Brad: I have sparred the best, I’m ready to shine in big title test

Brad Coley and James Thomas…ready for major flyweight challenge

FOR Brad Coley, the clock is ticking towards the first real test of his career, the first championship battle, the first time the flyweight can truly reveal what he possesses.

And you can almost hear the impatience in the Erdington boxer’s voice. Coley is like a child excitedly awaiting Santa as he prepares for the December 20 showdown with Brad Thompson for the vacant Midlands flyweight title.

“People are going to see me at my best,” Erdington’s Coley told me. “I need someone who is going to push me.”

Few 10 rounders have been as evenly balanced as the electrifying Eastside Rooms, Birmingham, clash.

Both men are unbeaten in seven, both are 24 – you can throw into the mix the fact both are called Brad, too.

This one is an early Christmas cracker for fans.

And Tristan Davies, who trains Donnington’s Thompson, has already added spice to the proceedings with remarks that would appear guaranteed to rattle Coley and his trainer James Thomas.

“Brad Coley is no threat to him (Thompson),” he told me. “He hasn’t stopped anyone, he doesn’t know how to stop people. Brad beats him in every department, really.”

“I’m just being honest,” he added.

Coley refuses to be drawn into a slanging match. “That’s not me,” he said. “I’m not that kind of person. I respect him, he’s taking the chance, he’s prepared to lose his ‘O’.

“They can say what they want, talk is very cheap, they can think what they want. I know I can punch, I’ve hurt people in sparring.”

Explaining the lack of stoppage on his CV, he said: “I’ve been in with journeymen who just cover up, I’ve been in with much heavier opponents.”

Coley, however, allowed himself one dig at the Telford team. “A lion doesn’t concern himself with the opinions of the sheep,” he shrugged.

Thompson has the experience of fighting on major, televised arena shows, Coley emerged victorious on the sole occasion they met in the amateur ranks.

And Coley is the first to dismiss claims that win has any bearing on December’s outcome. “I don’t think about it,” he said. “What happened then, happened then. As an amateur my head wasn’t fully on the game. It’s just a learning curve – they can take it how they want to take it.

“We haven’t sparred, I haven’t really watched him, I’ve only seen him do four rounds. I just know he still has a real amateur style. I’m focussing on what I can do. A few of my friends know a few of his friends, it’s going to be a good night.

“I’ve sparred the best in the country, I’ve done my work behind the scenes. I don’t know who he’s sparred, they keep things behind closed doors.”

Of his first test over 10 rounds, Coley added: “I do 10 rounds sparring all the time, 10 rounds is nothing and it will suit me because I get stronger as a fight goes on.”

In the flyweight rankings, things can happen very quickly because the division has fewer boxers. The winner on December 20 could well find major title opportunities unfold sooner rather than later.

That makes the stakes very, very high.

Come December 25, one young man will be brim-full of Christmas spirit, the other maybe drowning his sorrows.