STEVEN Ward is one of the frontrunners in the light-heavyweight ‘Golden Contract’ tournament that begins with the quarter-finals at Brentwood Leisure Centre on Saturday night.
The draw for the opening round takes place tomorrow and Jamie Moore-trained Ward will be in the hat alongside the likes of former British champion Hosea Burton, IBO contender Bob Ajisafe and Liam Conroy, the man Ward beat in a dramatic Ulster Hall battle in June.
The tournament winner will land a two-year deal that guarantees six-figure purses for every fight along with global exposure.
“There are some good fighters in it, it’s a good tournament and a great opportunity and I think everybody wants to grab it with both hands,” said Ward.
“Winning it would be life-changing but it’s one fight at a time and there’s no easy fights in it. It doesn’t matter who I get (in the draw), I haven’t even thought about it, there’s no point wasting energy on it.
“I feel like I’m one of the favourites. To be honest I haven’t really thought that much about the other fighters. I watched a bit of the German (Serge Michel, 9-1) and the Latvian (Ricards Bolotniks, 15-5-1) but only a few rounds because you don’t know who you’re going to fight so there’s no point.
“I enjoy that. The best thing about this camp has been that you don’t have a particular fighter to aim for so I’ve been able to go into the camp and think: ‘Right, what am I doing wrong?’ and work on that. I’ve focussed on developing myself as an all-round fighter instead of worrying about an opponent.
“I feel a lot more comfortable in the ring now. At times I have been one-paced, always feeling like I should be doing something but I’ve learned that there are times when you can sneak a wee break in and maybe do a wee bit more in other places.
“It has been a good, I have really enjoyed developing myself as a fighter instead of thinking about someone else’s weaknesses and trying to adjust my style to fit them.”
Ward has moved to 12-0 this year with three wins that included a WBO European Light-heavyweight title triumph over fellow Golden Contract contestant Conroy at the Ulster Hall.
Ward was down for the first time as a pro early on but he hauled himself off the canvas and turned the fight his way with the performance of his career so far. The fight was stopped for a cut at the end of the eighth and he took the belt on points.
“It was a good punter-fight, a good fight for people to watch,” he said.
“But there was a lot of learning in it for me to take away from it. It would be silly not to think: ‘Where did I go wrong?’ We got back to the changingroom after the win and we were all ecstatic but Nigel (Travis, coach) said after about 10 minutes: ‘Here, there’s a couple of things there we’re going to have to fix!’
“So the ecstasy was short-lived. To be honest, and I know this sounds silly because I was put on my backside, but I never felt in trouble in that fight.
“He caught me a good shot in fairness and I shook my head and got up but one thing I would take away is not to do that again because sometimes you don’t understand the extent of the damage. “Even though I was okay, in another situation you might not be ok and you might get up and then fall back down again which means the fight would probably get waved off.”
Ward’s youngest child was born 10 weeks ago and he reckons he’s been away training for around eight of those.
“I haven’t even got to change a dirty nappy yet,” he says, with a laugh.
He spent some of his camp for the tournament in Las Vegas where he trained alongside stablemate Carl Frampton in the build-up to Frampton’s comeback fight against Tyler McCreary.
“I was sparring in the Top Rank gym and staying in a house about five-mile away from The Strip,” Ward explained.
“We were going to the gym, we were training and running for the first week and-a-half before I got to have a walk down the Strip and it was a good inspiration to see if I could be fighting at those venues some day. It was a working holiday and a great learning curve as always.”
SEAN McComb’s next opponent will be experienced Argentine Mauro Maximiliano Godoy (32-5-1) at the Ulster Hall on February 1.
McComb has rocketed to 9-0 in his 15 months as a professional and takes another step up against the tough south American who has 17 stoppage wins on his record over eight years as a pro.
“This is another step up and I’m happy to take it,” said slick technician McComb.
“It’s exciting and I’ve always said the better opponent I face, the better I’ll box, the better I’ll fight.
“I watched Godoy fight on the undercard of the Golden Contract. He tries to control a lot of the pace and he puts his punches together very well.
“I’ll be working on catching his punches and coming back with my own. I think it’ll be a more technical fight than my last outing and I think I’ll definitely look better against Godoy than Dominguez.
“I learned so much from that last fight. I threw a lot of punches that I didn’t need to throw. He was there to be hit but I could’ve gone for a walk rather than stay and slug it out. I should have been smarter.
“This will be the start of another massive year for Belfast and for myself. I’ll hopefully be fighting for titles and there are all those great shows at Ulster Hall, which is one of the best boxing venues in the world.”
Also confirmed for the Ulster Hall show are Steven Donnelly, Gary Cully, Padraig McCrory, Dee Sullivan, Callum Bradley, Ruairi Dalton, Pierce O’Leary and Taylor McGoldrick.
JASON Quigley moved to 17-1 with a third round stoppage of Abraham Cordero in California last Thursday night.
The Donegal middleweight rebounded from the first loss of his professional career and dispelled any doubts that defeat might have left in his head with a dominant display,
“I won’t lie, walking to the ring, I was thinking: ‘I don’t want that shit to happen again’,” he admitted afterwards.
“The doubts were in the head. I wanted to get that (loss to Tureano Johnson) behind me and get the victory. I need to learn to control that and wait for it to come.
“I’ve been working on my ruthlessness and getting the job done. It/’s onto the next one now.
“I love Christmas and I can’t wait to get back home now. Christmas is a special time of year and I treasure it.”
The Killybegs native, a former European amateur champion, is now trained by Andy Lee and had Cordero in trouble in the second round before clinching the win in the third.
“I’m happy to get the comeback win and I was happy with my patience in there,” he said.
“He was tricky, he didn’t commit too much with any shots. He was flicking the shots.
“I think I hit him in the second round. I saw him wobble a little, but he wasn’t hurt. I knew I couldn’t jump in.
“I hit him in the third round and I knew that he was gone. I saw his eyes dazing. I knew I had to put on the pressure. I probably put it on too much. I got excited. I just wanted to get him out of there. I couldn’t have done it slicker and tidier, but I got the job done.”
