By Emmerson Campbell
“I will become a world champion. I am world-class material. I am rated number 38 under Floyd Mayweather and everything I have said has come to pass and I am going to become a world champion that people would never forget,” Simeon ‘Candy Man’ Hardy said yesterday.
The Guyanese born and bred Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) welterweight champion made the prophecy during an interview with Stabroek Sport.
Hardy recently broke into the World Boxing Council’s (WBC) world Top 40 ranking which is an outstanding achievement. But the undefeated knockout specialist said the ranking is just the first step on the ladder, as he has his eyes set on the world title.
Once a fighter has made it into the top 40 WBC world rankings, he is eligible for bigger fights against higher rated boxers as well as a shot first at the WBC International title, then the WBC Silver belt and finally the WBC world title, the most prestigious title in boxing.
“Breaking into the top 40 was great,” Hardy enthused. “It makes me feel that I am getting somewhere in the sport of boxing and that gives me encouragement to work hard. But now that I am up there, I have to work even harder to reach to the top.”
He added, “I just have to stay active and keep winning. I most definitely want to become a legend in the sport that is how seriously I am approaching the sport of boxing.
“In two years I see myself in the top 10 or further up having big fights with the best fighters in the world. By then I will be ready because two years of hard work has paid off a lot.”
The ‘Candy Man’ and the top three local CABOFE champions, flyweight Dexter ‘De Kid’ Marques, bantamweight Elton ‘Coolie Bully’ Dharry and middleweight Edmond ‘Wonder Boy’ DeClou, will all have a chance to fast track their careers and world rankings, in the lucrative 40-week WBC World Cup which will box off in February.
The 24-year old Forgotten Youth Foundation product who has disposed of seven of his nine opponents intimated that he still has ambitions of placing former world champions Andrew ‘Sixhead’ Lewis and’ Vicious’ Vivian Harris on his “pillow list”. Hardy boasted, “Some of the guys who are on my pillow list [and who] have not slept as yet [include] Sixhead [and] Vivian Harris. These are fighters I look up to and want to step in the ring with. Me and Vivian already have a verbal agreement but the promoters just have to do their work.” The Candy Man’s next ring date is scheduled to be October 27 against Iwan Azore for the local welterweight title.
Hardy’s compatriots and fellow CABOFE champions, Marques (31), Dharry (39) and DeClou (39) all recently acquired top 40 world rankings.
