Kerry Hope: I will enter the ring as an underdog against Grzegorz Proksa – Boxing News
Kerry Hope, the current EBU (European) middleweight champion, in a recent media interaction, commented that despite nailing Grzegorz Proksa, the former EBU (European) middleweight champion, in his last bout he will still enter the ring as an underdog and
will train harder to retain the title.
The duo will co-headline the pay-per-view organised and promoted by Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing whereas the IBF International welterweight championship bout between Kell Brook and Carson Jones will headline the Saturday night showdown.
The ring for the extravaganza will be set up at Motorpoint Arena situated in Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom and the special Sky TV edition will also witness Gavin Rees and Derry Mathews defend their respective title against each other.
Kerry recently took part in the pre-bout press conference and shared his feelings about the second encounter with the man from whom he took the EBU (European) middleweight.
Hope, 30, has been in a total 20 bouts and emerged victorious in 17. He has collected just one win by knockout and is well known for his resilience. The southpaw recently nailed Grzegorz in his last bout via majority decision and shocked the world by his
impressive pugilism.
The southpaw entered the ring with odds seriously against him but still he rose at the occasion and pinned the fan favourite Polish Proska. His Saturday night opponent possesses a clear upper hand over him.
Proska, also a southpaw, 27, has been in a total 28 bouts and unfortunately collected his career’s only loss by the fists of Kerry, the reason why this second clash is of vital importance for the Poland proud.
In addition Proska, also known as ‘Super G’, boasts a far better knockout proficiency which might, if executed well, aid him in avenging his former loss. During the media interaction, Kerry kept aside all the comments and hypothecations and confidently remarked
that he will try his level best to retain the title.
Hope stated, “I was really confident of upsetting Proksa last time and I’m even more confident that I can keep hold of the belt. Some people have said that he might have taken me lightly and that he’ll be training extra hard to win the title back, but I
will be training like I’m the underdog in order to keep hold of it, and with someone like Barker there to fight down the line, I’m sure it will be an even better fight than the first one.”
For Grzegorz the bout is a golden chance to prove that he is the better man and truly deserves the apex European divisional gold. At the moment, apart from the statistical and resume point of view, Hope has a psychological advantage over Proska as he was
the one who outclassed the latter with great ease in their last meeting.
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