By Emmerson Campbell
Amidst the Phagwah celebrations yesterday, super bantamweight boxer Mandessa Moses was hard at work at the Andrew ‘Sixhead’ Lewis gym preparing for her bout on March 30 against Venezuelan Anys Cedillo.
The bout, over eight rounds at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall will headline the Guyana Boxing Board of Control’s (GBBC) 21st edition of the Guyana Fight Night Pro Am card.
Stabroek Sport caught up with Moses and her coach Lennox Daniels after her workout which included sparring and shadow boxing. During the exclusive interview, the duo predicted a victory and also discussed technical and physical flaws that will be worked on in order to be triumphant on March 30.
Moses, who has not fought since last year February and has never gone past four rounds, noted that she is working on her conditioning, speed and stamina.
Said Moses “I haven’t had a fight in a long time but I am not really rusty because even though I was not in the ring I was always training but I am working on improving my conditioning and speed and stamina I train every day except Saturdays”.
Moses added “In the morning I wake up three o’clock to do road work, I run four to five miles and then in the afternoon I do my sparring, I use the speed ball, I do pad work and other free hand exercise”.
Daniels stressed that Moses’ rhythm and timing is a bit off and he also expressed concern over the fact that she has never gone past four rounds. Nevertheless he stated that the flaws will be worked on in the coming weeks and the final result will be a victory.
“I’m looking at the sparring and she is off target but in the next three weeks we should get where we want to be. We will be working to get her at 100 percent I am concerned to an extent that she never went past four rounds but once we get the timings, stamina and rhythm right I guarantee a victory, I am very confident”. Daniels revealed that Moses’ training regimen in the weeks ahead will include a lot of conditioning, sparring and pad work.
“We will be doing a lot of conditioning and a lot of pad work, which will basically bring her timings and her rhythm up to par, so those are the types of things we will be working on, if we get sparring partners to spar every day we will be sparring” Daniels declared.
Moses who is managed by Dog Pound Inc. also revealed that she is very motivated for the bout with Cedillo because she is scheduled to fight for a World Boxing Council (WBC) Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) title possibly next month.
“When I beat her (Cedillo) I am supposed to get a CABOFE title shot so I am very motivated for this fight” said Moses.
The 21-year old Moses has a record of six wins and one loss while the 39- year old Cedillo’s record reads one win and eight losses.
Meanwhile the professional segment of the card will also feature newly crowned WBC CABOFE champions welterweight knock out specialist Simeon ‘Candy Man’ Hardy and middleweight Edmond ‘Wonder Boy’ DeClou. Mark Austin and Kelsie George will be the ‘Candy Man’s and the ‘Wonder Boy’s respective opponents.
The bout between DeClou who is also managed by Dog Pound Inc. and George will be a six-round catch weight affair while Hardy’s and Austin’s welterweight match up is scheduled for eight rounds.
Also on the professional segment of the card will be a six- round rematch between featherweights Rudolph Fraser and Barbadian Gardel Roberts. Fraser won the first encounter last year February by a unanimous decision.
The names of the boxers who will make up the amateur segment of the card are still unknown.
The monthly card is an initiative of the GBBC in collaboration with the Sports Ministry and the National Communications Network (NCN). Admission is $1,000 while children will be asked to pay half price. Bell time is 20:00 hrs.
