Kwesi Jones’s dream of fighting his nemesis Barbadian Shawn Cox could become a reality on the February 24 Night of Champions II card. The card is being promoted by Pearl Vodka and Dharry Promotions.
Jones in an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sports on Sunday said he was excited about the possibility.
“I would like to say thanks to the father for blessing me with this opportunity and thanks to Pearl and Dharry Promotions for making this fight with Cox a probability. To be honest this is one of the fights that will bring out the fans. It was to happen since last month, but it will happen this month and I just want to thank Ms. Pearl and Dharry Promotions,” he said.
The 28-year-old, who calls himself the “Assassin”, said that he wanted to show his fans that he is better than Cox.
“It’s like Guyana vs. Barbados. This guy knock out a lot of our fighters and definitely I want to show them what I could do,” he said.
Jones said that when the fight was called off last month he was very disappointed.
“The reason being is that for two weeks I was training and pumping everything into it. And two other fights just fell through so I was saying to myself `Kwesi what’s going wrong.’”
He went on:”So I decided to go back to gym the Monday and Ms. Pearl and Elton came and told me that the fight will come off.”
A win over Cox he said will definitely boost his career.
“To be honest I will be fighting Cox at catch weight and it means a lot for my career to show that I have the potential to fight not only in my division but in a heavier division and I want to show Guyanese people and the people outside that Kwesi Jones is about boxing and entertaining supporters,” he said.
Asked if he has plans to put on any extra pounds for the fight Jones said he is still exploring the possibility.
“I will be fighting Cox at the normal 175 pounds or the least I will go up is 178 or 182 pounds because I don’t want to put on extra weight and then get slow. So we are definitely beating him on speed and power. I plan on carrying him down the stretch and definitely show them that Kwesi strong like that, I could go down the stretch.”
He said training was not as intense since he has been in the gym for a while but maintains that fighting Cox would not be difficult.
“But for the southpaw we will be focusing on power training and conditioning ourselves to fetch him down the stretch,” he declared.
On Sunday, Jones trained at the Andrew ‘Sixheads’ Lewis gym where he did some weight training, shadow boxing and pad work. He said no sparring was done.
Jones has 12 professional fights and has suffered two losses at the hands of Edmond DeClou and Lennox `Too Sharp’ Alleyne.
His fight against Alleyne was his first 12 rounder.
“I had to lose weight. I went into the right with the intention of not being knocked out but to go the distance and I did go the distance, but lost the fight on decision. But I would like to get a shot back at Alleyne at the light heavyweight division because I heard he has gone up in weight. That is my focus for now, defeating who I lost to, to show them that I could beat them.”
Apart from Jones and Cox, the card will also feature Elton ‘The Bully’ Dharry, Clive ‘Wonder Kid’ Atwell, Dexter ‘The Kid’ Marques and Mohamood ‘The Dentist’ Loul.
Loul a Syrian boxer and soon to be dentist would be making his boxing debut.
