Joshua vs Takam: Kal Yafai ready to conquer America if he beats Sho Ishida
Monday 23 October 2017 15:52, UK
Kal Yafai is out to send a message to his super-flyweight rivals and set up a first US fight when he defends his WBA belt against Sho Ishida on Saturday in Cardiff.
Yafai wants to rule the division and beating Ishida would set him up for 2018 when unification fights could be on the card for the Birmingham fighter.
The 28-year-old (22-0-KO14) claimed the vacant title from Luis Concepcion nearly 12 months ago and had a successful first defence against Ishida's Japanese compatriot Suguru Muranaka in his only fight this year, which came back in May.
He now gets the chance to fight on another massive Sky Sports Box Office card, headlined by Anthony Joshua's heavyweight title defence against Carlos Takam, and hopes victory means those big nights will continue, both at home and in the United States.
"I know what I'm up against and have to do on Saturday," said Yafai. "I try not to think about possible big fights in America at this stage. I know they are within touching distance but I have a job to do beforehand which is my obvious priority.
"HBO have invested in the super-flys and look set to continue doing so. I've always wanted to fight in America. I'm potentially just one fight away from doing so now. I live the life and I'll be doing everything in my power I retain my title.
"I'm excited to fight on such a huge card and show my skills. I can't wait now, I've put a lot of work into my training as always. I've been training for about 12 weeks now.
"Camp has gone great, we've had some quality work. It's been gym, eat, sleep and repeat so we're fully focused on the job at hand. We had Stuart Hall in at the start for his height and Andrew Selby a few times.
"I've watched quite a bit of Ishida and he's a good fighter. I think he'll look to box off the back foot. I think he'll look to use his height and reach to try and keep me at bay. He'll be cagey early on I think though I expect to find my range quickly.
"Despite the height, I've just trained as normal. There's nothing too out of the ordinary we have implemented for this. I think possibly the height angle has been over talked in the build-up. Once we get in there, he'll see I'm pretty good at taking a fighter's strength away from them."
