Boxing: McKenzie on right track

(First Edition)

DUKE McKENZIE put himself back on the trail of some significant financial rewards after becoming the first Briton to win a world title at three different weights in Lewisham on Thursday night. McKenzie's fortunes are promising to change for the better after a unanimous verdict over the tough Texan southpaw, Jesse Benavides, to lift the World Boxing Organisation super-bantamweight championship.

His manager, Mickey Duff, has agreed a two-fight deal with the American promoter, Bill Kozerski, which could take McKenzie to the United States next year to hunt bigger prizes. And the second of those two assignments could be a return with Benavides, or a unification bout against one of the other champions.

McKenzie has had to toil throughout his career while the rich pickings have gone to more glamorous names. 'There have been times when I've got sick of it all, sick of the training, sick of the roadwork. But I've got to remember that a lot of managers would have given up on me after I lost the WBO bantamweight title.

'Some would have given up on me after I'd lost the IBF (International Boxing Federation) flyweight title, but Mickey has stuck by me and here I am with a third world crown.' McKenzie's achievement is unique if the feats of Bob Fitzsimmons, who became world champion at middlewight, heavyweight and light-heavyweight after leaving Britain for Australia as a child, are discounted.

McKenzie's determined display earned him a unanimous verdict although the Canadian judge's margin of 118 points to 110 was patently ludicrous.

A 10th-round knockdown and a stronger finish ultimately sealed it for McKenzie, who added: 'It was the hardest fight of my life, but it's a world title and you expect that.'

Benavides said: 'McKenzie was holding all the time but never had a point taken away. And it wasn't a knockdown in the 10th, I fell over my own feet.' His manager, Tony Ayala, said: 'We will be lodging a protest. Everyone in the hall knows that my man won the fight. It was worse than a hold-up.'

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