American promoter Bob Arum is on the cusp of adding Ben Bommber to his growing stable of Australian fighters – which includes George Kambosos and new WBO bantamweight champ Jason Moloney — after being told it’s the undefeated Melburnian who is the next breakout star from Down Under.
Speaking with Fox Sports Australia from Las Vegas this week, Top Rank executive Derrick Harmon confirmed he and Arum will be watching Wednesday night’s showdown between Tszyu and Bommber in Melbourne.
While Tszyu is favoured to keep his own undefeated record intact against his relatively unknown rival, Harmon is tipping Bommber to score a “convincing” win after watching him spar in March at Top Rank’s Las Vegas gym.
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Still only 21, Bommber has also suggested Team Tszyu have become increasingly aware of the danger he presents given the lack of headlines surrounding their fighter in the build up to this fight.
“Before all the other fights it’s been about how Nikita is ‘The Butcher’, how he loves blood, how he is coming to stop his opponent,” Bommber said.
“But I haven’t heard anything like that this time.
“Who knows? Maybe he’s changed his nickname?
“I just know they’re not as confident as they have been previously because with all Tszyu’s other opponents, they were perfect for his style.
“But this time, they had no choice but to pick me.
“You can’t keep saying nobody wants to fight you when there is a 21-year-old from Melbourne who has been screaming at you from day one”.
In preparation for this fight, Bommber spent three weeks in the world’s fight capital working with trainer Rodney Crisler, who flies into Melbourne today after cornering unified lightweight king Devin Haney.
The young Aussie has also had Curtis Henderson, a strength and conditioning coach from Floyd Mayweather’s gym, in Melbourne for three weeks to help with his final preparations.
Harmon, a former light heavyweight contender, has also become close with Team Bommber during their two trips to Las Vegas, and watched the Aussie spar against some of his promotion’s own best young talent.
“And I was impressed,” he said. “So he knows we’ll be watching this fight … I expect him to win easily.”
Bommber’s manager Marin Jerak added: “When we were over in Las Vegas, (Harmon) was there, rang Bob and said ‘I just watched an Aussie kid give it to two of your best guys’.
“Bob was shocked.
“He said ‘OK, he is fighting that Tszyu boy, let’s see what he does’.”
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The manager added that, after years of calling out Tszyu, the fighter’s team finally had no option but to agree.
“We were asking for The Butcher,” Jerak laughs, “but all we were getting was sausages.
“But now the fight is on, Bob Arum will watching and so will plenty of others.
“We’ve had so much interest in Ben because this kid really is special.”
Henderson, a former track athlete who has worked out of Las Vegas for a decade, and whose clients include both Mayweather Promotion boxers and NFL players, is another who insists Bommber is a Next Big Thing.
“I’ve flown 16 hours to be here because I think this kid can become a world champion,” he said.
“Ben is a young, hungry fighter who comes from nothing. A kid who gives everything he does 100 per cent.
“So we’re here with him to whoop ass.”
Another who cannot wait for Wednesday night is the fighter’s father, Bronco Bommber, who only a few years ago sold everything he owned – including his excavating business equipment – to help fund his son’s dream.
Since then however, several business people who heard the story have come on board, including an old friend who now runs Integral Wealth Group.
“But you ask any parent whose child has talent – in boxing, football, tennis, football, whatever — most will go out on a limb for their child,” Bronco said this week.
“So I’ve done nothing no other loving parent wouldn’t do.
“An opportunity came up for Benjamin to train in America, I didn’t have enough funds, and nobody was sponsoring us.
“So I started looking at Benjamin’s motor bike, he was looking at it, I was looking at my machinery … there wasn’t much of an option.
“Sometimes God puts you in a situation where you have to make a decision, and we just f…ing made it.
“If I had an option to keep everything, trust me I would’ve.
“But there wasn’t.
“So we just said, ‘Ok, let’s grab this bull by the balls, by the horns and see what happens’.
Asked about his son now having a team that includes Crisler as head coach, he continued: “I can’t believe it.
“Same as the feedback we’ve getting from America.
“It’s not like we’ve been training in Thailand; we are in Las Vegas, the mecca of boxing and these people all see in Benjamin what we see.
“So definitely no regrets.”
His son, meanwhile, also insists he is ready to shock Australian boxing on Wednesday night.
“Yes, Nikita Tszyu has the name,” he said. “But he doesn’t box, he just walks his opponents down.
“Obviously he’s strong, but we’re now going to see what happens when he isn’t allowed to dictate, isn’t allowed to just walk forward and do what he wants to.
“The guys put in front of him so far, they’ve been perfect for his style.
“That’s why they’ve made a mistake with me.”
