Team Jamaica’s Michael “Wasp” Gardener will seek to defeat Team Canada’s Dave Leblond in the Wray & Nephew Contender Boxing Series in the first of four quarter-final fights at the Chinese Benevolent Association Hall today, starting at 8:30 pm.

However, before the fight was sanctioned to go ahead Gardener had to lose weight as he came in some four pounds over the prescribed limit of 147lb for the welterweight category. Gardener was then made to take steps to lose the excess weight and on his return to the venue yesterday, Leroy Brown, supervisor at the boxers weigh-in, advised that Gardener had made the weight that would allow the fight to go on as scheduled. Team Canada’s Leblond had earlier weighed in at 147lbs on the dot.

At one point the Canadian had vowed not to go up against Gardener with his overweight condition.

Gardener is one of the finest talents in training in this weight class in local boxing since breaking on the boxing scene as a professional two years ago in the Contender Series. Seeded at two in this year’s Contender, he is labelled one of the favourites to become the next winner.

When he first entered The Contender Gardener reached the semi-final stage of the division and was only stopped in his tracks by eventual winner DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley.

With no Corley in his path on this occasion, mentor and trainer Castro Brown sees him going all the way. “Since we saw Michael in Contender two years ago what has happened is that some of the good fighters in Contender have gone downhill. They have not improved. Michael has improved head over heels above them. What this is saying is the other fighters have remained where they were two years ago while Michael has improved and got better and better.”

He added: “Well, I have seen him fight three times.Michael has seen him three times fight and he’s cut to fit. He is exactly what we wanted. Of all the other fighters we will have to adjust. But there is no adjustment for this guy. This guy is cut to fit. Michael will close him down early. Get on top of him and beat him easy. There is no worry. Michael will give a magnificent display. With the fight we know no fight is easy, but we have no worries about the fight.”

At the weigh-in yesterday Gardener promised that the fight will not go the distance of the five rounds set for fights at the quarter-final stage of the series.

Leblond, through his interpreter Samuel Planter, said in an earlier interview, “This will be war.”

But he later told reporters after some discrepancy at the weigh-in, “Dave weighed in at 147lbs. He made the weight. His opponent is four pounds higher. Dave is boxing at 147lbs not higher; we would not take any risk for him to get hurt for nothing, so we would not fight higher than 147lbs. He always fights in this category and does not want to go any higher,” Planter said.