Jon Thaxton has said that he's as ready as he'll ever be to fight for the British Title that's eluded him for his entire professional career. Twice he fought for the light-welterweight title and twice he lost - first to Jason Rowlands and then to Ricky Hatton, the current golden boy of British boxing. When Thaxton steps into the ring to face Meager it will be 14 years, to the day, since Thaxton embarked on his professional boxing career against Scott Smith in Stoke. "We've trained so hard. If I'm not ready now I never will be," he said. "I'm going out there and giving it everything I've got, my career's on the line on this one," he added. Thursday's weigh-in proved no problem for Thaxton who tipped the scales just under the lighweight limit of 61.2kg. Thaxton has revealed that he watches the boxing film Cinderella Man, starring Russell Crowe, to get him in a good mood before a fight. He also said he doesn't get involved in the selection of music that will accompany his walk to ringside on Friday evening. "I don't really care, I don't see or hear anything, I just focus on my opponent," he said. The fighting talk from Lee Meager began a month in advance of his first defence of the British Lightweight title against Norwich fighter Thaxton. "I'm going to put Thaxton into retirement," he said. "He's got no respect for me with some of the stuff he's been talking, but they have picked on the wrong fella, he's going to be outclassed," he added. Thaxton baffledIt's an outburst that baffled 32-year-old Thaxton. He's not really sure what he said that was so disrespectful. "I've said that I deserve a British title shot, maybe he took that a bit personally," he said. "I know he wanted a voluntary defence. His team didn't want the fight with me to happen, but the British Boxing Board Of Control came to my rescue and made it happen," he added. Despite Meager's claims, Thaxton insists that he has the utmost respect for anyone willing to face him in the ring. "Maybe he's got crossed wires, of course I've got respect for him. I respect any guy that steps between those ropes, it's a tough and sometimes very lonely place," he said. Graham Everett, Thaxton's trainer, thinks that Meager has dug himself a hole that it may be hard to find a way out of. "No one loves a challenge more than Jon, particularly after a threat," he said. "I actually think it is more down to the fact that Lee is trying to convince himself, or at least that is what it sounds like to me," he added. Lee Meager v Jon Thaxton takes place at the Goresbrook Leisure Center on Friday, 8 December, 2006.For ticket details call 01603 868606/755073. | 
