Moray boxer Fraser Wilkinson ready for title fight with Dean Sutherland at Aberdeen’s Beach Ballroom
A boxer preparing for his biggest fight yet has labelled himself a “complete B-side” in the bout.
Moray’s Fraser Wilkinson is taking on Aberdeen’s Dean Sutherland at a sold-out Granite City’s Beach Ballroom on Saturday.
The bout is an eliminator for a shot at the British title against Sam Gilley or Louis Greene, who will battle it out for the belt next year.
A Scottish champion at two weights, this is the biggest challenge of Wilkinson’s career - but he isn’t fazed. The pressure, he said, is on the home favourite.
“I’m fighting a guy with double the fights,” the Elgin Amateur Boxing Club product said. “It’s not a 50-50 fight, I’m a complete B-side - and it doesn’t faze me at all.
“This is how my career is going soon. I’ve got to be fighting at bigger shows from the B-side. I’ll do what I do best to come away with the win.My manager wouldn’t have let me take the fight if he didn’t think I could win it.
“I know what I’m capable of, I know the work I have put in over a year-and-a-half and can see the progression.
“Preparation has been really good. I was in Hong Kong and I’ve had a month off work to prepare and train full-time, two or three times a day.
“The hard part is done and now it’s all about getting my body ready to go on Saturday.”
Wilkinson, who grew up in Hopeman and lived in Forres, is looking no further ahead than this weekend.
“My main focus is on winning the Celtic title and then having a fantastic Christmas,” he said.
“The man thinking about the next fight is the fool. I’ve been stung with that before and so has he.
“He (Sutherland) keeps ranting about fighting for the British title next - I hope for his sake he’s not a fool twice.”
Sutherland is expected to have around 75 per cent of the 960-capacity Beach Ballroom on his side on Saturday.
“I have sold around 200 tickets and the Ballroom was completely sold-out in two weeks, which shows the magnitude of the fight,” he said. “It’s not been sold out in around eight years.
“If anything, I’ll feed off him having the support. I’ll be going in with 200 fans and leaving with 960.”
Wilkinson has won his last four fights, since his only defeat in a rematch of his Scottish super welterweight title win over Corey McCulloch.
McCulloch gained revenge by stopping ‘Wilko’ in Dundee in the summer of 2023 and the Moray boxer has learned so much from that setback.
“When I fought Corey for the first time I was so confident I would beat him and I did. Going into the second one I had problems in camp and I didn’t have that same bit in me, so it is just so good to feel that again.
“That loss is the best thing that’s happened to me. “Without loss there’s no change. I am 100 percent in the best place I’ve ever been in my boxing career and I am so excited about this fight.
“As a kid this was the type of fight that I dreamed of being in.
“I am living my dream, whatever way you look at it.”
