Professional boxing win number eight for Moray super welterweight Fraser Wilkinson against London Olympics fighter Serge Ambomo - and an exciting 2024 lies ahead
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Moray boxer Fraser Wilkinson believes 2024 will be his biggest year yet after landing his eighth professional win on Saturday.
The 23-year-old defeated Serge Ambomo, who reached the quarter-finals of the 2012 Olympics in London representing Cameroon, on a unanimous points decision after a six-round bout at Paisley’s Lagoon Leisure centre.
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Former Elgin ABC fighter Wilkinson, originally from Hopeman but now based in Aberdeen with his Kynoch Boxing club, has now won eight and lost just one of the his nine fights since debuting on the pro scene in 2021.
That defeat came in May in a rematch of Wilkinson’s Scottish super welterweight title win over Corey McCulloch in Elgin, the Arbroath boxer gaining revenge with a knockout success in Dundee.
The Moray boxer says he is in a completely different place, both mentally and physically, since that setback. He switched base to the Granite City to be trained full-time by David McAllister at the Kynoch gym, and embarked on a month-long training camp in Mexico in the same gym which honed the skills of one of boxing’s greatest champs, Saul Canelo Alvarez.
“David is trying to reform me and I am having to almost restart my boxing again,” he said. “It’s a lot harder than you think, I am having to box in a way I’ve never really boxed before.
“A lot of my confidence came from my older style of fighting but David wanted me to be a bit tighter, using my brain a bit more and making things easier for myself.
“Before I was putting myself in a lot of negative situations and that was causing me problems. Now it’s a case of nullifying a lot of that. I am quite fast and I’m having to learn to hit harder and be more of a menace in the ring.
“On Saturday I was hitting him with everything but the kitchen sink but it just lacked that last little bit. I did hurt him a few times but I felt I could have done it more - the main thing is that I won every round and it was a comfortable win."
Ambomo turned pro after his London Olympics effort, and fought current IBO super welterweight world champion James Metcalf early in his career.
He endured a series of defeats but bucked the trend by defeating the previously unbeaten Rhys Woods in a bout last year, making him a dangerous opponent for Wilkinson.
"But it was a fairly routine win for me. I knew I was going to be too quick and too useful for him having watched some of his fights.
"He slowed down a lot and it was just a case of me keeping my cool and working on a lot of the things that we have been doing in the gym."
Wilkinson spoke about the transformation in his boxing since the summer, and his hopes for the future.
"This year has been mad. There were times when I didn't know if I was coming or going," he said.
"I just know that the hard work I've put in since May, I will see the fruits of it next year. I know it will pay off.
"When I came out of the ring on Saturday I should have been really happy but with the amount of work I put in I felt I maybe didn’t see the full return.
"Next year I need to get that reassurance in myself that I am in the right place and getting what I deserve.
"My Mexico experience really helped me mentally and the biggest reassurance I got was knowing that the difference between the boys at the bottom and the boys at the top is just one per cent - it’s a mentality thing.
"I spoke to David about how I came across quite brash in the past and it was maybe the reassurance I needed to give myself, knowing I possibly wasn’t training as hard or doing the right things.
"Now I am really putting the work in at the gym and that’s where my confidence comes from now.
"I am definitely maturing. My pals think it must be a great life being a boxer but the truth is that it's a sport where you learn so much about yourself.
"I am more forgiving but also I don’t just lie down any more. When I was younger, things could easily run over the top of me but now I know what I want and where I want to be - and that’s where I am heading.
"I am trying to build myself into a championship fighter who can go 12 rounds without losing my shape or getting reckless.”
Wilkinson is keen to line-up another fight at Elgin Town Hall, scene of his title triumph a year ago.
“People still tell me they haven’t heard an atmosphere like that,” he added.
"If they get me a day booked in Elgin I will do everything I can to sell the tickets and we will see what the back end of 2024 brings, whether it's a TV fight or a TV deal, we will see what happens.
"We have spoken about a fight in April or May. Hopefully there will be a title up for grabs."
Wilkinson's conqueror in his only defeat, McCulloch has been rumoured to move down to welterweight which would mean his Scottish super welterweight title becoming vacant.
"If he doesn’t, if it means we have to fight for a third time, so be it. I am double the fighter I was the first time we fought, never mind the second time when he beat me.
"I would love to fight in Elgin again. I expect this one to be even louder, definitely."
