New Champ Juan Urango Rejects Big Money Offer from N'dou...Ben Rabah Next?

BoxingTalk:  Lovemore, congratulations on your win last month against Manopchai Singmanasak.  How do you feel about your performance in that fight?

Lovemore N’dou: I’m quite happy with my performance. Everything went according to plan. Which basically was to wear my opponent down every round and finally execute him. We worked on every little move I made in that fight in the gym and I’m glad I was able to put it into practice in the fight. And all thanks to my team at the Grange Old School boxing.

BoxingTalk:  You had Singmanasak down in rounds three and four.  When you first knocked him down, was you plan at that point to knock him out, which you did in the 5th?

Lovemore N’dou: I knew eventually I was gonna knock him out but I was not in a hurry to do that. The more rounds I put in my bag the better for me. However, I said it before that from now onwards whomever I step into the ring with it’s gonna be boom-shakalaah. That’s how motivated I am and it all boils down to having good people around me (The team at the Grange Old School Boxing, especially Bill Treacy)

BoxingTalk:  Recently Juan Urango defeated Naoufel Ben Rabah for the IBF Junior Welterweight title.  Since you are now the highest ranking 140-pounder in the IBF to fight for the title, what is the word on you fighting Urango for his belt?

Lovemore N’dou: My management team in Australia made Juan Urango an offer to come to the land down under and fight me but he turned it down. My promoter, Murad Muhammad also made Urango’s people a good offer (about five times what he made when he fought Rabah) but still they knocked it back. But looking at it from a business point of view his promoter, Leon Margules, is a very smart and astute businessman. And I respect that. He knows I will beat Juan Urango at any given day so what he is doing is try and get Urango an easy fight and make him some money before risking it against a danger like myself. So it looks like Urango will have his voluntary defence before he decides to hand the title to the rightful and deserving owner, me of course! Eventually this fight is gonna happen and if he is still champion by then I’m gonna whup him, simply as that.

BoxingTalk:  I heard that you might actually have to face Ben Rabah before facing Urango.  Is there any truth to that?

Lovemore N’dou: Yes, there is a lot of truth in that. The IBF has ordered a box-off for the No.1 position between Ben Rabah and myself. And negotiations are in progress at the moment and hopefully by early next week we will have something solidified. Then it will be time to give Rabah a boxing lesson. This is a fight that has been in the making for quite some time now and I’m just glad it’s finally gonna happen. After watching Rabah and Urango fight for the vacant IBF title from ringside, I feel on that performance, even on my worst night, I would knock both of them out in the same night. That was a terrible fight which did not deserve world title status. Even the four rounders on the undercard were better fights as compared to that scrap.

BoxingTalk:  With four of your last fights ending by knockout victories, are you looking continue your knockout trend when you get your title shot?

Lovemore N’dou: No doubt about that. But first I have to knock Ben Rabah out . And believe me it’s gonna be a devastating KO. I’m not the one to usually make predictions but this time it’s personal and somebody is gonna get hurt. When people disrespect me I make them pay dearly. Ask Justin Rowsell or Renato Cornett, another two who had to find out the wrong way about disrespecting me. Rabah’s camp has been disrespecting me for quite a while now and it’s about time they learn to shut the f… up!

BoxingTalk:  You have gone up for different titles before, but why would this time around be different when you finally get that chance again?

Lovemore N’dou: I only fought for an Interim title before against Sharmba Mitchell and anyone that saw that fight would tell you that I whupped him if only for the politics involved in the sport. To add to this, this was a fight I took in a week’s notice. Then I fought some eliminators against Cotto and Witter. Again fights I took on less than 10 days notice. Despite that I gave a hell of performance on both occasions. I had them both running for survival towards the end. But hey, to me it’s history. I look to the future now and if anything I learnt a lot from those fights. Like the saying goes, a smart man learns from his mistakes. I sure learnt to never take fights on short notice again. Apart from all that, like I said before, right now I’m so motivated and I don’t feel anything or anybody can stop me from achieving my goals, that is, winning a world title. I have a good team (Grange Old School Boxing) behind me. All they wanna see is for my dream to come true. And they are doing everything in their power to see to it that it happens. Some people are lucky to get their breaks early in their career whereas others have to wait till later in their career to get theirs. I think I’m just one of those people. I see myself as a version of Marvin Hagler or Glen Johnson. The best thing about it is when I finally get my break I’m gonna make the best out of it. And finally, to the fans, stay tuned and it won’t be long before I bring you the world title. And to Boxingtalk.com, keep doing what you do best, that is, bringing the fans the best boxing news from around the globe. PEACE!

M

Send questions and comments to: DNick@BoxingTalk.com