Cameron camp tells Hoppa he’s a chicken
SHANE CAMERON’S manager Ken Reinsfield has accused John Hopoate of chickening out of their scheduled fight on March 18.
Hopoate’s sudden withdrawal has forced a late change in opponent for Cameron’s comeback fight in Melbourne, and the controversial former league international will be replaced by big-talking Australian, Michael ‘‘Iron Rhino’’ Kirby.
Ironically, Kirby could take the fight at short notice because he too had been training to fight Hopoate later this month; another fight which Hopoate walked away from.
‘‘He’s had a heart attack,’’ said Reinsfield with a laugh. ‘‘They couldn’t find a heart. But I’d rather an opponent who comes to fight, not someone who’s turning up for the money and will fall over.’’
Kirby’s 6-3-1 record includes defeats by Solomon Haumono and Alex Leapai, but does include a victory over Nathan Briggs and he’s also engaged in lengthy internet trash-talking with Kiwi-based world-ranked fighter Chauncy Welliver.
It’s likely Cameron will target Haumono as his next opponent if he beats Kirby. Haumono has already turned down the March 18 date and instead is confirmed as the lead undercard attraction on the David Tua-Friday Ahununya card in Auckland on March 31. Haumono, who has a 17-1 record and holds the OBPF heavyweight title after knocking out Kirby last year, will fight Tua’s sparring partner Israel Garcia, who is 19-3, having lost his last two fights to world title contenders Denis Boytsov and Chris Arreola. Below that, Kiwi Oscar Siale has been locked-in as American Jameson Bostic’s opponent in an intriguing lightheavy contest. Undercard matchmaker Boa Athu says every fighter will receive a knockout bonus.
One of New Zealand’s best prospects, Steve Heremaia, will fight Lee Oti on that card, but his trainer is threatening that could be his last bout in this country because he’s sick of poor decision-making from local judges.
Chris Martin has lodged an official protest at the split decision a fortnight ago that saw Heremaia lose a four-rounder to the much lowerranked Harry Venka. A Heremaia victory would have pushed him inside the world’s top 100 lightmiddleweights with authoritative boxing website, boxrec, but instead he has plummeted to 183.
Martin confronted all three judges to protest after a fight where Heremaia took an aggressive, high workrate approach which contrasted with Venka’s defensive style, then lodged an official complaint with promoter George Christodolou.
‘‘I don’t know anyone who saw it the other way,’’ Martin said. ‘‘I was taking the gloves off Steve thinking it was a no-brainer decision when it went to the red corner and thought ‘what the hell?’ . . .Venka’s punches wouldn’t have knocked out an empty milk bottle. He wasn’t committed to the fight, his only commitment was to not getting knocked over. ‘‘Judging is a problem that needs fixing but a lot of people cover their arses and point the finger. If this keeps happening and this decision doesn’t get overturned [we will go to Australia].’’
Martin says two of the three other losses on Heremaia’s record were due to poor judging, including a defeat to Oti where Heremaia was awarded victory before it was overturned an hour later because of an addition problem.
WBO Australasia official Danny Leigh, who was at ringside, showed his feelings about the decision when he said he hoped to compensate Heremaia by persuading the Australian fighter Ryan Waters to offer him a re-match next month for the WBO’s Asia-Pacific belt. Instead, Martin is talking to Waters about a fight later in the year, and to an Australian promoter about taking Heremaia’s career across the Tasman permanently.