FOLLOWING his emphatic ninth round technical knockout victory over Barbados-based Cleveland Fraser which allowed him to retain his national light heavyweight title last Friday night, Kwesi ‘Lightning Struck Assassin’ Jones said his opponent should have heeded the warning of reigning heavyweight champion Kurt Bess.
“When he was preparing to face Kurt, he said he needs me after he takes care of Kurt as I am keeping the light heavyweight title for him since it belongs to him. He suffered a TKO at the hands of Kurt in Linden and an even more embarrassing one to me. “He should have listened to Kurt who is my best friend and warned him that if he needs to get to me, he has to get past him first. Unfortunately for him (Fraser), he suffered TKOs at the hands of both of us but for me, he paid for running his mouth,” stated the 26 year old Jones.
The two met in the feature bout of the 17th edition of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control in collaboration with the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association-organised Pro Am Friday Night Fights at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
According to Jones, who moved his record to 9-2, with his two losses coming at the hands of Edmond De Clou and Lennox ‘Pretty Boy’ Allen, he knew he was behind on the judges’ scorecard, as Fraser’s jabs were preventing him from getting inside to fight his fight.
“First of all, we expected him to come and bring the fight to us, since he said he needs the title as I am keeping it for him but he did not. He used his jabs to help him get an early lead, while at the same time I was unable to land many of my punches.
Added to that, he has a lot of power which he does not hesitate to use, so while I was concentrating on getting past his jabs, I had to find a way to make him use up his energy so I turned to plan ‘B’, which was make him look for me to hit,” said Jones.
He added, “My coach was worried after round six, saying ‘Kwesi you have to get him’. But I asked my corner to be patient, the victory will come because I saw he was getting tired and I knew that once I caught him good, it did not matter which punch I used, he would not get up as I had him moving while making him box more than he would have expected.
“I heard him breathing heavily during round seven when he locked up and I knew the end was near, that is why I clowned around the ring to make him more tired while I was looking for the opening to land that punch and he granted me my wish two rounds later to which I say ‘thank you’.”
Jones said his true potential as the national light heavyweight champion would have been displayed had the fight gone the distance, since he intended to display his latest acquisition, technically speaking, between rounds eight to 12.
Asked about his plans for the future, he was quick to point out a return match with Allen along with a clash with reigning WBC/CABOFE light heavyweight champion Kurt Sinnette who defeated former European middleweight champion Howard ‘Battersea Bomber’ Eastman earlier this month.
He is even pondering on moving down to the super middleweight category, but is yet to confirm same, but for now, he plans on acquiring tapes on Sinnette to study him early, while basking in his recent victory over Fraser, where he proved his best friend and national heavyweight champion 100% right.