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Usmanee: "In My Heart I Want
War"
IBF #14-rated super featherweight contender Arash Usmanee
(20-0, 10 KOs) is finishing up training at the Club de Boxe
de l'Est gym in Montreal, in preparation to face IBF #6
Rances "Kid Blast" Barthelemy (17-0, 11 KOs) on Friday,
January 4, 2013, at Stage 305 in the Magic City Casino in
Miami, Florida.
Presented by Warriors Boxing and Bad Dog Productions in
association with the Magic City Casino, Usmanee vs.
Barthelemy will serve as 12-round elimination bout for the
IBF's #2 position and the main event of a show entitled
"Friday Night Fights at Magic City Casino" that will also be
the year's debut broadcast of ESPN's Friday Night Fights (10
PM Eastern on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes, online through
WatchESPN.com, and on smartphones and tablets via the
WatchESPN app).
In the co-featured televised bout, Puerto Rican slugger
Jonathan "Mantequilla" Gonzalez (15-0-1, 13 KOs) will take
on Philadelphia's Derek "Pooh" Ennis (23-3-1, 13 KOs).
My training is always tip top," said the Aghani-Canadian.
"I'm ready to go. I gotta cut some weight, but it's in the
process. I'm taking my time with it. For me, having to cut
weight is ordinary. It seems like no matter what weight I
fight at, it's tough to make. I take it serious because
that's a part of boxing and that's a battle every boxer
should be able to overcome. And it makes the victory taste
better when you have to work hard for the win."
30-year-old Usmanee is a five-time national amateur champion
in his adopted home of Canada. Born in Kabul, Afghanistan,
he moved to the Canadian Province of Alberta when he was
only three years old, after his father was killed in a
bombing.
"I moved to Montreal from Alberta. I had five fights there
before I moved and things weren't looking so good. Pro
boxing in Alberta is very difficult to do well at. You
pretty much have to be a club fighter and I'm not a club
fighter. When I got here, my manager, Douggy Berneche, and
my trainer, Danielle Trepanier, and I hooked up and the rest
is history."
Usmanee says he had a very wild style before meeting
Trepanier, but has really refined his game with his
guidance.
"My basics of boxing were lacking, let's put it that way.
For many years, I was left to do what I was good at in the
ring, which was to be wild and fight. I did well with it,
but not at this level. You have to utilize all your assets
and I wasn't doing that. So Dan said let's go back to basics
and that's what we did. He took me right back to school and
started from the beginning and taught me how to box. I
learned a lot of the basics of boxing in the past few years.
I basically became a boxer. I had the tennis ball under my
chin; my legs were tied up. I looked stupid, but that's what
we had to do."
Usmanee admits he can still be a little wilder than he
should at times. "My style is in your face. I like to go to
war, sometimes even when I shouldn't. But I've learned to
utilize my boxing skills in the past couple years a lot
better. My heart is a warrior. In my heart I want war.
That's never going to go away. But my punches don't get wild
anymore. I get wild in my heart now, but stick to what I've
learned: technical aggression."
So what does he think of his opponent Barthelemy?
"Barthelemy is just like me. I do everything pretty good,
nothing spectacular or amazing. I feel I'm rounded off
pretty smooth. I don't do anything that's really, really bad
or that stands out. He's not a bad boxer, not a bad fighter,
everything he has is good, but it's not blowing my mind.
It's not amazing or out of the ordinary. He's nothing I
haven't faced before in the ring. He's good, tall; he's
naturally southpaw, so he's got a good left side. Good
boxer, good puncher. Everything is average. Nothing is
spectacular. You know? That's the same with me."
Despite what he calls their equality in physical gifts,
Usmanee has a definite vision for the important fight's
outcome. "We're planning on stopping him late. I always want
to knock out everybody, but that's what I want to do and
that's what I'm planning on doing. I'm sure he's got the
same plan. That's why it'll be a great fight."
Usmanee has already won the NABA and WBC Continental
Americas Championships as a professional, but says he's
suffered from anonymity so far in his career. This fight may
be his ticket to wider recognition.
"I don't think the world really knows much about me yet.
We're hoping to change that with this fight. I don't think
many Canadians even know who I am yet, but I have been
getting a lot of letters from around the world about this
fight. I think if I win it, the world will start to know
about me."
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