‘I rolled the dice and came up with a one’, says Gavin after loss

Fighting family…Frankie and Sian O’Toole, Midlands feather champ

INITIALLY, I vowed not to feed Frankie Gavin’s disastrous bareknuckle debut the oxygen of publicity.

It was all too depressing, all too humiliating for a man who was one of the greatest amateurs this world has ever produced.

But the noise surrounding Gavin’s 52 second defeat to Jack “One Smack” Dugdale, plus the Birmingham champ’s past achievements, means Saturday’s showdown cannot be ignored.

To be blunt, Frankie made a mistake. He shouldn’t have done it. I don’t think he truly wanted to do it. I hope he doesn’t do it again.

As he told me ruefully: “I rolled the dice and came up with a one.”

For organisers BKFC, acquiring Frankie’s services for the major BP Pulse Live, Resorts World, show was a major coup. Big name boxers have defected to the bareknuckle code: in Britain, Frankie – our only world amateur champ, former British and Commonwealth pro welter champ and world title contender – is probably the biggest.

In reality, the man who pensively paced the circle before facing Burnley’s Dugdale, who had lost one of four, was Frankie Gavin in name only. At 39 and a long seven years away from his last bout, time had sprinkled sand in his shoes. He was a ghost of a boxer once tipped for greatness.

And that realisation appeared to strike him like a thunderbolt before the action even started.

While it lasted, Gavin was grabbed in what appeared to be a headlock and hit with right hands. He pointed to his eye, gesturing he’d been thumbed, then sent sprawling on his back by an uppercut.

That’s all she wrote. It was an unedifying watch.

That should be it for Frankie in the bareknuckle business, yet he’s not ruled out a return. “Never say never,” he shrugged. “If the money’s right…”

“One hundred per cent, I was naïve,” he said. “It’s just a different sport. I thought it was a boxing match with no gloves on.

“The poke in the eye, the holding, but he caught me clean.”

And Gavin, surprisingly, doesn’t regret his decision because of the physical and mental benefits of returning to fight training.

“Two years ago I was 17 stone, the diabetes was really bad. Now I feel sharp, I want to have a couple of boxing matches.” That’s with gloves on.

On facebook, Frankie, whose partner Sian O’Toole defends her Midlands featherweight title on Friday night, posted: “Big thanks to everyone for the messages and support. just wasn’t to be. went in a bit naive thinking it was like boxing without gloves. but I’m fit again. life’s changed for the better. Obviously, ego’s hurt.”

Frankie may not regret his bareknuckle baptism, but boxing fans I spoke to certainly do.

He was, I understand, well paid for Saturday night.

Yet a fighter’s reputation is never built on earning power. The public remember great battles, not great pay days.

And Frankie’s reputation suffered a body blow on Saturday.

He wasn’t the only former top gloved fighter to suffer on the show.

Thunderous punching Jamie Cox – the Birmingham based super-middle who once faced George Groves for the WBA super-middleweight title – also came a cropper.

He was KO’d in two by Johannesburg light heavyweight Chas “Bad News” Wasserman.

And in a battle of former gloved pros, West Brom’s Tom Stokes hauled himself off the floor to halt Ryan Aston, from Dudley, in two.

Bare-knuckle boxing is growing at a rapid pace, the quality and spectacle has improved. It is attracting more and more quality ex-pros to the fold.

Those tempted, should heed Gavin’s words: “It’s a different sport” – certainly not a sport to be taken lightly by fighting men past their prime.

I want to remember Frankie Gavin for the ring artist that he was. Sadly, a new generation will remember him for Saturday night.