| Gary Lockett | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Real name | Gary Lockett |
| Nickname(s) | Rocket Man, Pocket Rocket |
| Rated at | Middleweight |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Reach | 185 cm (73 in) |
| Nationality | Welsh |
| Born | November 25, 1976 Cwmbran, Wales |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 32 |
| Wins | 30 |
| Wins by KO | 21 |
| Losses | 2 |
| Draws | 0 |
| No contests | 0 |
Gary Lockett (born 25 November 1976) is a retired professional boxer from Cwmbran, Wales, who fought in the middleweight division.
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In his first professional fight in September 1996, Lockett defeated Ernie Loveridge by KO in the first round on a card that included Eamonn Magee, Andrew Murray, Jim Rock and Neil Sinclair.[1]
February 2002 saw Lockett fight WBA No. 4 ranked Kevin Kelley for the WBO Intercontinental title. The Welshman came from the brink of being stopped with a badly cut eye to knock out Kelley with an overhand right in the 4th round.
In April 2002 Lockett suffered the first defeat of his professional career when he dropped a 12-round split decision to Yuri Tsarenko of Belarus, for the WBO Inter-Continental light middleweight title. Lockett gained revenge for this defeat with a 10-round points victory in a rematch in May 2003.[2]
After the Tsarenko rematch Locket continued his winning ways, putting together a streak of six further victories over some lightly regarded fighters and journeymen when in March 2006 he faced off against Gilbert Eastman for the vacant WBU middleweight title. Lockett won the title in emphatic fashion with a first-round TKO victory. He made his first defence of the belt against Ryan Rhodes in July 2006, winning a unanimous decision over 12 rounds. Since then he has made one further defence of his belt, a third-round TKO victory over Lee Blundell. These performances along with additional non-title wins against Ayitey Powers and Kai Kauramaki led to Lockett being ranked as the #1 contender by the WBO for their middleweight title.
It was announced on 13 March 2008 that Locket would be the next opponent for the unified WBC and WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik. The bout took place on 7 June 2008 at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and as well as his WBC and WBO belts Pavlik’s Ring magazine belt was also on the line.[3] Lockett was considered by many boxing pundits and fans to be a big underdog going into the fight and few predicted that he would even be able to last the distance let alone have a chance of winning. Ultimately this proved to be true and Lockett was unsuccessful in his attempt to take the titles away from Pavlik, hitting the canvas three times before his cornerman Enzo Calzaghe threw in the towel in round 3 to end the fight.[4]
In the immediate aftermath of the Pavlik defeat Lockett stated that he would be considering whether or not he would continue his career, as he admitted that in his own words he had “never been a lover of boxing” and struggled to see how he could motivate himself for further contests after fighting for a world title.[5] After several months off to recuperate and reflect on his ring future, which included starting a new career as an online boxing columnist for the BBC[6] Lockett confirmed his retirement from professional boxing in September 2008.[7]