James Tennyson in for a ‘rude awakening’ says angry IBF champion Tevin Farmer

TEVIN Farmer bristles at the very suggestion that James Tennyson can bully him and knock him out if he lands a clean shot on Saturday night.

The Philadelphian IBF super-featherweight champion says challenger Tennyson is in for “a rude awakening” when they meet at the TD Garden. He predicts that the Belfast man will be the one backpedaling.

“Everybody thinks that sh*t,” Farmer told The Irish News.

“I don’t know where people get that sh*t from. They think he is going to walk me down but they’re delusional, I don’t know where they get that because it ain’t never been shown.

“It’s going to be a rude awakening for him when I’m pushing him back. Name a fighter since I started taking boxing seriously who has pushed me back? Every fight I dictate the pace.

“They can say what they want but you’ll see him going backwards for sure.”

He added: “He can fight, to get to this level you have to be able to fight somewhat but he doesn’t have what it takes to fight a guy at my level.

“I think he should have gone for a different champion but to each his own, he’s confident and he thinks he can beat me but it ain’t going to happen.”

Farmer is giving away at least six inches in height and there were rumours that he is struggling to make the 130lb super-featherweight limit. But he is supremely confident going into the fight.

“You can’t be a champion if you ain’t confident,” he said.

“I want to put on a show, I always want to put on a show. That’s my goal.

“I started boxing at 19 years old. It wasn’t my sport, I knew nothing about it but it was just something I wanted to do and I got a few losses and then changed my whole team and started moving forward.

“I tried it, I learned on the job and I turned out to be good at it.”