PINOY PRIDE XVII: Q & A with Team Miguel ?Hands of Stone? Antoine
By Mike Angel Lopez PhilBoxing.com Mon, 08 Oct 2012
MINGLANILLA, CEBU - From the Beautiful island of Cebu Philippines to the beautiful island of Barbados in the Caribbean Islands, Sam Layne, one of the top trainers in Barbados and the Caribbean Islands shares a little insight about his fighter WBC Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) Lightweight Champion Miguel ?Hands of Stone? Antoine (17-0-1-9KOs) for the biggest fight of his career for the WBO International Light Welterweight Champion against the reigning Champion Jason Pagara (29-2-18Kos) of the world famous ALA Boxing Gym of Cebu City Philippines.
Lopez: Are you excited to fight in the Philippines?
Layne: Yes, we are excited to fight in the land of Pacquiao and Donaire.
Lopez: Jason Pagara is ranked 7th in the WBO world light welterweight rankings, are you well prepared for this fight?
Layne: Yes, Extremely. We have been waiting and training for a fight against a top ten fighter, we will be ready.
Lopez: How did he get the nickname ?Hands of Stone??
Layne: In a TV interview after his first professional fight, he was asked, ?how did you knockout your opponent in the first round?, Antoine raised his hands and said, ?With these Hands of Stone?.
Lopez: You will arrive Sunday October 14, is six days enough time to acclimate to the weather in the Philippines?
Layne: The climate in the Philippines is the same as Barbados and six days is plenty enough time for our bodies to acclimate and Antoine is in great shape, we don?t see any problem. It is a long flight to the Philippines. We will travel from Barbados to Miami, Miami to Los Angeles and direct to Manila.
Lopez: Fighting in the country of Pagara and having Filipino judges, do you think you have to win by knockout?
Layne: We will win by Knockout, that is what we trained for, but we trained also to go the 12 rounds and we know that the judges were fair in a fight with Mexican Rosbel Montoya when he won against Pagara. We don?t see a problem with the judges.
Lopez: Have you seen videos of Pagara on YouTube?
Layne: Yes, and we have a great fight plan. We will shock the Philippines with our win. We are ending camp later this week and then head straight to the Philippines.
Lopez: Barbados is not big on the boxing map, who were some good fighters to come out of Barbados?
Layne: Tyrone Dowes was a great fighter; he fought Jeff Fenech for the world title. Christopher ?Shaka? Henry was IBU World Light Middleweight Champion with many numerous regional titles.
Lopez: What can the Filipino boxing fans expect from the style of Antoine?
Layne: Antoine is fast. His footwork is sweet. He has power in his punches and he can take big punches. He has great defense and his record speaks for itself.
Lopez: Any final words for Pagara and the boxing fans of the Philippines?
Layne: We are honored to fight in the Philippines and a thank you ALA Boxing Promotions for giving us this opportunity. We have trained hard for this fight and WE WILL WIN BY
KNOCKOUT!!!!!!!!! The belt will go back to BARBADOS!
Coming up: Q & A with Daniel ?Canerito? Ruiz.
Photo: Miguel Antoine in his training camp in Barbados.
