THE BEAR VS THE BRITS

Skelton on his key UK rivals

GIFFORD SHILLINGFORD

Skelton debuted on September 22, 2002, when he was 35, on an untelevised show.

“After the first round my cornerman said: ‘You’re lifting your feet like in Thai boxing. Sit down on your punches and throw the overhand right.’ I did that and knocked him clean out. The ambulance took him away.”

JULIUS FRANCIS

Skelton defended the English title against the veteran Francis in February 2004.

“Julius said to Frank [Maloney, Skelton’s manager at the time], ‘I want to fight your boy!’ If someone calls you out, they believe they can win. But all I had to do was box.”

MICHAEL SPROTT

Skelton had a three-fight rivalry with Sprott between 2004 and 2010, winning the first two and then losing in a Prizefighter final.

“[The first fight] was a war, but by the last round he didn’t want to be there. When he went down, I knew he wouldn’t get up. After the fight but I couldn’t eat a thing because my mouth was cut to pieces.

“He beat me [in Prizefighter], but Kevin Mcbride caught me hard [in the semi-final]. I went down, got up and just held on. I wasn’t 100 per cent for the rest of the night.”

DANNY WILLIAMS

First, Williams pulled out of fighting Skelton hours before the bell. Then he was fit and motivated when they rescheduled and won a 2006 fight of the year contender. Finally, he was well overweight for the rematch five months later and Skelton got revenge.

“You never knew which Danny would turn up. Sometimes he didn’t fancy it. Then you see how brave he was against [Vitali] Klitschko, getting up four times.

“I thought I won the first one. I was gutted. The rematch, I gave him a boxing lesson.”

AUDLEY HARRISON

Harrison v Skelton were direct rivals for years, but unfortunately never fought.

“He could have done great things, but you don’t know what’s going on in someone’s life. Or maybe he had too many yes-men. I don’t know; I’ve never met him.”

MARTIN ROGAN

Rogan won a huge upset in 2009, becoming the first man to stop Skelton, in 11 rounds.

“That was the only one I regret. My mum had just passed away. I thought taking the fight would help me deal with it, but I never should have taken that fight.”

DAVID PRICE

At nearly 46, Skelton was knocked out in two rounds by the then-unbeaten Price in 2012.

“I could have given a better account of myself. We saw later that if you stuck in there, you could get him. I just didn’t know that at the time.”