Casey bang on form for world title shot
Yesterday he demonstrated his progress before some of his fans with a public workout at Crumlin Boxing Club, where he has spent the last 10 weeks training, and revealed he was so far advanced in his preparations last month that they had to reel him in.
“Three or four weeks ago in the training camp we were sparring 12 rounds a day and Phil just saw the level of fitness that I had — I mean I had a fresh sparring partner coming in on me every round — Phil saw that I just wasn’t tiring,” he said.
“My workrate was just unreal and he felt it was a little bit too early to be peaking so we took it down for a week and a half and then we picked it back up again. I think I am back at that level again — even better, stronger and fitter.
“I’ve pushed my body beyond the limits of human endurance,” he said. “I have prepared so well for this fight, I feel I have to be confident at this stage.
“I’m so happy with my training — I have had a lot of sparring, a lot of training, a lot of running and a lot of sprinting, I’ve lifted a lot of weights. I am really confident. I just want to get into the ring now and get it over.”
His trainer, two-time European bronze medallist, Phil Sutcliffe, confirmed that they had to cut the intensity back by 25% when they saw that Casey was way ahead of where they wanted him to be.
“It’s true, we had to pull the horse in four weeks ago,” he said. “We had to take down the intensity of the training because he was getting too fit too quick.
“The weight is grand, the training has gone great, sparring was excellent — he did not always get his own way of course, but that’s part and parcel of the game — he has done over 160 rounds.
“At the beginning he was sparring my own young fellow (Philip) before the seniors, Eric Donovan, David Oliver Joyce, Declan Geraghty, Micka Stevens the under-21 champion, and I don’t have to tell you who the rest of the boys are.
“We brought a guy over from England to spar him — he was a little bit heavier than Willie but he wasn’t good enough. He’s 8-0 but Willie chopped him down after three rounds and he decided to go home.
“We had some great spars with Robert Gorman, who burst Floyd Mayweather’s rib when he was in Las Vegas with Wayne McCullough.”
Casey said they had done a lot of homework on Rigondeaux, watching reruns of his fights and concentrating on his weaknesses.
“There are a few,” Casey said. “He is very readable. That is probably his biggest weakness. He is no different now than when he won his first Olympic gold medal. I’m not taking anything away from him. Everything has been working for him up until March 19 and that’s where I come in.
“I am always learning and I am always coming up with new things. This is only my second training camp and we’ve learned so much. We’ve brought everything we learned from the European training camp and have worked on new stuff again. Come the next training camp I’ll have so much learned and then I will learn more.”
He said he was delighted for the fans that RTÉ will televise the fight live “For me, it doesn’t matter if it’s in the middle of a park with three judges and a referee,” he said. “But I’m delighted for all who cannot make it to my fights and would love to sit at home and watch it.
“A big thanks to everyone who made such a fuss over it especially to the Mayor of Limerick, Mary Byrne. She really cracked up over it — so did everyone else — it just goes to show how much they want to see me. I am really grateful for all of that.”
Yesterday three-time world champion, Katie Taylor, was added to the undercard and that may be something of a lucky omen because she fought on the undercard when Bernard Dunne beat Ricardo Cordoba for the world title. That night she beat the American champion, Caroline Barry.
Yesterday Casey said he looks back on that Dunne fight for inspiration.
“Looking back at that night with Bernard Dunne — 9,000 fans screaming him to get back up and come back and win the fight with a knockout at the end of it,” he said. “That was a huge inspiration and I am hoping to do the same thing.
“I tried to phone Bernard last week but I did not get him. The one man I talked to was Michael Carruth and he said ‘Willie, they (the Cubans) can be beaten. I did it and so can you.’”
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