KO artist Andrew Cain talks to BBN just hours before his seventh pro bout
Unbeaten bantamweight powerhouse Andrew Cain (6-0, 6KOs), who was a five-time national amateur champion, was ready and waiting when he got a last-minute call-up to fight on the undercard of Moruti Mthalane’s IBF World flyweight title defence to challenger Sunny Edwards on April 30 at York Hall in London.
The heavy-handed bantamweight, trained by Paul Stevenson at the Everton Red Triangle gym in Liverpool, spoke to BBN just hours before his fight with fellow unbeaten prospect Stephen Jackson (1-0, 1KO), live on BT Sport tonight.
When did you get the call for this fight?
“I only found out last week, but I was on weight and ready to go. Had done a bit of sparring only three weeks before so that worked out well.”
What do you know of your opponent?
“I don’t know nothing lad, only that he’s getting his head smashed in!”
You have an extremely aggressive style in the ring, where does that ferocity come from?
“I don’t know mate, but I’m fighting to get away from where I am, to get a better life for me and my family; so it’s not a sport to me, it’s more like a fight in my life.”
You said you were disappointed not to showcase your boxing skills in your last fight, which was your BT Sport debut, so are you planning on doing that in this fight?
“I didn’t showcase my boxing in my last fight, I was just gung-ho! I said I wanted to show my boxing skills in this fight, but that’s already gone out the window for me because I just want to smash him and get him out of there now! I’m going to go out there and box and see what happens.”
What are you hoping the rest of this year brings for your career?
“I just want to fight some more, but it’s just up to Frank [Warren] whether I can or not.”
You fought the headliner Sunny Edwards in an ABA final once; do you think he can win the world title tonight?
“In our final, Sunny won on points in a very close fight, but I hope he wins tonight. I think he’s got a good chance because the champion is getting on a bit now, so he should be slowing down and Sunny may be quicker and able to box his head off.”
BBN also grabbed a word with Cain’s trainer, Paul Stevenson, who guides the career of many other prospects from the Everton Red Triangle gym, such as Queensberry promotional stablemates Nick Ball and Brad Strand.
You seem to have a gym full of prospects ready to fight at the drop on a hat, because it wasn’t that long ago that super-middleweight Harry Woods joined Ultimate Boxxer on the week of the show?
“They’re all ready all of the time. I have them ready to fight at less than a weeks’ notice, so they are all on weight, because I know they can get a last minute call at any time, so they can take advantage of that when it comes.
“For Andrew, we only got the call on the Thursday and he had just had an eight-round spar with Nick Ball and Brad Strand on the Wednesday. Andrew has also been sparring Peter McGrail, who is out in Serbia at the minute in an international amateur tournament, so the sparring has been brilliant. When they get back in the gym next week, they’ll all be sparring each other again.”
And how is Peter McGrail getting on in the Belgrade Winning Cup?
“He won his first two fights – the first one by stoppage, the second on a clear points score – but he’s banged his fingers up a bit so he has withdrawn from the Belgrade Winning Cup now, because he’s thinking of the Olympics coming up, which he has already qualified for.”
What do you know of Andrew’s next opponent, Stephen Jackson?
“He’s only had one fight, but probably got a better win than most prospects out there. We would much rather have someone who comes to win than just survive. As opponents go, it’s a good one, but he’ll have to come up with something good to be able to compete with Andrew.”
Another top-rated bantamweight making headlines right now is Dennis McCann, who recently got the opportunity to fight for the English title against holder Liam Davies but declined it. Is that a fight that would interest you and Andrew?
“Andrew would fight Liam Davies for the English title tomorrow. I know Liam and he’s a good fighter, but Andrew is ready for him right now. I’m hoping to get a few minutes with Frank [Warren] tonight to get some more fight dates nailed down.”
Stephen Jackson enjoyed an impressive win from the away corner over South Londoner Sammy Cantwell on his pro debut last December.
In Cain’s last fight, nine months ago in July, he terrorised Ed Harrison into a third-round submission and so far, the 24-year-old Merseysider has only completed 13 from a scheduled 26 rounds, managing to stop, on average, all his opponents by the midway mark.
To watch Cain in his seventh contest this Friday, April 30, tune into BT Sport 1 from 7pm.
In the main event at York Hall, brilliant South African Moruti Mthalane (39-2, 26 KOs) defends his IBF World Flyweight championship against Croydon’s Sunny Edwards (15-0, 4 KOs), who Cain fought in the 2014 ABA Youth final.
In a 10-rounder Belfast’s WBO number one ranked Super-Bantamweight Michael Conlan (14-0, 8 KOs) faces dangerous Romanian Ionut Balata (14-2, 3 KOs).
Big punching Southampton Super-Featherweight Ryan Garner (9-0, 6 KOs) and Reading Super-Welterweight Joshua Frankham (2-0) are also in action.
Joshua’s cousin, Levi Frankham is one of two debutants alongside Finchley Super-Welterweight Jonathan Kumuteo.
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