The Maverick Stars ambassador spoke to Dom McGuinness from his hotel room as he prepares for ‘The Quiet Man’ to return to the ring this evening after his first round defeat to Ricards Bolotniks last time out.
“It’s a really good opportunity for Stevie to fight a decent opponent, someone who is not going to come and tie up, run away and survive,” he said. “He’s got a guy in front of him who’s coming to win.”
“Volau will believe Stevie is fragile because of his last loss. That fight in my eyes was all about the scales and not actually thinking about the opponent,” Nigel added.
“Now Stevie looks comfortable. He didn’t have to train to do the weight, he’s now training thinking about the boxing. He looked ill and now he doesn’t, he looks fantastic.”
Having been in isolation since Monday, Nigel described the new normal for professional fighters and their team.
“It’s strange being in a bubble and being isolated, but it’s just a game we’ve got to play,” he said, before he went on to describe his room.
“I’ve got a window looking at a dual carriageway, I’ve got a mirror so I can look at myself all day, a tv, a bed, a bathroom and a Stevie Ward tracksuit!”
Tonights main event was scheduled to be between Jazza Dickens and Ryan Walsh, but the former has had to withdraw from the contest after testing positive for COVID-19.
“It’s a real shame because I was excited about it,” Nigel said. “I picked Jazza just because of what I’ve seen [in sparring]. It’s difficult to pick against Ryan though because he’ll always bring his A-game.”
Elsewhere on the bill, Ohara Davies and Tyrone McKenna get the chance to settle their long standing feud, whilst Liam Conroy looks to overcome Serge Michel to reach the light-heavyweight ‘Golden Contact’ final.
“I think Ohara is rightly the favourite just because of his punch power and I believe Tyrone gets dragged in a little bit,” he said. “I think that if Tyrone can not get involved for the first three/four/five [rounds], it will be interesting.”
Talking about the fight between Conroy and Michel, the head coach of Moss Side Fire Station Boxing Club added: “When we got here, I believe Liam was the underdog and now he’s the betting favourite. I would edge Liam to win, although it seems Michel can fight, but you can’t gauge how good he is from his last performance.”
He finished by saying: “my betting double would be Ohara to win on points and Liam to win on points as well.”
