Having been within touching distance of accomplishing a lifelong dream, Nathan Heaney must steel himself for the mental battle of going back over old ground on July 20.
In March, Heaney went into the first defense of his British middleweight title against Brad Pauls knowing that a solid victory would all but sign-off a massive summer title fight at the home of his beloved Stoke City.
Heaney, 18-0-1 (6 KOs), seemed to have an absorbing fight in hand until, in the eighth, he lingered in front of the heavy-handed Pauls, 18-1-1 (10 KOs), for a fraction of a second too long. The right hand that Pauls landed rocked Heaney to his boots and was the catalyst for a thrilling finale. Heaney recovered but was rocked again in the eleventh round as the two fought themselves to a standstill and a split draw.
The result scuppered Heaney’s plans and instead of taking on one of the middleweight division’s leading lights in front of a passionate home crowd, the 35-year-old will renew hostilities with the dangerous Pauls in Birmingham next Saturday.
Heaney has watched the fight back on countless occasions and still struggles to understand how it could be scored a draw but is aware that it is time to focus on the present rather than the past.
“If I’m being generous, I thought he won one round out of the first seven. As far as I’m concerned, I was 6-1 up. Unless he won all the remaining rounds – he didn’t, and we didn’t draw any of them either – how was it a draw? I was gutted but I consider myself a 19-0 fighter now even though I’m actually an 18-0-1 fighter,” Heaney told BoxingScene.
“I was disappointed immediately. I just knew it had probably messed Stoke City up. It should have all been sorted for June 8th but the draw messed everything up for me to be honest. Really, what should have happened is that I should have won a decision and then Steve [Woodvine, his trainer] would have got into me and told me, “Look, I’ve told you you need to listen to me. We’ve won, now we can improve.’
“That’s for me to rectify now.”
Heaney and Woodvine have formed one of the tightest units in British boxing. Together, they have established a style of fighting that maximizes Heaney’s abilities and a training regime to ensure he is in the best physical condition to carry out any game plan. The system’s success hinges on Heaney maintaining his concentration for every second a fight lasts and on him following Woodvine’s instructions to a tee.
For the first 18 and a half fights of his career, Heaney followed the plan perfectly. Against Pauls he lapsed and was given an untimely reminder of what can happen if he strays from the successful formula.
Heaney still has hopes of taking a big outdoors event to Stoke but with the new football season and the inevitable long, cold, wet winter just weeks away, he must now aim to position himself for a major fight next summer. He believes that as long as he is fully focused, he will remind everybody exactly what he is capable of this weekend.
“The frustrating part is that I switched off because – after seven rounds – it felt easy. I just thought I was in total control but with that comes complacency,” he said. “If he hadn’t caught me in round eight, he was feeling sorry for himself and it all changed. I don’t know how it would have gone but it would have been very tough for him. He threw a Hail Mary, and I gave it him. If I give him nothing, he can’t get me.
“When I beat Denzel Bentley, it was for a reason. I was totally switched on; I rose to the occasion and did it comfortably. It’s just about proving why I belong where I am now.”
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