Abne shrugs off opponent’s KO threat

Sports

CHINESE boxer Dianxing Zhu had vowed to knock Cebuano boxer Ian Paul Abne out when they clash a few days from now.

Abne, however, opted not to get into a word war, saying he would let his performance do the talking when he takes on Zhu in the main event of “Fist of Fury 10 - The Eliminator” on May 9 at the Cebu Coliseum.

In a previous interview, Zhu vowed to score a win in a convincing fashion by sending Abne to Dreamland.

“No question about it. I’m 100-percent confident,” Zhu said then.

Abne shrugged off Zhu’s scathing remarks.

“We will find out during the fight. I will do my best because this is a big challenge for me. This is going to be a good fight,” Abne said in Cebuano.

In a video message that the Chao Sy International Promotions sent to reporters, Abne disclosed that he and his team have done the necessary preparations for the all-important fight.

The Abne-Zhu duel is an International Boxing Federation (IBF) minimumweight world title eliminator. The winner of the fight will earn the right to face IBF minimumweight champion Pedro Taduran, one of only two active Filipino world boxing champions.

Abne’s trainer Fernando Ocon likewise avoided histrionics.

“All I can say is that let’s see what will happen on May 9. This will be a tremendous fight because Abne has been working hard in the training,” Ocon said.

Abne be putting his unbeaten record on the line as he will come into the fight with a 12W-0l, 4KOs slate.

Zhu has been on a tear, winning his last 11 fights that raised his record to 16W-1L. Zhu is a proven knockout artist as 14 of his wins came via stoppage.

Eight undercard fights will spice up the boxing card promoted by veteran sportsman Lorenzo “Chao” Sy.(CCM)