WBC Continental Americas and Canadian American Mexican super bantamweight champion Tyson “The Prince of Hali” Cave showed extreme confidence in his first press conference in Cebu.
Cave arrived in Cebu late Sunday along with his team for his scheduled WBO Asia-Pacific bantam weight title bout against Filipino AJ “Bazooka” Banal on Saturday at the Hoops Dome in Lapu-Lapu City.
In yesterday’s presscon at the Maya Mexican Restaurant in barangay Banilad, Cebu City, Cave, who sports a 15-1 (win-loss) record with five knockouts, said he is confident of a win because he believes he is better than Banal (24-1, 19 KOs).
“I am a little bit better against Banal and that’s what makes me a dangerous man,” Cave said. He was joined by his father Robert, conditioning trainer Karim Collette, trainers Kelvin Fraser and Michael Louis Philips in the press conference.
“I want my opponents to cry in frustration. I want to make them regret that they chose me to fight them but at the same time I want to have fun inside the ring,” he added.
Cave said aside from his boxing talent, he also knows how to hype up his image to the public.
“What makes me popular among my fellow Canadian boxers is that I can manage to market myself so well to the public, and they love it.”
In fact, he joked around during the presscon that after the fight, he might as well be the country’s new boxing idol and might be called “Filipino Cave.”
Despite his somewhat cocky side, Cave said he was truly thankful to ALA Boxing Promotions for giving him a chance to showcase his boxing skills to Filipino boxing fans.
Also in the list of Cave’s future opponents will be Banal’s conqueror Rafael Concepcion of Panama.
Cave has trained for eight weeks in Halifax, Canada, and has undergone more than 200 rounds of sparring under Philips and Fraser.
Cave won over Saturnino Nava of Mexico last June.
Meanwhile, reigning Indonesian Boxing Association superfeatherweight champion Eddy “The Terminator” Camaro (24-10-4, win-loss-draw with 9 KOs) vowed to win in his scheduled bout against the undefeated Lorenzo “Lightning Bolt” Villanueva (20-0-19) in the undercard of the Cave-Banal card.
Camaro graced the press conference along with trainer Sonny Luther Rambing and co-fighter Richard “King Cobra” Samosir (18-3-7, 3KOs), who will be fighting veteran ALA fighter Michael Domingo in the undercard.
The official weigh-in of the fighters will be held this Friday at the Gaisano Grand Mall in Mactan. The final press conference where Banal and Cave will face each other for the first time will be on Thursday at the Plantation Bay Resort and Spa Cebu.