Evans Ashira: “I’m Going To Be A BAD Neighbour!”

18.11.03 – IBF # 4 middleweight contender Evans Ashira (23-0, 13 KOs) can’t wait to be the “neighbour” to the world middleweight champion. No matter if it is Bernard Hopkins or William Joppy after December 13. Ashira was scheduled to fight an official WBA eliminator (The Danish-based Kenyan is ranked number 5 by that organization – and 6 by the WBC) November 15 In South Africa against number 4 ranked Maselino Masoe, but when the planned main event between Corey Sanders and Fres Oquendo was scrapped from that card, Ashira vs. Masoe was postponed too.

According to the fighter himself, he has been told by Don King Productions that the bout will take place at a later date, and he is now just waiting to hear when. Ashira recently told www.scandinavian-boxingnews.com, that his manager Jan Andersen and the rest of his team was having trouble keeping him cool, saying:

“My people are having a hard time holding me back, because at times I feel like I want to fight Masoe for free! That’s how bad I want him and the eliminator. I can’t wait for Masoe to feel something he has never felt before, and that something is going to come from me”.

After his September 6 destruction of Nigerian fringe contender Jerry Elliott (TKO9), Ashira went back to his native Kenya, where he trained in the mountains, and visited with his family and particularly his mother who is currently not well. As has become normal for him, he went through several personal appearances and TV Interviews, something that comes with the territory of being a national sports-hero.

But now the time has come, where “The African Warrior” is beginning to feel the itch in his strong fists, and at the moment Maselino Masoe and the WBA # 1 spot is the centre of his attention.

“When I have beaten Masoe, I will be the neighbour to whoever is the world champion. If the “regular” WBA title is still vacant, I am going to take that afterwards, and then really be a BAD neighbour to Hopkins or Joppy, or whoever is the world champ. I am going to knock on the champ’s door all the time, and really be as bad a neighbour as I can be” says Ashira with a sparkling white smile on his face, and continues:

“When the champ opens the door, I am going to knock on him, and then knock him OUT. Nobody is going to be able to get this bad neighbour evicted, because I am too hungry to be moved by anyone. I am the middleweight divisions best kept secret”!