MATT Windle, the game’s only professional poet, is too intelligent not to know there are those already writing his ring obituary.
At the age of 34 and a year-and-a-half away from his last contest – a stoppage defeat – Windle knows the vultures are gathering. In boxing, history happens very quickly.
The man who consistently defied the odds and became a sporting Cinderella Man by lifting the Commonwealth light-flyweight crown is adamant, however.
“I’ll sign off on my terms,” the Birmingham fighter insisted.
And Windle simply cannot sign off on the back of his last performance. In the unlikely sun-drenched setting of the Cayman Islands, Matt defended his Commonwealth title against Craig Derbyshire and was second best.
Seemingly drained from the rigours of squeezing into boxing’s basement weight division, he was pulled out by his corner at the end of the fifth.
“It may sound self-indulgent, but I deserve better for myself,” Windle said. “That was possibly my worst performance. It had nothing to do with the way I boxed or me or the game plan. My body just couldn’t do what I wanted it to do.
“I don’t want that to be the close of something that has been my life since 15. I’ve had 79 fights over the last 18 years, amateur and pro. I don’t want my last one to be my last one.
“I know there are those thinking, he’s not going to fight again – people have doubted me from my amateur days, all my life, really. Each time I’ve got better and better.”
Windle, the three-time Birmingham Poet Laureate, still hopes to one day again make light-fly, though admits it may be a journey too far.
“I want to fight at light-fly,” he said, “I should’ve fought at light-fly years and years before, I know that really is my division.
“Whether my body can do that now…
“I’m training, but being so busy with work I haven’t been able to commit to the dieting more than the training. My diet is good, it’s just getting back to that stringent nutritional routine.
“I’d like to comeback with a six rounder, get a win at 8st 10lbs, have that tick-over fight. Then I’ve only a stone to chip away…I say ‘only’. From there, I’ll be able to see if I can do it.
“Maybe not, but no-one thought I’d be able to do it before. Come back, then try to get an international title.”
The lay-off has certainly not turned Windle into a couch potato. The man is supremely fit.
“I’m keeping myself fit,” he said. ‘It’s not like I’ve been lying on the settee doing b***** all. I’m running six, seven, eight miles no problem, I’m running 30 miles a week. After a big day at work, it’s just getting into the habit of dragging yourself to the gym.”
When Windle sets his mind to something, he does it. That steely determination has seen him not only take the Commonwealth title, but fight for British, Commonwealth and European belts at flyweight.
That grit has seen him go down in weight at an age when most boxers go up.
Who’s to say he can’t conjure another miracle?
