AS we wait with bated breath for the World Boxing Council (WBC) gold bantamweight title bout pitting Zambia’s icon Catherine Phiri against champion Yazmin Rivas in Mexico on November 28, there’s a lot of buzz in boxing circles.
This follows a recent announcement by Oriental Quarries Boxing Promotions (OQBP) director of operations Chris Malunga that the WBC had settled for Mexico as the venue for the much anticipated fight.
The first and probably the most important question many are asking is whether the venue for this important fight will be good for the Zambian star, given that she’s never fought out of Zambia before.
Here are my thoughts on the matter. First, and this is a universal truth, not just for boxing but any other sports for that matter, if you’re good enough, you can win anywhere. In this respect, Catherine has much chance of winning the title as her opponent.
But what does being ‘good enough’ mean? It means having the following attributes before and during the fight. Let’s start with the physical aspect. The fighter should have been taken through a consistent and rigorous training regimen which leads to supreme fitness, let alone stamina and endurance levels.
To achieve this, the sparring partners must be the type that can push Catherine, test her skills to the limit. The question I have is whether there are enough tough female sparring partners for Catherine and if there are not in her weight class I’d suggest sessions with those slightly above her weight.
Don’t get me wrong. The idea is to get her take harder punches in training so that whatever Rivas will give, she can take.
The next factor is attitude. Is the boxer going into the fight with a 100 per cent attitude to win? Attitude is perhaps more important than anything else. It means, among others, the ability to get up from the canvas and continue to fight and win.
It means to endure cuts and never getting discouraged. In a word, attitude is the corner stone in facing and conquering adversity in the ring.
For Catherine, there is one factor going for her. She could draw inspiration from her stable mate Charles Manyuchi who has fought twice outside Zambia. He battered Patrice Tope in Burkina Faso to take the African Boxing Union welterweight title and Genluca Frezza in Italy in defence of the WBC international title.
It’s good to know Catherine has watched some video footage of her opponent. What can we make of this? She will be going into the fight with full knowledge and exploit early any weaknesses she’s noticed.
Knowledge about whether your opponent is a brawler, a swarmer or boxer-puncher certainly puts one in a position to prepare an appropriate game plan.
Does the opponent like cutting off the ring? What are the opponent’s strongest assets; is it the jab, the right overhand or a crazy uppercut? Is she a body puncher and all? Armed with this knowledge, and overcoming stage fright, Catherine’s mission to Mexico could be successful.
Talking about body punches, I’d advise that she watches those. Against Christina McMahon, who focused on body shots in the championship rounds, Catherine appeared not to have adjusted well and was in trouble. She will do well to remember that Mexicans like going to “war”.
I’m no boxing coach, but from what I have seen, and continue to see, smart boxers clinch in style when the going is tough. It’s not wise to keep exchanging punches with a body puncher and all you need is to frustrate the opponent from getting into any rhythm.
Recall, if you can, how Evander “The Real deal” Holyfield foiled Tyson’s strength and aggression through punch-and-grab tactics before knocking him out? The key word is reading the fight and making the necessary adjustments at the right time.
Tonight, meanwhile, the unification of the middleweight division is on between IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs) against IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (GGG) (33-0, 30 KOs) at Madison Square Garden in New York.
This is a five-star fight in which the dreaded GGG could be tested by the hard hitting Canadian. But it looks like GGG will unify by stoppage and look to a meeting with the winner of Saul “Canelo”Alvarez versus Miguel Cotto set for November 21.
Comments:mwale.simon@yahoo.co.uk 0966755574/0953