Exclusive Interview by James Slater – I was in Newcastle this afternoon, at the press conference to further promote the hugely intriguing and potentially explosive WBO lightweight title elimination bout between Colombia’s 26-year-old Breidis Prescott, 22-1(18) and the UK’s 25-year-old Kevin Mitchell, unbeaten at 29-0(21).
All set to take place on this Saturday’s under-card of the Amir Khan-Dmitriy Salita clash, the lightweight shootout could well end up grabbing all the headlines!
Very kindly granting me the following interview at the press conference, Prescott, through his interpretor Mr. DeCubas, gave the following answers to my questions:
James Slater: It’s great to speak with you, Breidis. First of all, has camp been great – with no hitches at all?
Breidis Prescott: I’m not worried about this fight. Physically and tactically, my training went perfect and I feel really, really good..
J.S: Who did you spar with for this fight?
B.P: I’ve been training down in Miami, and I’ve been doing a lot of sparring with the Cuban Olympians. My sparring has been spectacular.
J.S: Can you give me any of the Olympian’s names?
B.P: Oh, Gamboa and Lopez.
J.S: Yuriorkis Gamboa! Well, that is great sparring indeed. It’s fair to say, no disrespect intended, that Kevin Mitchell will not have benefited from such top quality sparring. Do your preparations give you a big advantage do you feel? You say you are not worried about Mitchell – are you here to knock him out?
B.P: All I will say is, I have got my game-plan and I’ve had excellent preparation. If a knockout comes, it comes.
J.S: People have talked about Mitchell’s tactics – how he must not take chances early and how he must tuck up defensively. Are you worried he may box a negative fight, not do too much, but still win rounds? Is a hometown decision that may go for him a concern?
B.P: I’m coming in with my plan of attack, and I’m going to dictate the rythmn of the fight round by round. And slowly but surely, I will wear him down and take the fight away from him.
J.S: Mitchell has spoken about how he respects you punching power, but he also says he will test you with his punches. Are you concerned about what will be coming back at you in the fight?
B.P: I respect anybody’s power, but I’ve trained hard and I’ve got a granite chin. I know for a fact that as soon as he tastes my power he will get on his bike and start running around. But I’ll hunt him down. I’ll get him!
J.S: Can I ask you, what went wrong in the July points loss to Miguel Vazquez?
B.P: I was coming off a slight injury, not to make any excuses. And I abandoned my jab. My trainer told me during the fight, ‘you are not using your jab.’ It just wasn’t my night. It can happen to anybody. My team felt I won the fight. It was a close loss, a split decision.
J.S: When did you arrive in the UK? Have you acclimatised okay?
B.P: We just got here, I’ll be fine. We flew in from Miami, an eight hour flight.
J.S: You have no jetlag?
B.P: No, nothing. I’ll just go back to the hotel [after the press conference] and take a nap.
J.S: It’s been a pleasure speaking with you. For my final question: I know you want a KO. But what in round will you score one?
B.P: (smiling and holding up four ringers of his right hand) Round four!