?Where?s AJ? He should be worried about me.? ? Tyson Cave
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 26 Jul 2011
Cebu City - Tyson Cave had the Cebu Press Corps eating out of his hands in one of the more animated and entertaining press conferences seen in recent years. Cave will face WBO Asia-Pacific bantamweight titlist AJ ?Bazooka? Banal of Ermita,Cebu City this July 30 at the Hoops Dome in Lapu-lapu City.
?I would like to thank ALA Promotions for this tremendous opportunity. This will be a fight between two great champions. Banal is a great champion, I?m a great champion. I?m here and ready to fight. I want to be known over here in Cebu?s boxing community. This is a boxing island. After this fight, I will be known as the Filipino Tyson.? Cave even had fun of one of the sportswriters who suggested that he go toe to toe with Banal. ?You?re obviously an AJ Banal fan. He has nineteen knockouts, but for you I?ll bang with him. After the fight you'll be the first to embrace me.?
Cave also said that Banal should not look past him and think about the Rafael Concepcion rematch. ?Where is AJ? He should worry about me, not Concepcion. I?ll beat Concepcion after I beat Banal.?
?I?m pretty and I don?t get hit? Cave said and he named Muhammad Ali and Prince Naseem Hamed as his favorite boxers. ?I?m gonna feed off the energy of the room. AJ?s gonna say ?I hate him, why is he doing this to me???
Cave (15W-1L, 5 KO's) won the vacant WBC Continental Americas super bantamweight title beating Nestor Bolum by unanimous decision last January. His lone career loss was by 8th round TKO to Willie Casey. This will be Cave's first fight outside of Canada. Banal (24W-1L-1D, 19 KO?s) knocked out Francis Miyeyusho of Tanzania in two rounds last March at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel. But Banal?s reputation doesn?t faze him. ?I?m confident against anybody I fight. Tyson Cave is here!?
Cave, also known as the Prince of Hali, also has his eyes on the Filipino women, but they?ll have to wait until after the fight. Cave has an after school boxing program for under privileged kids. There are even a couple of Filipino kids boxing in his center. ?Yes, I want to be trainer someday, I love kids. I come from the ghetto, I could not afford a hockey stick or skates, but I got these (hold out his fists), so I boxed.?
Together with Tyson were members of Team Cave ? Trainers Karim Colette, Kelvin Frazier, Michael Louis Philips and his father Robert Cave.
Top photo: Tyson Cave holds court during Tuesday's presscon at the Maya Restaurant in Banilad, Cebu City.
Team Cave (L-R): Trainers Karim Collette, Kelvin Frazier, Cave, Michael Philips and Cave's father Robert Cave.
Indonesian boxers Richard Samosir and Eddy Camaro with trainers.
Also attending the presscon were Richard Samosir and Eddy Camaro of Indonesia. Samosir (18W-3L-3D, 7 KO's) is the Indonesian bantamweight champion. He will be facing Michael Domingo (40W-15L-2D, 18 KO?s) of Sultan Kudarat. Domingo has not fought since he lost to Vusi Malinga last October 2010 in South Africa in an IBF title eliminator. But, he has kept himself active by working as a sparring partner in Japan.
This will be 27 year old Samosir?s first time to fight in Philippines. Camaro (24W-10L-4 D, with 9 KO's) is familiar to Filipino fight fans. Last January 23, 2010, the 25 year old Indonesian gave Jason Pagara a rough time before losing by majority decision in the undercard of the Brian Viloria vs Carlos Tamara IBF lt.flyweight title bout at the Cuneta Astrodome.
Camaro said that Pagara was just slightly better that night. Camaro will fight Lorenzo ?Thunderbolt? Villanueva, the reigning WBO Oriental featherweight champion. The undefeated Villanueva (20W, 19 KO?s with 1 no contest) stopped James Mokoginta of Indonesia in Bacolod City last April in 5 rounds.
Also set to appear in the undercard are Eusebio Baluarte of Cagayan de Oro and Romeo Jakosalem of Tagbilaran City, who are set to dispute the Philippine jr.welterweight title. Last March, Jakosalem won a dramatic come-from-behind TKO win over Steve Claggett of Canada at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel.
Jomar Cordinillo of Bohol vs Jonathan Refugio of Bukidnon (8 rounds), Albert Pagara of Maasin City vs Jaime Alin of Bukidnon (6 rounds), the flashy Jojo Intor of Negros Oriental vs Cris Leon of Bukidnon (4 rounds) and Ryan Maano of Mandaue City vs Yoshinobu Arai of Japan (4rounds) round up the undercards.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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