A CONVERSATION WITH KENNY WELDON

A CONVERSATION WITH KENNY WELDON




I had the great pleasure of talking to one of my favorite boxing
people, Kenny Weldon. This Saturday in my hometown of Cleveland, Sergei
Liakhovich will attempt to take the WBO heavyweight title from Lamon
Brewster. Kenny is Sergei's trainer.

This was not conducted as a formal interview or anything like that. It
was just Kenny and I shooting the bull. I enjoy talking to Kenny. He's seen
it all. We talked about " Old Bones " Joe Brown, the great lightweight
champion. We talked about Benny Leonard, possibly the greatest lightweight
ever. We also talked about Sergei and his date with destiny.

I know a lot of people favor Brewster but I also hear a lot of people
referring to Sergei as a " live underdog ". Someone wrote if you could get
Sergei at 4 to 1, take it. Well...

After talking to Kenny I must admit I like Liakhovich's chances. Any
trainer is going to try and build up his fighter when you talk to them. It
is for his fighter's confidence and it helps build the gate. When I talked
to Kenny though is how you would say, off the cuff. Kenny respects
Brewster's punching power but he feels Lamon can be outboxed. Sergei can
bang a bit too and he is very durable. Kenny is convinced that there is no
way that Brewster can outbox Liakhovich. On this I have to agree. I feel
Sergei is a much better all around fighter then Kali Meehan or Luan
Krasniqi. Yet these two boxers made Lamon look rather ordinary.

Brewster can bang, make no doubt about it. The great writer Greg Smith
referred to Brewster as the " Mike Weaver of our time ". What a great
analogy.

Which Brewster will show up to meet Liakhovich ? That is the key. A
lot of people are predicting a first round blowout ala Andrew Golota for
Brewster. Kenny Weldon told me one thing and I took it to heart. He has
NEVER in all the bouts that he has trained a fighter, amateur or pro had a
boxer stopped in one round. That my friends is impressive. If Sergei
survives round one, and the odds are that he will. Well that could set the
tempo for the whole fight. This could be a much better fight then the
overall press has given it credit for. We'll see Saturday night.

On a final note , I would like to thank Kenny Weldon for his time. He
is a very busy man but we talked for close to an hour. Good luck, God bless
and may the best man win !

Jim Amato