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Boxing
Olympic champion continues quest for world flyweight supremacy this weekend
Watch Hitchins vs. Lemos live April 6 on DAZN
Galal Yafai believes that he’s banking the experience needed to rip the world titles from the champions, and that continues on Saturday when he defends his WBC International flyweight title against Agustin Mauro Gauto at BleauLive Theater at Fontainebleau Las Vegas, .
Yafai (6-0 4 KOs) won the title he puts on the line in Sin City on his professional debut in February 2022 in London, six months after winning Olympic gold for Britain at the Tokyo games.
The Birmingham man has cruised to 6-0 in the paid ranks and successfully defended his International strap four times to date. Those wins have led the 31-year-old to be handily positioned at No. 7 in the WBC rankings, the same spot he occupies with the WBO and IBF.
Jesse Rodriguez has vacated the world titles with the latter two organizations, piquing the interest of those contenders that are well-placed in the rankings, and that means that Yafai has yet more incentive to perform to his best against Gauto (21-1 15 KOs) as he looks to perfectly time honing his ring craft for when his world title shot arrives.
“The pro game is different, longer rounds and the gloves are smaller, but it’s boxing to me,” said Yafai. “I’ve just got to get through them all and get to the top as quickly as I can because people aren’t patient, and I’m a bit impatient too.
“Rankings don’t really matter to me in the long run. No-one is going to say to me ‘Galal, you were ranked top five in the WBC’ when I finish my career. It’s either I am going to be a world champion or I’m not, that’s the main thing to me. It’s nice to be ranked high though and people want me to fight the top guys.
“I’ve had five fights, and I could jump in now with the top boys, but I don’t want to do that and not have the experience. People will say ‘he should be fighting him, him and this guy’, but people say anything, I just have to do what I am doing and get to the top and beat them.
“I need experience. On my day I can beat the top boys, but I want to give myself the best chance, I don’t want to go in there and fight them too soon and just be too short. But saying that, I’m still good enough to beat them.”
Yafai’s clash with Gauto is part of a huge night of action, led by a double-header featuring two of America’s best young talents as Richardson Hitchins takes on Gustavo Lemos in a final eliminator for the IBF world junior welterweight title and Diego Pacheco defends his USWBC and WBO International super-middleweight titles against Shawn McCalman
Skye Nicolson provides the world title action on the card, looking to claim a world crown at the first attempt as she meets Sarah Mahfoud for the vacant WBC featherweight strap, Marc Castro gets a first title bout in his 12th pro outing, taking on Abraham Montoya for the vacant WBC Continental Americas super-featherweight title, Harley Mederos is in action for the sixth time in the paid ranks over six rounds against Pedro Vicente and there’s a pro debut for former Team USA talent Steven Navarro over six rounds at super-flyweight against Jose Lopez.
Yafai (6-0 4 KOs) won the title he puts on the line in Sin City on his professional debut in February 2022 in London, six months after winning Olympic gold for Britain at the Tokyo games.
The Birmingham man has cruised to 6-0 in the paid ranks and successfully defended his International strap four times to date. Those wins have led the 31-year-old to be handily positioned at No. 7 in the WBC rankings, the same spot he occupies with the WBO and IBF.
Jesse Rodriguez has vacated the world titles with the latter two organizations, piquing the interest of those contenders that are well-placed in the rankings, and that means that Yafai has yet more incentive to perform to his best against Gauto (21-1 15 KOs) as he looks to perfectly time honing his ring craft for when his world title shot arrives.
“The pro game is different, longer rounds and the gloves are smaller, but it’s boxing to me,” said Yafai. “I’ve just got to get through them all and get to the top as quickly as I can because people aren’t patient, and I’m a bit impatient too.
“Rankings don’t really matter to me in the long run. No-one is going to say to me ‘Galal, you were ranked top five in the WBC’ when I finish my career. It’s either I am going to be a world champion or I’m not, that’s the main thing to me. It’s nice to be ranked high though and people want me to fight the top guys.
“I’ve had five fights, and I could jump in now with the top boys, but I don’t want to do that and not have the experience. People will say ‘he should be fighting him, him and this guy’, but people say anything, I just have to do what I am doing and get to the top and beat them.
“I need experience. On my day I can beat the top boys, but I want to give myself the best chance, I don’t want to go in there and fight them too soon and just be too short. But saying that, I’m still good enough to beat them.”
Yafai’s clash with Gauto is part of a huge night of action, led by a double-header featuring two of America’s best young talents as Richardson Hitchins takes on Gustavo Lemos in a final eliminator for the IBF world junior welterweight title and Diego Pacheco defends his USWBC and WBO International super-middleweight titles against Shawn McCalman
Skye Nicolson provides the world title action on the card, looking to claim a world crown at the first attempt as she meets Sarah Mahfoud for the vacant WBC featherweight strap, Marc Castro gets a first title bout in his 12th pro outing, taking on Abraham Montoya for the vacant WBC Continental Americas super-featherweight title, Harley Mederos is in action for the sixth time in the paid ranks over six rounds against Pedro Vicente and there’s a pro debut for former Team USA talent Steven Navarro over six rounds at super-flyweight against Jose Lopez.
Live on DAZN PPV: Haney vs. Garcia on April 20. Click here for details.
