Enzo Calzaghe is fast making a name for himself as one of the finest trainers in the world as his small stable of fighters which includes his talented son Joe, and hardhitting crusier titlist Enzo Maccarinelli amongst its numbers, added yet another major beltholder when diminuitive Gavin Rees stunned defending holder Souleymane M'baye with a deserved unanimous decision win.


Not many were giving the small Rees much chance against M'baye and iindeed some were questioning why he was getting this shot in the first place. It was wisely percieved as a soft defense for M'baye off his draw with the difficult Ukraniun Andrej Kotelnik....im proud to say that this writer was not amongst the people disregarding Rees chances as i had a feeling the inconsistent Frenchman could be unseated and indeed he was.



Rees worked tirelessly to simple outwork and outpunch a lethragic M'baye who seemed out of sorts and unsettled by the busy raids of Rees.


Rees began to feel the pace as would be expected in the last quarter of the fight but by this time much of the work had been done and he simply had to see the fight out to take a well earned and comfortable decision victory.


So Britain has yet another worldclass fighter in the 140 pound weight division to go along with WBC beltholder and the linear champion Ricky Hatton. Though Rees is not considered in the class of the other two it was heartening to see a heavy underdog overcome the odds and who knows what further suprises this little guy could produce.


He is another fighter who looks set to be given a place on the Calzaghe/Kessler supershow in November.