Christopher ‘numb’ after first career loss

Christopher throws a right as Silva ducks low. Pics: Chris Dean for Boxxer

THE big stage failed to deliver big rewards for Tyler Christopher who suffered his first defeat on Saturday night.

In a battle of unbeatens on Boxxer’s First Direct Bank Arena, Leeds, show, the Bermudian dropped an eight round decision to Mario Silva, 78-75.

That’s the first time the southpaw has tasted defeat in 13 outing, while Manchester’s Silva extended his victorious streak to 10 contests.

Christopher may well be kicking himself in the aftermath. Manager Jon Pegg, always honest in his assessment, described the bout as “winnable”. On the biggest night of his career, however, Tyler boxed below his true capabilities.

Perhaps the occasion – Tyler’s first TV appearance – played a part, although he denies it.

In the aftermath, his trainer at D&A gym Anthony Hull refused to mask his disappointment, frustration and even anger. He also criticised his boxer’s use of social media.

A first loss is always hard to take and the deep disappointment was clear during my interview with Christopher. The 30-year-old should clutch positives: he was underdog against a man being groomed for titles, he won rounds, lasted the distance and wasn’t hurt. What’s more, the bout was at middleweight, while Christopher has always stressed his future lies at super-welter.

Defeat was not crushing.

“I just feel numb,” Christopher told me. “To be honest, I don’t know how I feel. I have a loss on my record now.

“He didn’t hurt me. It was a close fight - I was winning the first three or four rounds, then he made an adjustment. He started to counter me, it became a matter of, do I commit and get countered or do I fight off the back foot and set traps?

“It was a winnable fight and I know where I went wrong. It wasn’t my night, a bad day on the job.”

Christopher fires a southpaw jab as Silva presses forward

Tyler believes what happened underlines the need for more rounds of tough sparring against top draw lads who will drag him into battles. It also convinced him his future is at 11 stone.

“Maurio Silva is a good, intelligent fighter. When I weighed-in, I weighed-in with clothes on. He was probably 170 (12st 2lbs) on the night, I only put on one or two pounds and in the clinches I felt the smaller man. But it was an opportunity I had to take.

“I fight at a comfortable pace in sparring, I’ve never had to up the tempo in sparring. In the gym I do look good, but on the night when I needed that extra intensity it wasn’t there because I’m not doing it in sparring.

“Once he picked up on my rhythm, he was countering me and I needed to do something else and I didn’t have that.”

That comment has brought a short, sharp response from Hull. “That’s nonsense, I’m not having  that,” the coach said. “He sparred Ashlee Eales, heavier lads, I had fresh men in the ring every session.

“Everything was perfect in the gym. He didn’t do 10 per cent of what we did in the gym. He didn’t even change gears. I don’t care that he lost, but he was coming back to the corner chilled and not even breathing heavy. I told him, ‘all the hard work we did in the gym and you didn’t even change gear’.

“If he’d done what me and Jon (Pegg) told him to do he wouldn’t have a problem. I told him, ‘you slag other boxers off (on social media), now back it up, change your social media for your own development’. You tell me another fighter who talks about social media in the corner during a fight. That’s ludicrous. Of the 13 fights he’s had, that’s the first time he never listened.

“All he thought about in that corner was what people would think of him on social media.”