Boxing: Pele swots up for shock ring return.

Byline: Robin Marshall

BIRMINGHAM'S heavyweight hope Pele Reid is to make a shock return to the ring - after taking time off to get married and go to university.

Many ringsiders thought his career had permanently hit the buffers after Jacklord Jacobs stopped him in two rounds at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre in January last year.

It was his third successive quick-stoppage defeat after he had been built up as a potential title contender.

And the sports science student now admits that he has had to go back to square one in his rehabilitation programme, which he fits in between his studies at Wolverhampton University.

This means gym spells in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and London as he battles to stick his shattered ring career back together and to make amends for those three catastrophic defeats.

Reid was beaten in three rounds by Julius Francis in a British and Commonwealth heavyweight title fight in January 1999 and then lost in a round to Orlin Norris in June that year.

He admits: 'The trouble was that I had not been taught the basics. I am only now finding out what I should have done and it is taking months of hard work to sort myself out.

Progress

'I've had to re-programme myself with the assistance of my trainers Derek Amory and Jobey Clayton. I'm pleased with my progress.

'There is no truth in the story that I am supposed to be fighting the former British champion Mike Holden in Hull on February 5.

'I don't know how this has come about. This is the first I've heard of it and it is irresponsible in the circumstances.

'I wouldn't take this sort of fight especially after what happened in my last three fights. It would be too risky.

'When I do return to the ring everyone will see a much better Pele. I just want to get myself back on track.

'I was offered a fight against Matthew Ellis of Blackpool but that didn't materialise.

'I certainly wouldn't take the Holden fight at a week's notice. I haven't trained fully and I haven't sparred.

'In view of what happened in my last three fights I've got to take every care in a comeback. After a couple of fights and proper preparation then I would consider the Holden fight.

'What I want in the meantime is a small hall well away from the television cameras and to ease myself back without too much pressure.

'Everyone in boxing knows that I have talent but it is a case of directing myself back in the right direction,' he said, but he is still bitterly disappointed with himself and his performance on his last outing at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre.

'I knew nothing Jacklord Jacobs and on paper I thought I did not have any problems,' he added.

'When I was boxing him I caught him with a couple of shots and I thought I just needed to roll but then he produced a punch and I was on the floor.

'At that moment I thought 'what is going on here?' I got up and he finished me off but there was no way I thought that would occur after losing to Julius Francis and Orlin Norris.

'But that is the way it goes. You live and learn. It proved that I hadn't really gained enough experience to take on these sorts of guys.'

Pele Reid is now swotting up both at university and in the gym.

He hopes that both ventures pay off in the future.

CAPTION(S):

FIGHTING TALK... Birmingham's boxing hope Pele Reid is on the comeback trail after a year out of the ring