Boxing News Boxing News
World ranked super middleweight Jesse Brinkley is busy preparing for his long awaited showdown with Northern Nevada rival Joey Gilbert set for January 30. The Yerington, Nevada resident has been training for the last month at Peter Manfredo’s Gym in Pawtucket, RI.
Currently riding a five bout winning streak, Brinkley spoke at length about the rivalry. “For three years I’ve had to listen to Joey jerk me around with this fight,” said Brinkley. “He’s basically run from me, pretending that he had bigger things in play and that I was not on his level. Now that he’s been exposed a little, he wants to fight me. For me, it’s never been an issue, I was willing to knock him out then and I’m willing to do it now.
“We we’re both on the first season of The Contender and because we didn’t get to fight in the finals, we both agreed to fight in Reno right after the show ended. There’s a lot of fan support for both of us there and it would have been a big fight.
“We get off the show and then he decides not to fight, that I’m not on his level and he was going to chase a world title which he never won and never will. The bottom line is he’s an average fighter and when we finally meet I’m going to prove that.”
In regard to Gilbert’s comeback plan, including his return bout in Baltimore on Thursday night, Brinkley said “He can fight as much as he wants between now and January 30th, the truth is he can’t and he won’t beat me. He couldn’t do it three years ago and he won’t do it now.”
Speaking about the fans in northern Nevada, Brinkley said, “This is a big fight for the fans. We will probably sell out the Reno Events Center if we do it there and I anticipate half the fans for each of us. We might need an arena just for the press conference.”
Brinkley scored two big wins this year including an eleventh round knockout of Otis Griffin on February 22 and a twelve round unanimous decision over Jason Naugler on June 13, both fought in Reno in front of his legion of fans.
“It’s always great to fight in Northern Nevada, the fans were loud and very supportive from the opening bell for each fight,” said Brinkley, currently world ranked #12 by the IB. His record currently stands at 31-5 with with 21 knockouts.
In regards to his immediate plans, Brinkley said, “The sparring with Peter here has been great, working with his father as my trainer is terrific. It will be nice to go home for a short time coming up and then it’s back out here to set up camp.”
Final details of the Gilbert/Brinkley bout will be announced shortly. The event is a co-promotion between Reno ’s “Let’s Get It On” Promotions and the Las Vegas based TKO Boxing Promotions.
