By Emmerson Campbell
Proud owner of South America’s fastest knockout Simeon ‘Candy Man’ Hardy has reiterated his intent to knockout Iwan ‘Pure Gold’ Azore when they match gloves Friday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH).
Hardy and Azore will fight for the vacant WBC Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) welterweight title in the headline bout of the 20th edition of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) Guyana Fight Night Pro Am card.
During his training session at the Forgotten Youth Foundation (FYF) Gym yesterday the ‘Candy Man’ who is well known for trash talking his opponents, predicted the way in which he thinks the fight will end.
“The motto is ‘out goes Azore before round four.’
“Like I said before, I have a pillow list for 2012. Azore is just the first one on my pillow list and when I knock him out I will scratch off his name off the list and go on to the next one,” boasted Hardy.
The 24-year-old Hardy, who has a patented punch dubbed ‘the chin checker’ said his ‘pillow list’ is a list of names of boxers who he will put to sleep on the king size bed known as the canvas.
Hardy is undefeated in his six-fight professional career with only one of those bouts going the distance. All five of his knockout victims failed the ‘chin check test’ before round four. Most notably was Patrick Boston, who failed his test just 20 seconds into round one in Hardy’s debut bout in October 2010.
However, Azore, 29, who is Guyana’s welterweight champion, is a proven, battle-tested southpaw with a record of 14 wins, four losses and three draws.
The Trinidad and Tobago-based Azore in a previous interview with Stabroek Sport disclosed that his experience will enable him to get the better of Hardy especially in the latter rounds.
If the bare-knuckle punch-out that ensued between the two boxers at the contract signing is a preview for the headliner, patrons will be in for a punch-filled treat.
Will Azore fail the ‘chin check’ test or will the ‘Candy Man’ suffer his first bitter defeat? That question will be answered on Friday night.
Meanwhile, in excess of 400 pounds of muscle combined will collide on the undercard when former local heavyweight champion Mitchell ‘Strong Man’ Rogers and Anthony Augustin match gloves in a four-round rematch. Rogers, who won the first bout by a unanimous decision in January 2010, has stated this time around he has no plans of taking the fight to the distance.
‘Strong Man’ who also trains at the FYF Gym as Hardy, echoed his gym-mate’s predictions for his encounter.
“This is a new year and my strategy is a different one, last year I would find myself going out there and boxing with these guys and allowing them to warm-up. Not anymore. As soon as the bell rings, I’m going to apply pressure and go for the knockout,” disclosed Rogers.
Augustin, who is currently doing direct preparation and a fight plan, said that he would not expose his fight plans but if the knockout comes he will go for it.
The undercard will also feature welterweights Jermaine King coming up against Cecil Smith in a four-round rematch while Guyana’s middleweight champion, Edmond DeClou, will also match gloves with James Walcott in a four-round catch-weight contest.
The amateur segment of the card was to be headlined by two Road-to-London Olympic Games pugilists, bantamweights Imran ‘Magic’ Khan and Richard Williamson. Khan is now out after he was stabbed in the arm on Thursday.
Khan will be replaced by the inaugural Ronald Wilson Memorial Boxing Tournament silver medalist, Dellon Charles from the FYF Gym. Charles and Williamson will be matching gloves for the second time. Williamson, who also copped a silver medal at the same Memorial tournament in Barbados last year, defeated Charles on points at the 19th staging of the Pro Am card last month.
Williamson’s younger brother Joel Williamson will also be on the amateur segment of the card. The younger Williamson will be matching gloves with Travis Hubbard who trains at the Harpy Eagles Gym in Albouystown in the 95-99 pounds category.
Other pugilists who will be making up the amateur segment will be another Harpy Eagles’ product Randolph Singh who will take on Young Achievers product Quincy Gomes in a lightweight contest.
Matthew Hollingsworth from the Five Star Boxing Gym will come up against Diwani Lampkin from the Forgotten Youth Foundation Gym in a 100-106 pound matchup.
The monthly card is an initiative of the GBBC in collaboration with the Sports Ministry and the National Communications Network (NCN).
Sponsors of the event include Digicel, Giftland Office Max, Courts, Banks DIH Limited and ANSA McAl.
Admission is $1,000 while children will be asked to pay half price. Bell time is 20:00 hrs.
