Kamanga to fight on Russian soil
Paul Kamanga will fight Aslanbek "The Lion" Kozaev for the vacant IBO International belt.
IT is well known that if you go to Russia to make a title defence or to try and win a belt you come back empty handed. Not only is it a difficult journey to undertake, but “home town” decisions often count against the outsider.
Paul Kamanga and his boxing camp from the Box Office, which includes his trainer/manager Anton Gilmore and Raymond Cerfonteyn from the South, have opted to take on the Russian bear on his home soil.
Kamanga will fight Aslanbek “The Lion” Kozaev for the vacant IBO International belt in Krasnodar, Russia, on Friday September 23. The team left for Russia on Thursday, September 15, in preparation for their biggest challenge of Kamanga’s professional career.
WBA Pan African welterweight titleholder Kamanga will be facing The Lion who is known to be as strong as a lion in the ring.
According to Gilmore, his fighter has no promoter at this stage thus he can fight for the title in Russia which they have organised for him. “We are a little bit worried of the home town decisions, but we have trained well and we are going to give it our all,” said Gilmore before they left.
Kamanga, who had his last fight in March, is still undefeated with a record of 19 fights and 11 KOs. Kamanga is rated at number 13 by the WBA.
On the other hand Kozaev is a relatively experienced former WBC Youth Champion with 29 wins from 32 bouts. The Russian last fought in May when he outpointed rookie Nikoloz Gvajava (6-1) in Latvia.
The Kamanga/Gilmore camp does not underestimate the Russian camp and has worked on many different approaches to outclass their counterparts and only time will tell who will capture the vacant title.
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