Hennessy Sports today held their Cobra's Hood press event at
Nottingham's Revolution Vodka bar, in honour of their russian guest and
Froch-opponent Sergey Tatevosyan.
Nottingham favourite Froch, who stopped his last opponent Tony Dodson
in 3 rounds with a brutal body shot, was in relaxed mood ahead of his
showdown with Novosibirsk-born Tatevosyan.
"Training has gone very well" explained the Cobra "Usually i keep in
shape year round, ticking over in the gym and on the bags, but having
recently bought a house in London i have had an extended camp in the
Hennessey gym"
"Eric Teymour has been chief spar, a guy who naturally walks round
considerably heavier myself and is a very good fighter and also a
lefty. I have upped the running more than usual for this fight, not too
much and have also been sparring with one of the best prospects in the
country, John O'Donnell - who is also a lefty and extremely fast and
can put together 15 punches together and at 5'11 is also a good height.
So i have the speed covered in sparring with John and i have Teymour to
let the bombs go"
Mick Hennessy added: "When i took Carl over to LA for the Henry Porras
fight, we went south-central LA, a very tough area, where they had a
boxing gym we could use"
"We went in and there was Sergey, in the ring having wars with the
locals, a russian in the gym featured in Boyz in the hood, thats the
kind of person Sergey is - a tough operator, who loves to fight with
anyone"
Tatevosyan,
who has faced world-class punchers like Lucien Bute and Howard Eastman,
has never been stopped and has also burst the bubble of prospects like
Rudy Markussen and current Euro-belt holder Devy Gogiya, who he stopped
by KO and decision, respectively.
Sergey was complimentary towards his adversary, adding that "Carl was a
good guy and a warrior - that he liked him as a fighter" he said
smilingly through his russian interpreter "And that he would punch him
extra hard"
When asked whether he would like to discuss Carl with regards his last
opponent, Lucien Bute Sergey said he would not comment and would maybe
discuss this after the fight.
I managed to talk to Sergey and asked him the same question in private:
what was Bute like? "Bute is the best i have fought, very hard punch"
he said in broken English "Maybe he could beat Kessler" he paused
"Kessler is very very good boxer, Bute is very good too.....
maybe...maybe not"
The press conference was wrapped up with Mick Hennessy discussing
Carl's rapid ascension through the World Boxing Ranking systems "Soon
Carl will be the mandatory to Calzaghe's WBO belt - then Joe wouldn't
be able to duck Froch any longer"
Carl added "I expect him to either move up to light-heavy...or retire if and when that happens"
Cobra's Hood, Nottingham Arena Friday 23rd March - Tickets priced £25-80. Live on Sky Sports.
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