Holmes primed for Canada clash against Crowley

Richard 'Frog' Holmes, who was one of the semi-finalists in this year's Wray and Nephew Contender show, left Jamaica on Wednesday for Montreal, Canada, for a junior middleweight fight against Canadian, Cody Crowley tomorrow night, at the Memorial Centre, in Peterborough.

This will be the main bout on a six-fight card being promoted by Tyler Buxton, the man who was responsible for the Canadian team of boxers that appeared in the Contender show this year.

Buxton told The Gleaner recently that he has been very pleased with the rapport that has developed between him and the Jamaican boxing fraternity and that he hopes to arrange regular fights between boxers from both countries.

"This will be an important fight for Holmes, and if he wins and looks good, it could mean other fights for him in Canada," Buxton added. He also pointed out that another Jamaican boxer, Devon Moncriffe will be fighting on a card that he is promoting in Canada on October 21.

HOLMES CAMP UPBEAT

The Holmes camp was upbeat when they spoke with The Gleaner before leaving, and said that they were going into the fight confident of victory.

Holmes' trainer Carl Grant, said that he was very pleased the way Holmes had gone about his training over the past several weeks. He gave high praise to Sakima Mullings, the 2017 Contender champion and former Bruising Gym stable-mate of Holmes, for what he hailed as top sparring support.

"Sakima stepped up to the plate and really gave Holmes some good workouts," said Grant, who also pointed out that they also had some sparring sessions with Moncriffe and could not ask for anything more. "Richard is well prepared and only has to deliver now."

Crowley, who goes into the ring with an impressive 12-0 record, is reported to be a fighter, who moves a lot and uses his speed as one of his best offensive weapons. He is a southpaw, and tapes of his previous fights show that he is busy from the first bell and never stops moving.

The answer to that Holmes says is to slow him down, and that is exactly what he expects to do.

Holmes will climb into the ring with a 15-7 record, that includes nine victories by knockout and technical knockout, and this shows that he does have the power to stop his opponent.

His major drawback is that he tends to fade in the later rounds of his fights, but this is expected to improve, Grant said, with a mixture of hard work, in and outside the ring, and fighting smarter.

The final word from the camp when they ended sparring on Monday was: "We have put in the work, we are ready, and we intend to come back to Jamaica next week with a victory."