DARREN Tetley’s homecoming bout at The Bradford Hotel has been cancelled following a continuation of an injury which he endured in his last outing with Dom Hunt.
The homecoming show was scheduled for November 26, and it would have been the first time in which Tetley fought in Bradford for over three years.
However, a hand injury which Tetley sustained in his match up with Hunt back in September, has got progressively worse since his return to training.
Reflecting on a tough period for himself, Tetley said: “It’s been a nightmare to be honest; obviously I felt it go in the last fight with Dom (Hunt) after I landed a right hook on him, and it’s been sore ever since. It’s a weird one because it almost feels like there is a cut underneath my skin; it’s a hard one to explain.
“I didn’t go in the gym for five weeks after my last fight so it was about resting up in that period, however, I did go back after that and it felt completely fine when throwing a jab or a one-two, but it’s when I threw another hook; that’s when I felt it again. It was one of them where I thought I’d be able to soldier on through it and still make fight night on November 26, but we came to the decision that it’s not worth risking it.”
Tetley added: “It’s a massive shame because I really wanted to fight in front of my home crowd in Bradford as I haven’t fought there for over three years, but at the same time I need to look after myself. There will be other opportunities, I’m sure, to fight in Bradford again.”
Despite a whole lot of pain in his fighting hand, Tetley admitted that he’s still chasing a diagnosis for his injury. He said: “I went to A&E after my last fight with Dom to get it checked over, however, they X-rayed it and they couldn’t find anything because the swelling was so bad. I don’t know if they just missed it or there is genuinely other damage, but I do know that it’s very painful.
“I’m going to see how it fares over the next couple of days, but I might just have to make another trip to A&E over the weekend to clarify what’s up with it. We did have that feeling that it might have been too quick of a turnaround because of how demanding the Hunt fight was, so we were probably pushing it a bit too much with thinking it was going to be okay to fight again, and that’s been the case.
“But I just love staying active in the ring and that was the goal with this November fight; I wanted to be out there as quick as possible to be able to rectify my defeat against Hunt and get that victory before the turn of the new year. However, my health is more important and that’s why we made the collective decision to pull out of the fight.”
A homecoming fight is what dreams are made of and Tetley was going to experience it once again at the end of November, only adding to the frustration of his injury.
He said: “I boxed at Wembley then at Rotherham so when the opportunity to fight in Bradford arose, I couldn’t turn it down as I haven’t fought there in over three years. I was looking forward to getting out in front of my people and my town, however, I know I needed to be 100% fit to be able to do that to make sure I put on a good show. Going out there knowing that I wouldn’t be performing to my best standard, it would have done me more harm than good really. The injury adds to the frustration even more because you just know that you don’t have any control over the situation, and that’s never nice.”
Tetley added: “However, nobody can ever say to me that I don’t want to make challenging fights or that I fight nobodies. The four defeats I’ve had in my career have come against opponents who’ve had a combined record of 84 wins and two losses, so I no I have nothing to prove to anyone; albeit with or without an injured hand. I don’t have to fight in Bradford to prove anybody; it’s all about making sure I’m physically and mentally right to fight and I’m not for this one, so nobody can take that away from me.
Tetley added: “The minute I’m physically okay to fight, I’ll be looking for my next opponent and we’ll be able to assess our options. It all depends on what the results for my hand say, but all being well, we will look to target a fight in January or February.”
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