IBF Boxing Champion N’dou Arrives In US, Ready For Malignaggi

International Boxing Federation (IBF) super lightweight world boxing champion Lovemore “Black Panther” Ndou has arrived in Uncasville, Connecticut in the USA for his first world title defence against Paulie Malignaggi at the Mohegan Sun Casino this coming Saturday night June 16, 2007.

35 year-old Ndou completed his final sparring session on Friday and has been in training camp in Las Vegas since May 28. The South African born Australian citizen has been sparring with a number of different boxers including Americans Emanuel Augustus and Wes Ferguson.

“My sparring has been really great,” said Ndou. “I am feeling strong and have been enjoying having the extra time to prepare in Las Vegas for this fight.”

The Ndou vs. Malignaggi fight will be televised across the USA on the HBO network’s “Boxing After Dark” series at 9:30 PM ET/PT.

26 year-old Malignaggi (22 wins, 1 loss, 5 knockouts) from Brooklyn, New York is known as the “Magic Man” and has been doing plenty of trash talk in the lead-up to this world title fight, but Ndou is unconcerned.

“After everything he has said, now Malignaggi has been saying that he isn’t talking,” smiled Ndou. “Maybe he is starting to realise what he has got coming up on Saturday night. He is no Floyd Mayweather Jr. He is no Muhammad Ali.

“Only a few boxers can talk and back themselves up in the ring. He is not in that class. From where I come from, there is an old saying, “dogs that bark a lot, they don’t bite’. I look at him and I see a little Chihuahua trying to trick a Pit-bull. He is going to get beat up.”

“Black Panther” Ndou (45 wins, 8 losses, 1 draw, 30 knockouts) says that Malignaggi might have been getting the wrong sparring for this fight.

“I hear he had been sparring with Edner Cherry, but I don’t think Edner Cherry would be the right guy to be preparing for me,” he said. “What they don’t realise is that even though Cherry puts on a lot of pressure, there is a difference between putting on pressure and breaking the guy down.

“I am going to break this kid down on Saturday night. I’m not going to give away my fight plan before the fight, but all I can say is that he is going to get beat up really bad.”

In his last press release to the media on June 6, Malignaggi predicted, “I’m going to trap him, cage him and box him all night long. What’s he going to do?”

“He says he is setting a trap for me?” laughed Ndou. “This kid from Brooklyn, New York better be careful. I don’t think he has ever been out of the city. He has never been to the jungle before and he doesn’t realise that this Black Panther has got a lot of fight in him, is very dangerous and is going to give him a whipping!”