By Dean Parr

On May 14, Larry Olubamiwo, 7-1 (6 early), will get the chance to raise championship gold for the first time when he takes on Colin Kenna for the Southern Area heavyweight title.  The big man can't wait for the challenge in front of him.

“I'm looking forward to this an extreme amount,” he beamed.  “I can't tell you how much this means to me to have my first professional title fight at this stage in my career.  It's something that I've always dreamed about since when I was an amateur, and the fact it's for a legit title as well makes it better.  I'm so happy about it and being able to fight a man of Colin Kenna's experience as well - it's an honour.  I've got a lot of respect for Colin.  I'm looking forward to bringing the title back to Hackney!”

For Larry, this is confirmation of the impact he's had on the British heavyweight division, despite only having had eight pro fights to date.  “There was a lot of pressure with my last fight, and a lot of people thought it would be hard for me, but I made a potentially hard fight look easy, and I think that performance has put me right up there in terms of 'heavyweight prospects' and titles.  This is the first step in a long ladder to climb, but it's still a very big step, so I'm putting all the hard work in,” he declared.

Last time out, Olubamiwo demolished Lisburn's Scott Belshaw in a round, knocking him down three times in the process.  “It was the plan,” Larry admitted.  “The thing with Scott Belshaw is that I do rate him as a boxer, and I feel he's underrated in that respect because of his flaws.  He proved that as an amateur, and his start as a pro was very good as well, but I also knew his flaws.  I had Brian Lawrence in my corner who'd trained him for a few fights, I watched a lot of his fight films and I realised that he doesn't take a punch very well, and he doesn't like to be pressurised either.”

“Those are two things I'm very good at, so the plan was always to put a lot of pressure on him from the start,” he continued.  “The work I did under Freddie Roach really instilled a lot of confidence in me as well because I knew if it came down to it I'd be able to use angles to get away from shots, and hit from other angles so he wouldn't know where the punches were coming from.  Ultimately, it didn't come to that because the fight ended so quickly, but that was always the plan.”

Larry trained under the guidance of the aforementioned Roach for two weeks, and was beaming with praise for the famed trainer.  He recalled, “I was there for two weeks and it was such a surreal experience to be in the midst of that guy.  He's amazing.  You hear the stories and you see him on TV, but it's only when you see him in person, and you get to speak to him and work with him that you really realise why this guy's the best coach in the world, and why time after time he's produced champion after champion.”

“I'm glad that he spoke highly of me and that he rates me as well,” Olubamiwo continued.  “That's instilled a lot of confidence in me because I'm aware that a lot of people think I'm raw, I'm a novice and all I've got is power, but for someone like that to say you're a good fighter and you will go places is great.  If it's constructive criticism that's great, I want to get better at the end of the day, but if it's just put down comments, that doesn't help me and most the time it's not even true.  It was a good confidence booster to be training with that guy and just being surrounded by champions and great fighters made it a brilliant experience.  I can't say enough for it.”

The Hackney heavyweight also explained the logistics of the trip and how it originally came about.  “I just phoned up the gym one day,” he revealed.  “My fiancée is so supportive of my boxing career, and she reads the online comments just like I do, and she saw I was quite downhearted about some of the comments made about me by some people, and she said, ‘Who better to improve your technical ability than the best trainer in the world?’  First of all I didn't think my trainer, James, would like that, then you have to get to the gym and pay for it, and when you're there, how likely is it he's going to be there to work with me, but my fiancée convinced me to pick up the phone because I had nothing to lose.”

Olubamiwo continued, “I phoned up and I actually got to speak to Freddie Roach at the first time of asking, and he was such a nice guy.  We had several conversations over a period of about six months before I went where I was getting ready to go and finding out the best time to go.  He spent two weeks working with me, and put me on to work with Alex Ariza as well.  It was a brilliant experience.”

Ultimately, as evidenced by the one round blowout of Belshaw, the time at the gym paid off, although the critics have unfortunately remained.  “This is why I know the critics who aren't giving constructive criticism have no idea what they're talking about,” declared Olubamiwo.

“You still find that people were making comments about that fight.  ‘Belshaw was always chinny,’ ‘he was always going to do that,’ this, that and the other, not giving Belshaw the respect he's due, because he is a very hard puncher.  With all his flaws, he's a very hard puncher, and I was very mindful of that.

“I didn't take him lightly or for granted, and even though I've got a good chin, I was mindful that he can bang, and if he catches me, that could be lights out.  So I had to make sure I was on point for that fight, and for me personally, the way I ended that fight showed I belong in the upper echelons of the British heavyweight division.”

“I'd just like to say something else about that fight as well,” flowed Larry.  “I know I'm fighting for the Southern Area against Colin Kenna now who's a good opponent and a very good fighter, but the one with Scott Belshaw could have very easily been a Southern Area title fight.  It's great that I'm taking these steps up gradually, and proving to everyone I can be a good fighter.”

To do this, ‘The War Machine’ must possess a smart gameplan against Kenna; something he is convinced he's got.  “I know quite a bit about him,” he asserted.  “I've seen two of his fights - the one against Paul Butlin and the one against Guru Singh.  I'm trying to get a few more.  He's a come forward, typical Irish fighter so I don't think it will be hard for me to find him, and his defence isn't great although he does have good boxing skills and he's tough.”

“However, he is short and pretty much out of shape most of the time,” he argued.  “I'm not taking him lightly at all though; he's an experienced guy and has beaten some very good names.  I've got a gameplan and I'm going to stamp my authority on that fight.”

So watch with fervour as Larry takes his next step.  Always exciting with knockout power, he's one to keep an eye on in the coming months.