Flournoy looking to go further than pal Dilks

Posted on | February 20, 2010 | 1 Comment

Brett Flournoy is aiming to go one better than fellow Merseyside boxer Carl Dilks and win the Prizefighter Light-Middleweights at the York Hall in Bethnal Green on Friday, February 26.

The Birkenhead boxer is stepping up from welterweight for his chance to claim the £32,000 prize for winning three, three round fights in one night live on Sky Sports.

Dilks reached the Prizefighter Light-Heavyweights semi-final a year ago and Flournoy hopes to go further than his pal as he attempts to keep his unbeaten record intact with three wins in one night.

But southpaw Flournoy will have to shake off some ring rust when he has his first fight since May 2008.

The 30-year-old’s last bout against Kevin McIntyre was called off in the second round as ringside medics were called away to deal with an injured boxer elsewhere in the arena in October.

Now Flournoy is looking to give his career some much needed momentum before returning to welterweight.

He said: “After seeing what the Prizefighter has done to Carl Dilks’ career, I just wanted to be a part of it. I’ve been mates with him through our amateur days, the Army and we turned pro together.

“Our careers have pretty much mirrored each other, we’ve sparred and it’s like a sibling rivalry we have. It keeps us on our toes and it would be great to go one better than him and get to the final and win it.

“Carl got to the semi-final a year ago in the Prizefighter and after that got a Commonwealth title fight, so I know doing well in this tournament can open doors and that’s why I really wanted the chance.

“I’m doing this to get my career back on track. But I want to go back down to welterweight after this. If the fight against McIntyre would have gone on I’m confident I would have stopped him.”

The 2005 ABA champion left the Army after six years service in 2006 and hopes his success as an amateur will give him an advantage over the shorter three round distance.

He said: “I’m hoping that my amateur experience will help me as well as my speed. There’s a lot of experience in this competition and it’s maybe the toughest line up yet, but I’ve sparred with some tough kids.”

Flournoy’s career suffered while he was concentrating on running a pub, but he has given up his landlord position.

He said: “I’ve been inactive down to myself more than anything else. I had an outside business interest, running The Brown Cow in Bebbington.

“But it was taking up too much of my time and did it for over two years. I just found I couldn’t do the boxing as well as the work and the business wasn’t kicking on.

“I had a few problems while I was a landlord. One night I stopped a couple of police officers getting beaten up but I ended up getting CS gas sprayed in my face! They realised their mistake and apologised.”

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