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Australian Eyes Turn To Briggs-Kelly!
By Tony Nobbs
16.09 - With the De La Hoya-Vargas fight over, the attention of the Australian fight fraternity turns towards Wednesday nights local showdown between OPBF Lt Heavyweight Champion Paul Briggs (16-1, 13 ko) and challenger Glenn Kelly (28-1-1, 18 ko) at Sydney's Horden Pavilion. The scheduled 12 rounder is a Pay Per View event and tops a strong seven fight card.
It's a bout that has been a long time coming with feeling between both boxers and the confident WBC #13 Briggs saying today it will be "the birth of Paul Briggs as a star" but somewhat of an ant climax after Kelly's disappointing showing against Roy Jones in February. "Glenn was exposed against Jones. He showed his true colours against the first real boxer he fought. If you're a fighter, you don't do that. I don't care if your facing a pound for pound superman, if you are a fighter, you fight anyone" said Briggs at last Tuesday's press conference at Fox Studio's in Sydney.
The 27 year old former World Kickboxing Champion also believes the experience he gained during his illustrious career in Kickboxing will carry him through not only this fight but future contests.
"I have fought before 40,000 people in Tokyo against some of the scariest blokes on the planet, getting kneed, kicked, elbowed, not just punched. Ok, these guys aren't Roy Jones but they were scary guys and I was basically just a kid. If you are a fighter, you are only one punch away from winning, it only takes one hand and a heart beat to knock a man out. It doesn't matter if you are getting the living hell beaten out of you, you still have a go".
A professional kick boxer since the age of 15, Briggs' self belief stems from the fact that he has come up the ranks the hard way. He was a World Champion at 18 and was a major star in Japan. His first pro fight in boxing was in 1994, a 10 round unanimous decision over tough Ronald Doo, who once gave Troy Waters a difficult time in a Commonwealth Title fight. Because of Kickboxing commitments and a party animal lifestyle he never boxed again until January 1997, and was stopped in 3 rounds by southpaw Larl Zada after literally walking out of a night club. He returned in late 1999 and soon linked with trainer-manager Rod Waterhouse. Under Waterhouse's guidance he has scored 14straight wins, the most recent a 4 round ko of Samoan Seu Mailata in a mandatory defence of his OPBF Title, he won in March by TKO 4 Paul Smallman.
Kelly, 31, is rated # 11 by the WBC and # 1 by the OPBF. He has promised to put the Kelly loss behind him and resurrect his career with a win over the heavily hyped Briggs in what is a cross roads fight. The winner will move into the WBC top 10. At the press conference where he and Briggs came face to face, Kelly said "This is a fight I have to win. It is a fight Australia has been waiting to se for a long time. Paul deserves the opportunity to get to where I am.This is make or break for me, I'm not looking beyond this fight. If I can't beat Paul,I might as well retire. Paul has been bagging me for a long time, we will see how he feels after our fight".
Since Jones, Kelly has returned to training under the guidance of Dino Billinghurst at Kostya Tszyu's boxing academy in Sydney. Billinghurst was an assistance of George Reno, who steered Kelly to the number 4 rating in the IBF. Reno also took Glenn's brother Kevin to a WBA 154 lb Title shot with David Reid in '99 and Kevin can consider himself unlucky not to have bought the belt home, losing a UD after knocking the American Dream down in the fifth. Glenn left Reno for Jeff Fenech after shutting out dangerous Fijian Mosese Sorovi in March 2000, and got to the IBF mandatory status by twice stopping Jamacian southpaw Billy Lewis, a Jones sparring partner. He says he is back to boxing and moving, to the form that once had several believing he was the better Kelly brother and a boxer to be reckoned with on the World level.
Briggs said today that he knows Kelly has done the work but "no matter what he has done in the gym, what ever confidence Dino has in him, no matter how fit Dino has got him, when that bell rings, it is just him and me. He knows that and he knows he is not ready for me. At the press conference, I was bigger than him, which is a surprise as everyone talks about hi m being a big guy.. From a distance, he looks huge but as he gets closer he shrinks. Last week, face to face, he was being real nice, considering some of the things he'd said about me. Like he has never hated anyone like me. Oh, I can't wait. I've wanted Glenn for two years but he wouldn't fight me. He said I never deserved the chance and he wanted Roy Jones.This is gonna be awesome. I'm not going to there to play with him. This fight, I need to bomb him to look impressive,it is a major fight with a lot of interest. People are talking about Paul Briggs now. When I won the World Title in Kickboxing, it was like wow, you won a World Title, so what. People never appreciated me here but that guy was no Mickey Mouse World Champion. He was a real fighter".
While in Sydney last week, Briggs got in some valuable sparing with IBF Pan Pacific Super Middleweight Champ Danny Green from the Team Fenech stable. "Danny was excellent to spar. I will work with him for future fights.He is strong and has a good jab. And a real nice guy, we just clicked. Then Rod brought up (heavyweight)Kali Meehan, we did four days which was great to complete my preparation. Kali is great for me,he is what I need, he brings out my best. We always work well together and he has that long reach. Rod wanted him to help me with my distance".
After this bout Briggs hopes to fight before December and a possible opponent is WBC International Champ Sase Mitreski. "I expect to go to # 7 or 8 after this fight but have been told I could go into the top 5. Then a fight with a contender and I should go top 2 or 3. With Roy moving up to
fight John Ruiz,the division will open up. I feel, with Roy out of the way, I can dominate the division. Me and Rod are really stepping it up now, getting more professional. Bringing Joe Cursio in as my PR man has helped Rod concentrate moreon my training,and he is more motivated now as well. I've got a great team behind me. My pad man Richard Walsh does a great job my body men Craig and Brian Berry are brilliant. They know every bone in my body by it's name. They keep me going,so I can do the hard training Rod has put me through. They're the glue that keeps me together".
