Interview with Kieran Keddle (December 2000)

This is an interview with Kieran Keddle just before his fight against Khananong Prakim on 12th December 2000.

What age did you start training?
When I was 11 years old, originally with Sean Toomey at Lumphini camp in Orpington, though my brother took over the gym a year later.

What titles do you have?
WMTO English Light Welterweight , WMTO British Welterweight, WAKO-PRO British Welterweight, WKA British Welterweight.

What happened at the Ali Jacko show?

Well when we turned up (it was already running late) they had 3 french judges and also a French referee down for my fight, which we weren't happy with as I was fighting a French fighter. we complained and then they changed it to a French judge, an English judge and a Thai judge, plus the same referee. However we then got told the rules had changed it wasn't full Thai rules, so we said okay fine. One of our fighters, Rupert was then on and his fight finished after 3 rounds and he was expecting it to be 5. We were then told that my fight was cut to 3x1 minute rounds. Then there was a lot of arguing and they said the best they could do was 5 x 1 minute rounds which we were still not happy about, especially as i had over a 100 supporters there and they'd been there since 5pm, so in the end the fight didn't happen. It would also have taken place after midnight when I was expecting to be on at 10ish.

Have you had anything like this happened before?
You always get fights being cancelled at the last minute, that sort of thing but nothing like this.


What do you think of the WKN, they're quite new on the scene aren't they?
They've got a lot of good fighters, but they haven't got the organisation yet. We were unhappy about the comment on their web site though which was put there without consulting us.


How do you fancy your chances tonight? Yeah they should be good, he's a little lighter than me but it should be a good fight. I'm looking forward to it, it's always been a dream of min o fight a Thai in Thailand so this is a good starting point. I only took the fight last week and he's happy about the weight difference. He originally had another fighter lined up but he pulled out so I've taken his place.

Who else would you like to fight?
I've got a dream fight in February against Warren Brown, though I'm not sure his titles on the line. I don't think either of u s are really world champions, but it'll be a good fight.

What about Neil Woods you've been down to fight each other a few times, and it hasn't happened?
The first time he had another fight abroad which was too close to the date. The second time it was 3 weeks after I had fought and I thought I'd be okay but I still had a neck injury.

What's the hardest fight that you've had.?
It was against Pascal Cadmus, I've never felt kicks as hard as his. The first time he beat me on a close points decision. The second fight though he beat me with leg kicks and stopped me in the third round. Normally after a fight I train the next day but it took a few days to recover.

Would you fight him again?
He's retired now, because he got married.

What are your plans for the future?
I'm going to train at the Fairtex Gym in Bangkok in January, I've been sponsored to go over by Ralph Beale, Fairtex Europe and if I do well they'll pay for me to go and fight out there.

Which organisations do you rate?
Well world titles don't mean what they did, obviously WMC is a good one. WMTA, WKPL. WAKO-pro and WKA in some aspects and not in others.