By Aus-Boxing.com
THERE is nothing quite like a fight with feeling.
When two fighters display an open disdain for one another it’s usually the fans that win and it’s becoming increasingly apparent that George Kambosos Jr. and Brandon Ogilvie really don’t like each other.
The war of words has dominated the camps of both men in the lead up to their December 2nd bout at Sydney’s iconic Luna Park but it’s Kambosos who plans on having the last laugh.
Ogilvie and his team have had plenty say in the past few weeks, claiming that Kamobosos has fought no one and that he went to the US to merely shadow box in front of a mirror and whilst this kind of talk only adds to the build of the fight, Kambosos thinks very little of his opponents words and ability.
“He hasn’t changed, he’s an amateur,” scoffed Kambosos.
“His style is sloppy, he only has three decent punches, he’s slow and his footwork is horrible; my Grandma has better footwork than him. You look at the guys he’s fought, he’s talking about me having fought nobody but who’s he fought?”
All the talk from Ogilvie and his team means little to Kambosos but it has led him to question whether or not the Perth native has taken this fight as seriously as he should have.
“I know his team came out and said I was shadow boxing in front of a mirror but that’s just another fantasy story, one that their whole team believes,” said Kambosis.
“I’ve heard about three or four fantasy stories from them now and that’s going to be his downfall. If he believes that then he definitely hasn’t trained hard enough.”
Despite his thoughts on his opponent, Kambosos certainly isn’t leaving anything to chance with this fight. He recently spent six weeks in America and he believes his time spent over there will be beneficial when faces off with Ogilvie.
“America was very beneficial,” says Kambosos. “We were sparring the best guys in the world. I put a whooping on Sergey Lipinets the four or five times that we sparred”
“Andrey Klimov, who lost a points decision to Terence Crawford, I sparred him three or four times, belted him while he had Buddy McGirt in his corner. Buddy was freaking out.”
Whilst the successful trip to the U.S. may have taken place before his official training camp began Kambosos has always been a guy that takes his lifestyle very seriously. He likes to keep himself in shape all year round and it’s this dedication that puts him in a league of his own in Australia right now.
“I’m a very hungry and dedicated fighter,” Kambosos declares.
“I take my sport very seriously and that’s why I believe I’m on another level to any fighter in Australia. If you see the way I train, you’d say this guy is not from this planet.”
Australian boxing has gone through some lean years in recent times. We’ve witnessed so many of our best fighters fail to gain the lofty heights of our previous champions and when asked what the big picture is for him, Kambosos is quick to point out he wants to become one of Australia’s greatest.
“I want to show that Australia does have an elite fighter,” Kambosos says.
“I want to be at the top, I want to have all the belts. At 23 years old, I have a world rating and I’m probably the most talked about fighter in Australia already. You put one thing up (online) and it explodes, you get a lot of people that hate but at the end of the day that motivates me. The more they talk, the harder I train. The end goal is the belts and unifying all of them.”
In order to achieve such lofty ambitions, Kambosos knows he has to get through Ogilvie first and he plans to make a big statement with this fight before he intends to venture into deeper waters in America.
“The fight is going to be a statement from myself,” boasts Kambosos.
“I’m going to outbox him, if he goes to sleep, he goes to sleep. If his head comes off, his head comes off. There’s pretty much four options for him, he quits, he’s on his back, his team throws the towel in to save him, which sends him back to Perth fighting on little shows, or the referee does him a favour and stops the fight.”
Kambosos doesn’t lack the skills, nor the confidence to become one of Australia’s most decorated fighters but before he tackles the greater challenges he has set for himself he has to first get past his toughest test to date in Brandon Ogilvie.
It’s looking likely that regardless of the result, Aussie fight fans are in for a treat with this fight.
Words: Dan Attias (Follow Dan on Twitter @Dan_Attias)
Photo: Provided
More News
Liu Gang, Brico Santig Join Forces
Highland’s Double Impact: August 18 at Lumpinee
Balajadia, Atencio in Action in Thailand