Amateur career
Domestically as an amateur, Gavin represented the Birmingham's Hall Green boxing club with whom he won the English ABA championship in 2005 and 2007 and a 4 Nations championship in 2005.
Internationally, Gavin defeated Giovanni Frontin of Mauritius to win a gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in the lightweight (60 kg) division. That year he won bronze at the European Union Championships losing to Domenico Valentino in the semi final. Gavin has beaten him twice since. At the European Championships 2006 he lost to Olexandr Klyuchko.
2007 World ChampionshipsAt the 2007 World Championships he first beat reigning world silver medallist and fellow southpaw Romal Amanov of Azerbaijan scoring a knockdown. Frankie then caused a huge upset by defeating Russian superstar Aleksei Tishchenko, unbeaten in four years, to reach the final where he beat Italian Domenico Valentino 19:10.
2007 AIBA World Amateur championships held in ChicagoDefeated Omar Ward (Barbados) RSC 3 (0:50)
Defeated Merey Akshalov (Kazakhstan) 20–9
Defeated Ramal Amanov (Azerbaijan) 21–10
Defeated Onur Sipal (Turkey) 16–7
Defeated Alexei Tichtchenko (Russia) 19–10
Defeated Domenico Valentino (Italy) 18–10
He stepped up in weight and won the 2008 E.U. tournament in Poland receiving boxer of the tournament as well. As of 2007 he has won 100 of his 121 amateur contests.
2008 Summer OlympicsGavin was Great Britain's best hope of a boxing medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics, but was unable to make the weight and was therefore unable to compete.
Professional career
In October 2008, Gavin announced that he would turn professional. He signed a contract with promoter Frank Warren and agreed to be trained by Anthony Farnell in Manchester. He made his debut with Olympians James Degale and Billy Joe Saunders which he won with a 4th round stoppage.
