Last night on ATG Radio, the ATG team had the chance to speak to up and coming HW prospect Maurice “Freight Train” Byarm (13-1-1) about his upcoming fight this Friday on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights against Magomed Abdusalamov (14-0). We had the chance to discuss various topics with Maurice such as his fight with Bryant Jenning, sparring with Tony Thompson, and preparations for Friday’s fight. Here are some of the highlights from this discussion:
On Sparring with Tony Thompson:
“I have been getting a lot of work from Tony Thompson. Him getting me ready for my fight and me getting him ready for Klitschko. I really can’t get him ready because I am an not orthodox fighter and I am not 6 freakin 20 like Klitschko. As far as conditioning wise, he needs a young pup like me trying to go 1000 mph getting him ready for the Klitschko fight. For me what better southpaw to get me ready for my fight than Tony Thompson, who is rated for a shot at the world title?”
On who he thinks win the Klitschko-Thompson II fight:
“To be honest I like Tony’s chances a lot. I have been talking to Tony a lot since I have been down here in D.C.. One thing about Tony that I can honestly say is he is like a young fighter still learning. From yhe first time I sparred him, not like I beat him up in the gym, there is a lot that he does now that I can learn from and that I am learning from. I like his chances. I don’t think he will knock him out but I do see him winning on points. He is capable of knocking him out but I definitely see him winning on the scorecards.”
On taking the Bryant Jennings fight on 7 days notice:
“With the Jennings fight we took it for exposure. We thought it was time for the world to see the “Freight Train”. It did a great job, even in losing it did a fantastic job! I’ve gotten exposure from every angle from that fight. The same thing from the Magomed fight. The guys from the Magomed gave me enough time. That is why we took the fight for the exposure!”
On his gameplan and thought on Magomed Abdusalamov:
“I don’t want to give too much away especially with his promoter just being on the line. There are somethings he does, like I said in another interview, as fighters we all make mistakes. There is a difference between a mistake and a bad habit. A mistake is when you drop your hands one time in 4 rounds but a habit is when you keep your hands down all 4 rounds.
I see a lot of bad habit in him. Maybe because of the opposition he has had. He hasn’t faced many big punchers that made him think that he needs to keep his hands up or I might have to pick my body up off the ground. There is a lot of things he may not do because his opponents have been so cushiony. Obviously you know that he has never been past the 4th round.
There is a lot of things that I see but not a lot of things that I can count on. He has an amateur background, a pretty good amateur background so I know he is capable of doing things. Especially as an amateur they face all different kinds of styles and face all different kinds of styles. I really can’t take much of what he does lightly. I have to make to make adjustments and my decision in the ring during the fight.
In my training camp that is what we are doing. We are working on making decision. We are working with all different kinds of sparring partners that give us all different kinds of looks. Especially southpaws, I have been pretty much sparring exclusively with southpaws. I have my orthodox fighters but almost exclusively with southpaws.”
To hear more of this exclusive in-depth interview with Maurice Byarm and to hear it in it’s entirety you can listen right here on Ringnews24.com:
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