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Derry Mathews insists brutal training sessions with a former member of the Royal Navy are necessary if he wants to save his career.

The Commonwealth champion has been pushed to his limits by strength and conditioning guru John Murray as part of his revamped fight camp.

Mathews vomited after his first session with Murray but is getting used to the demands of the early morning workouts.

The 30-year-old needed to take action after fading in the final rounds of his last fight in December.

Mathews lost his WBO European lightweight challenge against Stephen Ormond and admits he made mistakes in the build-up.

The former British champ says he cannot afford to cut corners ahead of his next fight against knockout artist Richard Commey, which is pencilled in for May 3 at the ECHO Arena.

Commey has stopped every one of his 17 opponents and Mathews does not plan on being victim number 18.

“I felt as though my muscle endurance wasn’t as good as it should’ve been in the last fight,” said Mathews.

“Later in the fight I didn’t feel as though I had much energy. I spoke to my coach Danny Vaughan and we decided a few things needed to change in camp. So I’m spending a total of six weeks with John Murray in Liverpool working on my strength and fitness and then another six weeks in Marbella with Danny.

“I have got to prepare for this fight properly because this is the biggest fight of my life.

“This fella is 17-0 and has 17 knockouts. It’s basically an eliminator for the world title because the winner is one step closer to fighting for it. It is a fight I will win if I do everything right.

“I have teamed up with the Health Shack and they are going to provide all my food for me and we’ll have a full-time chef with us over in Spain.”

Mathews continued: “We go to the gym with John at 5.30am.

“The first session I did with him, he started us off on the rowing machine and said ‘it’s going to get hard’.

“Soon I was spewing up everywhere. I was running to the toilets trying to catch my sick. The gym is a nice place and people didn’t expect to see a boxer in there. Nevermind a boxer throwing up!

“I’d never been on a rowing machine in my life and we were doing things like three minutes of continuous press-ups and three minutes of pull-ups.

“We have been doing 32 minutes on the treadmill covering silly miles at a really fast pace.

“It is really hard. But I know that if I don’t do it then I won’t beat Commey.

“John is a great coach and I’m delighted to be working with him.”

Gavin backs Davies

Robbie Davies Junior has been given a major confidence boost after going toe-to-toe with the world ranked Frankie Gavin.

The Kirkby fighter travelled to Birmingham recently to share the rounds with the talented welterweight Gavin.

Davies Jnr sparred with the British champion when he was an amateur but five years on Gavin has noticed major improvements in his training partner.

The 24-year-old has a first eight round contest of his career on March 15 at the ECHO Arena when he faces Ashley Mayall.

And Davies Jnr heads into the bout with a spring in his step after pushing Gavin.

“I used to spar Frankie when we were amateurs but now it is man versus man,” the unbeaten Davies Jnr said.

“When we got out of the ring Frankie said that I was much better now than I used to be.

“I said that it was probably down to the fact that I’m bigger now but he said my boxing had improved.

“In the spars he would push me back and then I’d push him back.

“Every now and then it would be a free-for-all.

“The brawling part of the spars favoured me because I can fight inside better than him. But on the back foot he was really good.

“Sparring with Frankie has really built my confidence.”

Davies (4-0), who is trained by Dave Tonks, has also been sparring with gym-mates Neil Perkins and Andy Colquhoun.

Price happy to wait longer

David Price will fight twice more this year before returning to Liverpool in the autumn.

The giant heavyweight faces a Central European opponent in Berlin on March 29 in his second fight of his comeback.

Price is then lining up a well-known American opponent in the summer before he comes back to the city for a major show with new promoters Sauerland.

The 6’8” fighter was scheduled to return to the ring on March 8 following last month’s two minute knockout of Istvan Ruszinszky.

However illness to headline fighter Yoan Pablo Hernandez meant the Germany show was pushed back three weeks.

Price says the delay has allowed him more time to work with trainer Tommy Brooks.

“I will fight on the 29th and then once more before coming back to fight in Liverpool,” Price confirmed. “I’m fighting a decent European in Berlin and then probably an American opponent after that. From there we will have something lined up for the autumn in Liverpool.

“I am happy with that plan. This is the reason why I took the option to go with the Sauerlands.

“Apart from everything else they bring to the table, it was the plan that they had for me that suited me down to the ground.”

Price (16-2) added: “The delay in my next fight is only three weeks and so it is no big deal.

“The main fight fell through so there was nothing that could be done.

“Three weeks is no problem and it just gives me more time to work with Tommy.

“Since we came back after my fight in January, I have really started to see how good he is. We are starting to gel and though it is going to take a bit of time, I am starting to see results in the gym.”

Satch certain of Quaye win

Kevin Satchell insists he will not let Isaac Quaye ruin his world flyweight title dreams.

The Everton Red Triangle fighter puts his Commonwealth title on the line against Quaye at Aintree next Saturday.

Satchell, who is also the British champion, plans to defend his crown and then kick-start a move up the world rankings. But he knows he cannot afford to overlook Ghana’s Quaye and risk his best laid plans.

“The world title is my dream, but nothing is more important than beating Quaye a week on Saturday as none of that will happen if I don’t come through,” said Satchell.

“I’d say Quaye is my hardest fight to date. He’s never been stopped in his career and he’s had more knockouts than I’ve had fights. The African fighters are a tough breed and it’s step up for me, but I’m looking forward to the challenge to prove I’m the real deal,”