenge against Mark Dickinson at Rainton Arena.
Williamson, a former British champion at light-middleweight (or super welter in modern parlance) hopes to wrest the 168lb belt from his Co Durham rival, who is making the maiden defence of his belt on Saturday, September 6.
The Houghton venue will be packed to the rafters for the Matchroom event headlined by Pat McCormack v Miguel Parra, but Dickinson v Willliamson looks a fascinating battle.
Dickinson comes into the show, literally in his own back yard, on a high after winning the English belt in his ninth professional fight, outpointing Lancashire’s Reece Farnhill in Altrincham back in March.
Just a week later in Las Vegas, Williamson suffered his fourth career defeat when he was outpointed by American Jai Tucker at middleweight.
It followed on from title fight points losses at 154lbs to Josh Kelly, Caoimhin Agyarko and Ishmael Davis.
Facing the aggressive New Yorker, ‘Trojan’ stood and fought it out but took two counts en route to a third successive L and his fourth in his last five outings.
Some observers questioned whether Vegas might be the end of the road and had that been the case, the Darlington star would have earned his retirement.
But, ultimately, only one heart and mind counted.
“I love boxing, and I’m not finished yet,” the 34-year-old told punch-lines. “I am going to show that on September 6, guaranteed.
“There have been a few issues, like struggling at weights for too long, I should have moved up to 160 much earlier and then, when I did, I was out of the ring for 13 months.
“It’s all taken its toll, but I’m far from finished – there are some big nights left in me.
“If I had hung up my gloves I’d have only regretted it, so I’m going to give it another shot and prove a lot of people wrong.”
Since his defeat, Williamson has switched camps, moving from the Phil Thomas School of Boxing and long-time coach, Craig Carney, to be trained by Jordan Williams at Twins, the Trimdon gym which includes the likes of Jordan Barker Porter, Adam Hepple, Kai Richmond, Ali Shah and many more.
“Jordan was in my camp that time I boxed Ted Cheeseman so there’d obviously a connection there,” said Troy. “We get on, we work well together.
“I came here when I wasn’t in camp to help Adam Hepple before his fight with Zak Chelli and I just liked the atmosphere.
“I thought coming to Twins was the perfect move for me.”
When Punch-lines caught up with Williamson in Twins this week, he looked in terrific physical shape and, mentally, seemed extremely focused.
He will need to be against the talented 26-year-old, from West Rainton, who is trained by brother Jacob at Dickinson’s School of Boxing in Fencehouses and boasts an 8-1 record.
“I respect Mark and all the Dickinsons,” said Troy. “They are a great fighting family. I like Mark as a person, there is no bad blood at all there.
“I know how good a fighter he is, that’s why I’ve trained as hard as I can for this.”
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: Mark Robinson/ Matchroom
