Kane Baker has dispelled rumors that he is overly emotional about his upcomng bout vs. Aqib Fiaz. After Fiaz (5-0) pulled out of a summer bout vs. Baker, the super featherweight rivals are now rescheduled to collide on the Joshua Buatsi vs. Marko Calic undercard on Sunday October 4th, live on Sky Sports in the UK and DAZN in the US. Baker (13-6) was bitterly disappointed after his golden opportunity on the big stage was ripped away from him at the last moment when Fiaz was pulled from their eight-round contest on the eve of the fight, with the 21 year-old’s team deeming him unfit to box.
“It was an emotional week for me really,” said Baker. “My older brothers were on the phone to me while I was in the bubble. I had to say my goodbyes to their dad before he had his life support machine turned off which was weird, hard and very upsetting for me. He was looking forward to watching my fight. There’s been a lot going around about me being emotional and emotionally attached to Fiaz. I was more emotionally attached to fighting in Eddie’s garden. I also had emotions in my personal life. I had a little rant after the fight was pulled and I don’t know how that came across because I was a bit emotional. I thought to myself, ‘shit, I hope I haven’t let myself down by being a bit emotional, upset and angry’. I had a bit of a rant at him which was all just in the heat of the moment. When Jamie Moore said I was emotionally attached to the Aqib Fiaz fight, he was wrong, it was 100% was nothing to do with Fiaz.
“Fiaz has got the chance to come again, but I’ll tell you now, if I wasn’t well and I pulled out of the fight, I wouldn’t be sat here today getting my chance again. That’s a fact. I’ve had a lot of people message me, there’s more support for me out there now after what happened.
“I’ve heard that he did a lot of that kind of thing in the amateurs, missing weight. He had things his own way in the amateurs and if he wasn’t ready to fight then the fights got pulled. He’s known for it. This is what I’ve been told. I know in my heart of hearts what I believe.”
Former Midlands Area Lightweight Champion Baker, trained by Paul Mann at the BCB Gym, is even more fired up following his Fight Camp heartache, and the 30 year-old is promising to inflict a first career defeat on Oldham prospect Fiaz. “I’m absolutely buzzing it’s back on. Matchroom and Eddie Hearn stuck to their word. It was a hard wait waiting for the new date but they stuck to their word and I’m back out again. I’m in the same position, but there’s much more interest in the fight this time. I’m ready to go straight away. We know the tactics and the plan. It could all go out of the window, and I could just go back to all I know which is having a good tear up! Either way, this fight is going to get 110% of me. I’m going to leave everything in that ring. I know the job at hand. I’m not going to lose sleep over it. I know what I’ve got to do. I know my strengths, and I’m going to show them on Sunday. That should be enough. Aqib, please turn up mate!”
Fiaz vs. Baker is part of a big night of action that sees Croydon’s rising light heavyweight Joshua Buatsi (12-0, 10 KOs) against undefeated Croat Marko Calic (11-0, 6 KOs), Chantelle Cameron (12-0, 7 KOs) lands a world title shot in her very first bout as a Matchroom fighter as she takes on Brazil’s Adriana Dos Santos Araujo (6-0, 1 KO) for the vacant WBC 140-pound crown, heavyweight Alen Babic (4-0, 4 KOs) returns to the UK lto lock horns with Irishman Niall Kennedy (13-1-1, 8 KOs) in an eight rounder, Luton’s Linus Udofia (15-0, 7 KOs) puts his English middleweight title on the line for the first time against Dillian Whyte-backed Brixton man John Harding Jr (8-1-1, 2 KOs) and recent Matchroom signing John Hedges make his pro debut at super middleweight.
