Team Bryant moving on from non fight
A big fight in Australia in September is now the main focus for Lance Bryant and his team after his non fight at the weekend.
The Pahiatua boxer was meant to fight Junior Pati for the New Zealand NBF and UBF cruiserweight titles in Auckland on Saturday night, but on Thursday night the fight was called off because Pati was struggling to get down from heavyweight to cruiserweight for the fight.
But then on Friday a replacement fighter, Lui Te’o, was found for Pati and Pati won what was changed to a heavyweight fight for the vacant UBF Asia Pacific crown.
So even though it was a frustrating affair, Bryant’s trainer Mike Meehan said they wanted to put the whole thing behind them.
‘‘We just want to move on,’’ Meehan said. ‘‘There’s no point dwelling on something that’s done and dusted.
‘‘There’s not a lot to achieve by just having a go at people and trying to point the finger.’’
Meehan said they had agreed with the promoters to still get their contracted purse.
Bryant’s next mission is to fight Australian Aaron Russell for an Australasian title in Brisbane on September 9 and that’s what Meehan is focusing on now.
‘‘It will be his toughest 10-round title fight,’’ Meehan said.
Meehan didn’t know much about Russell except for that he had beaten other Kiwi fighters Ash Derbyshire and Nik Charalampous.
‘‘I hear he’s a pretty good boxer who likes to pick his shots quite well,’’ Meehan said. ‘‘Defensively he’s quite sound.
‘‘He’s obviously reasonably sharp if he’s beaten the likes of Ash Derbyshire and Nik.’’
Not having a fight last weekend may have disrupted Bryant’s plans. But Bryant is now having a week off training with Meehan, then they will be into a seven-week training camp.
Raylyne Siaosi of Multitrade Boxing, who had been promoting the fight between Pati and Bryant, also wanted to move on from the incident.
‘‘We’re trying to recover and figure this all out,’’ she said.
‘‘We’re trying to keep a low profile right now. Everyone thought us as the promoter, it was our failure and we pre-planned all this. It was our event.’’
Siaosi said she hasn’t spoken to Pati since the fight, but didn’t want to speak ill of him.
After the fight between Bryant and Pati had been cancelled, Siaosi said they tried to save their dignity and their show by getting Te’o as a replacement fighter.
Siaosi said they had apologised to Meehan.
She said they had been serious about holding the original fight and tried their best to work it out.
The 10-round bout had meant to be the main event at Fist of Fury V.
The fight between Bryant and Pati had been going ahead until Wednesday when it was called off.
But then on Thursday Meehan agreed to take a catchweight fight, with Pati weighing about 93kg or 94kg rather than 90kg, but then that night things were called off again.
Then on Friday Te’o was quickly found as the replacement and Meehan said they weren’t give the option to fight as a heavyweight.