By Michael Collins: Gavin Rees (37-1-1, 18 KO’s) is going to have to dramatically alter his normal fighting style next month if he doesn’t want to get bludgeoned into submission within the first three rounds of the fight against WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner (25-0, 22 KO’s) in their fight at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The reason for this is because Rees is a brawler 100 percent and he doesn’t focus too much attention on his defense as he plods in to slug against his opposition.
I think you blame much of this on the weak opposition that Rees has been consistently fighting since he was last beaten five years ago by Andriy Kotelnik in 2008. Rees responded to that loss in a peculiar way by retreating backwards with his career and facing largely domestic and or European level opposition. Rees has been able to blow away these kinds of opponents because he’s a fringe world class level fighter. However, the thing that’s hurt Rees in doing this is he hasn’t had to learn to block punches, move his head and get out of the way of incoming fire.
If you look at Rees’ fights you’ll notice that he doesn’t seem to care whether he’s hit or not. He’s just focused on coming forward to land his own power shots. He’s done well in beating guys like Derry Mathews, Andy Murray, Anthony Mezaache, and John Watson. The problem is Rees has faced so many weak opponents that he’s picked up bad habits that’s going to lead to him getting blown out by Broner on February 16th when he tries the same old tricks on Broner.
It’s been 11 fights of domestic and European level opposition that Rees has had since he was taken out in the 12th round by Kotelnik in 2008, and I think Rees is going to be way out of his element when he tastes Broner’s power next month. The talent level alone for Broner guarantees that he’s going to win, but when you add in his excellent power it’s just going to be too much for Rees to handle.