Tucker keen to display talent at Wray & Nephew Contender
Spurred by his goal of making the semi-finals, Jamaica’s Fabian Tucker will be looking to create a good impression on boxing fans when he makes his Wray & Nephew Contender debut against Canada’s Tariq Ismail Salih at the Chinese Benevolent Association today.
The 24-year-old Tucker has been longing for an opportunity to showcase his abilities on the main stage and said he aims to make the opportunity count in the evening’s main bout, which will also be broadcast live on TVJ, beginning at 9:30 pm.
“I’ve been preparing from the first of January, because I’ve always wanted to be in the Contender,” expressed Tucker. “Hard work makes an easy fight. I want to show Jamaica my talent, the skills that I have.
“I feel great to know that the opportunity has come, so I have to make use of it,” he added.
Tucker began his boxing career nearly four and a half years ago and has fought 17 times as an amateur, winning nine fights and losing eight. He moved up to the professional ranks last year, where he fought three times, and is still searching for his first win.
In a fairly busy 2017, he lost by unanimous decision to both Kestna Davis and Nico Yeyo, in March and May, respectively. Then, in October, he showed improvement while earning a draw against veteran campaigner and 2012 Wray & Nephew Contender Donovan “Police” Campbell.
“I’ve learned a whole heap,” Tucker said of his short pro experience. “After the fights with Kestna and Nico I went back to the drawing board and fixed up some things. In the fight against Campbell it showed, I threw some good punches and they connected, so it definitely helped.”
He showed some amount of resilience in those fights, averaging over five rounds in each. That is the maximum limit for first round fights in the Wray & Nephew Contender.
This is actually the last fight in the eight-bout, first-round preliminaries and Team Jamaica holds a 4-3 lead over Team Canada.
Richard “Frog” Holmes, Nico Yeyo, Devon “Concrete” Moncriffe and Michael “Wasp” Gardner scored wins for the locals, while Waseem El Sinawi, Dave Leblond and Ricardo Salas won for Team Canada.
Tucker aims to keep Jamaica ahead on the scorecards.
“I would like to extend it to make it 5-3,” he said. “We have a strong Jamaica team and we know that we can push ourselves to make it Jamaican to Jamaican.
“I see myself going a far way in the competition, I look and see myself advancing to the semi-finals,” he added.
Salih, it appears, offers Tucker a decent shot. The Canadian is a replacement for highly thought-of Jeff Tabrizi, who was injured days ahead of his scheduled engagement last week Wednesday. That injury forced a postponement for this clash with Salih, who celebrated his 28th birthday on Monday, and competed largely in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), stepping in.
Salih made his professional boxing debut in April last year and registered a majority decision over fellow Canadian Dylan Rushton in a four-round bout at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto.
“I watched him fight, he’s a kick-boxer. What I really see is footwork, I don’t see much in terms of hands,” observed Tucker.
Asked if this gives him an advantage and added confidence, Tucker responded: “Definitely, yes, definitely.”
Meanwhile, the draw for the second round and announcement of the top-ranked boxers will take place after the final bout of round one tonight.
The winner will, in addition to the title of Wray & Nephew Contender Welterweight 2018 and belt, take home a purse of $2 million. The second-place boxer will collect $500,000, third $250,000, and fourth $200,000.