Repton Trio Albie Warner, Solomon Adeyi and Franko Ignatius have been selected to top off a bill of top-quality boxing against northern Rivals, Sunderland in the annual dinner event on November 17th.
The show will take place in Chigwell’s classy Prince Regent Hotel in the first of the two seasonal Repton-Sunderland battles. Last year in this fixture, Repton thrashed the Wearsiders 6-1 and this year’s crop of talent are driven to keep the streak going.
Middleweight Warner said: “It is important for the team to win because we are a team and like one big family so everyone supports each other”. On preparation for the fight the 20-year-old from Essex said: “Im feeling confident and ready, I have been training six times a week working on a lot of things like strength, conditioning and speed.
Adapt
“In the amateurs you can’t just prepare for one style which is why I’ve done a lot of sparring with different people. Everyone has their own style so sparring different people and styles you have to adapt quickly, so that helps me.”
Warner has had a lot of bouts in a short period of time for the Green and Gold army, going away all over the UK to box for the club. This included home and away fixtures against the Belfast Dockers, and he has impressed the coaches at the gym. He now aims to move on to bigger and better things in the near future and did not hesitate to outline his short term targets.
“My goal at the start of the season was to win the ABA national development championships. I came up short in the London final so now I look to win the king of the ring tournament in Sweden in three weeks.”
Big Super-Heavyweight Franko Ignatius, coming off a recent defeat, is looking to get back to winning ways as he has worked on his weaknesses in the gym for the show/
“I feel good, based on the feedback from my coaches, work rate is the key focus so I have spent four days a week doing interval sprints and one four mile run on the weekends,” he said.
Fundamentals
“I’ve also pushed my work rate during sparring to get my body accustomed to a fit opponent.”
As a bigger man than most in the gym, Ignatius outlined the key fundamentals in preparation as a superheavyweight.
“Relaxing is a big part of it, smart use of energy is another. Punch resistance and high awareness of what is coming back at you is imperative, a clean punch is more damaging so you cannot take too many.”
The East Londoner was also keen to get the win to help the team continue their run of form against Sunderland;
“I am part of a team so I am hoping for a team win. In terms of preparation, I am focused on myself.”
Nerves
Middleweight Solomon Adeyi will be making his amateur debut for the show, and looks to put the nerves for his first pugilistic contest to the back of his head to get the victory. The Hackney man said: “I’ve been getting advice from my stable mates not to let the nerves get to me. Some have advised me to take it as sparring, some have told me to do more runs, so I’ve done both.
“I have just worked hard, visualising victory and calming my nerves by watching professional matches and listening to music”
On the full event, Adeyi commented “I feel we have no option but to win the show against Sunderland. They are coming to our hometown. Losing in our own backyard is unimaginable.”
All three will be put through their paces by coaches Lionel and Kelvin in the lead up to the show. Tickets are £50 for seats per person, £10 for standing, to get hold of tickets you can contact ko@reptonboxingclub.com.
