– “The best is yet to come”
Guyana’s Leon ‘Hurry up’ Moore has moved three places up the World Boxing Council’s (WBC) world rankings to number seven and the fighter believes that the best is yet to come.
The new rankings were released yesterday and showed the Guyanese as the only boxer from out of the Caribbean to be within the top 10 of the world’s best super bantamweight fighters.
Speaking with Stabroek Sport yesterday, the 30-year-old Moore said that he is deeply moved and elated by his placing in the WBC ratings and expressed heartfelt thanks to those who have helped him so far in his career.
“First of all it’s a great feeling for me right now making such a significant move in the world rankings. I know that I have been working hard over the years to not only meet where I am right now, but also to be the best fighter. So I just want to thank my manager Carwyn Holland and my sponsors as well as my supporters for the encouragement,” said Moore.
“I want to thank the WBC as well, you know, I think they like to see me fight. But trust me there is still a lot to expect from Leon Moore soon, because it’s all now beginning,” the fighter declared.
“I want to fight in like two or three divisions and become champions in them as well, and those are from featherweight, bantamweight and super bantamweight and I know I can do it, so right now I’m just happy with the way things are going for me and it can only get better,” he added.
‘Hurry-up’ Moore’s record stands at 24 wins from 26 fights, 22 of which came by way of knockouts and two losses.
His most recent win was on June 26 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall when he whipped Dexter ‘The Kid’ Marques with a second round technical knockout (TKO) to reclaim his National Bantamweight Title which he had vacated in 2007.
It was that same year that Moore took the WBC Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) title by defeating Linden Arthur in Barbados with a fifth round TKO.
His two losses in his career came in title fights, but the officials were criticized for what was deemed as cheating the Guyanese of his opportunity to shine.
On October 21, 2006 in Barranquilla, Colombia, he went down on a split decision to home fighter Irene Pacheco in a World Boxing Organisation (WBO) Inter-Continental title fight after which the local judges who scored Pacheco a winner were banned for life for dishonest scoring.
Moore suffered again from questionable scoring on March 16, 2007 when he faced local fighter Timur Shailezov in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan where the judges scored Shailezov a winner by majority decision.
However, Moore will have a shot at the vacant North American Boxing Association (NABA) Bantamweight Title, when he faces Colombian Mauricio Pastrana over 12 rounds on home soil, Saturday, September 26.
A venue for the fight is not yet known but a source close to Holland’s Entertainment and S and S Promotions, who are responsible for staging the fight, said that depending on the weather, it would be staged at the National Park or the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
“Well my aim is to be a world champion, I know it would be hard but I am determined to become a world champion. My time is coming soon, so watch out for Leon Moore, not because I made a move in the rankings, I want to be the best,” the hard hitting fighter maintained.
