By: Ste Rowen
Pedro Diaz, famed trainer of IBF super-lightweight champion and World Boxing Super Series semi-finalist Ivan Baranchyk, reassured fans of his fighter’s status in the tournament when he spoke in a press release on Friday,
‘‘The preparations are going really excellent…Baranchyk is a very dedicated athlete and is going through a very good camp with good sparring partners.’’
Despite multiple reports from ESPN of the Belarussian deciding to move on from the tournament over a pay dispute, the WBSS announced a date and location (18th May at the SSE Hydro, Glasgow) for the bout vs. Josh Taylor, which will also be the date and venue for Naoya Inoue’s bantamweight semi vs. another IBF champion, Emmanuel Rodriguez.
Diaz went on to say,
‘‘Some boxers are tired when the weekend comes but not Baranchyk. He is unstoppable. His only focus is his training and his future.
Taylor is a great boxer, he is one of the best in the division and he has a good team around him, but we are very confident, and people will see why he is called The Beast.
We are not going for the KO. We always aim to win all twelve rounds and we know Baranchyk can keep every round a very high pace.’’
The second super-lightweight semi-final between Regis Prograis and Kiryl Relikh is set for 27th April in the US, with the venue to be confirmed. The bantamweight final four bout between Nonito Donaire and Zolani Tete will also be on the April card.