Briggs and Kelly have four common opponents, Mosese Sorovi, Jamie Wallace, Sam Leuii, and Paul Smallman. Briggs has beaten them all in quicker fashion than Kelly. New Zealander Leuii is the only one of the four that the Sydney boxer has stopped.
Gold Coast Queensland based Briggs and Waterhouse fly to Sydney tomorrow for the weigh - in at the Mercure Hotel in George St.
African Kings Face Tests on Briggs-Kelly Sydney Super Card!
By Tony Nobbs
13.09 - Matchmaker Austin Taylor believes he has put the fans first in putting together the seven fight card headlined by the Paul Briggs-Glenn Kelly "Home Grown Grudge Match" for Briggs' OPBF Lt. Heavyweight Title at the Horden Pavilion in Sydney on Wednesday night (Sept.18). This is the first
boxing card staged by Adelaide show business entrepreneur Mario Maiolo and it looks a winner for Australian Boxing.
As if the main event is not mouth watering enough, the rest of the show has many observers salivating. And Adelaide based Taylor's three "African Kings" have not received soft touches as they look to continue there rise to International glory.
 Dual Australian Champion Fred Kinuthia (7-0, 4 ko) faces tough Ghanan Ossie Duran (14-3-1, 6 ko) over 10 rounds. The 5'10 Duran has outpointed rated English veterans Howard Clarke and Geoff McCreesh in England and has been 12 rounds on three occasions, once in an unsuccesful chalenge for David Tetteh's Commonwealth 140lb Belt. 33 year old Kinuthia, a seven times Kenyan Amateur Champion and African Games Gold Medallist won the Australian Jnr Welterweight Title in his last start by dominating Steven Marks (ko 5) after relinquishing the Welterweight Belt he captured stopping Lincoln Stewart last year. He has a solid repatuare of punches and Duran is the third opponent named for this show after OPBF #1 contender Dindo Castenares and Noumean dynamo Charles Baou withdrew. Taylor said he is "very confident with Fred. We are not taking it easy but if this guy Duran is not on the money he will get bowled over. He has been around, very tough but Fred would walk through the guys he has been going the distance with at the moment".
 Australian Featherweight Champion Jackson Asiku (7-0, 4 ko), originally from Uganda faces Kazakhstan Champion Senkzahan Yeshmagamdetov for the vacant WBO Asian Pacific 126 lb Title. "We don't know a lot about this guy, he is an unknown quantity but being the Champion of Kazakhstan we expect him to be well schooled and ready to fight. And that is what we want. We want to fight tough opponents. It's no use just bowling over bums.
If Jackson beats this guy we have signed a contract to fight Skinny Hussein on a Jeff Fenech promotion in Sydney on October 25. After Jackson beats Skinny we have been told he will go in the WBO top 5. Jackson can go all the way" said Taylor.
Nigerian born Roger Izon (5-0, 5ko) meets Bob Mirovic (14-10-2, 6 ko) for the Australian Heavyweight Title. Izon, 27, is a brother of fringe contender David and his name and punching prowess has made it difficult for the always trying Taylor to secure fights.
 "This will be a cracker. Roger is looking forward to getting Bob in the ring. He has been waiting a long time. Roger has trained well, he is fit and wants to do damage. I'd hate to be in Bob's shoes on Wednesday night" laughed the trainer-matchmaker who is one of the bright lights in boxing in this country. Mirovic,36, went 12 rounds with an injured Joe Bugner, losing a split decision in 1998 and is in his second reign as National Champion.
In other bouts on Wednesday nights bill, Sydney prospect Lawrence Tuasa (7-2-1, 3 ko), back from training in the USA meets a rejuvenated Paul Smallman(22-16-1,14 ko) over 8 rds. Smallman recently beat Australian Lt Heavyweight Champ Jason Delisle on the Mundine-Botes u/c and replaced New Zealander Supi Moi Moi as Tuasa'a opponent yesterday morning. Tuasa beat an unfit Smallman two years ago when the tough as teek vet withdrew due to a burst ear drum at the end of round two. Delisle (8-1-2, 4 ko), a stablemate of Glenn Kelly fights Voodoo Brown Enyi in what is probably the only fight on the card that looks a sure win. In a 6 rounder, improving Welterweight novice Edgar Wymarra (6-3-1, 1 ko) from Sydney is matched with local rival Mark Hipwell, who replaces nationally rated Melbourne fighter Lincoln Stewart.
"The night is going to be a good spectacle. Good for the fans. The whole card is hard to pick and the main is between two evenly matched Australian fighters in the World top 15 in a fight that has been brewing for a while.We don't want to put mismatches on, Mario told me what he expected and we have put on a good card. The best in Sydney for a long time. It has been a lot of hard work but the fans are going to get their moneys worth.All the fights will be competitive with a few being absolute barn stormers. I just hope I can get a good seat to watch Briggs and Kelly go at it. At the press conference they both looked great. They were trim and rippling. They have both done the work" concluded Taylor before heading back to the gym put the final touches on his three African stars. The Horden Pavilion seats around 4000 and fans can also view the show on the Main Event Pay Per View Channel with commentary from ANBF President Brad Vocale and former IBF Super Featherweight Champion Barry "Boy" Michael.
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