Les Sherrington Ready For America

WBA number 15 world rated super middleweight Les “Lock & Load” Sherrington is confident and ready to go at noted American Rubin “Mr Hollywood” Williams at the Gold Coast Convention Center on Thursday April 29.

Les Sherrington and under card fighter met the press at Broadbeach on Wednesday . Sherrington’s opponent Williams, who fought Jeff Lacy for the IBF world title and has recently been in with current WBA champion, Olympic Gold Medalist Andre Ward, has said there is nothing Sherrington can show him.

“There’s a lot I can show him. I’ll show him how to get knocked out” said Sherrington who sports a 25-5, 16 knockouts record.

Les Sherrington, 27, was last in action on November 27 at the same venue when he dispatched of another former world title contender Shannan Taylor to claim the WBF championship

“That was a big fight for me. It put my name out there, where guys like Wiliams are prepared to come and fight me and I need to continue to perform. This guy (Williams) has been in with the best, his last six opponents are 105 wins and two losses combined. He’s fought much better fighters than myself but he is going away with another loss”.

While Sherrington’s promoter Jamie Myer has pushed for a fight with Anthony Mundine, Sherrington said his ultimate goal is to become WBA world champion.

“Of course I’d love to fight Mundine. I think every boxer in Australia would. But I’m not going to let that get in my way of becoming WBA champion”.

Sherrington has sparred several times with Mundine, being his main sparing partner for a number of fights.

“I’ve learned a lot from sparring Mundine and other guys like (former WBA middleweight champion) Maselino Masoe, Sam Soliman and Shannan Taylor. But sparring is sparring and fighting is fighting. I’m really working hard to be in top shape for Rubin Williams. He will be my toughest test.”

The main under card bout sees Alex Leapai, ranked number 13 heavyweight in the world, meet the iconic Bob Mirovic .

Leapai (17-3-3, 13 ko's) has wins over Colin Wilson, Pieter Cronjie and Mick Kirby and believes the time is right to fight Mirovic.

“I respect Big Bob but he has called me out. If he wants it I’ll give it. We are looking at moving up the rankings and this is a good opportunity to show boxing fans that I belong at the top of the division.”

Leapai’s manager Noel Thornberry indicated that a fight in Germany was on offer if his hard hitting charge takes care of Mirovic.

Tweed Heads Stingrays fighters Matt Burns (6-6) and Trevor Jacky (3-0) also fight on the bill. No 10 Australian super middleweight Burns meets Sydney’s Mark Pawsey while no. 4 Australian light heavyweight Jacky fights Shannon King from Brisbane.

“I want to go through this year undefeated and hopefully win a State title again and get another crack at the Australian title” said 34 year old Burns who won the Queensland title and challenged for national light middleweight honors in 2005. “I’ve got a few fights lined up including one back in Tweed Heads on July 2 but I have to take care of business in this fight first”.

In Burns' last bout, in November, he knocked down no. 7 Australian Chris Stewart in each of the first three rounds before tiring badly and taking a split decision.

"I had to come in close to the middleweight limit (72.57 kg) for that fight just to get him in the ring and it weakened me. I'm sticking at 76 kilo from now on. I've also been running a lot more and I've had about 80 rounds of sparring since Christmas".

Jacky has only been boxing since 2007 and had ten amateur bouts and won the Queensland Golden Gloves title before going professional last September.

“My speed and natural ability will be my biggest assets. I just have to train hard and do my best. I love boxing and just want to keep fighting and improving and see how far I can go.” said the quietly spoken Jacky, 30, who knocked out national title challenger Shaun Quagliotto in just his second professional fight.

Olympian Ryan Langham is also on the card facing capable ex Filipino champion Rey Anton Olarte in a lightweight clash. Langham, formerly from the Tweed has an amateur knockout win over current WBC super featherweight world champion, Vitale Tarjbert. Langham’s next bout is scheduled to be an Australian title tilt in Sydney.