Fired-up Limond has the Will to win
GLASGOW boxer Willie Limond has come out swinging ahead of his comeback fight against fellow Scot Ryan Brawley in September.
The former British and Commonwealth champion, who last fought last year, has accused his next opponent of bad-mouthing him in the build-up to the Paisley clash, and vowed to do his talking in the ring.
“Come the September 9 I’m going to explode on him, he’s getting it,” a fired-up Limond said, claiming he’d been informed that Brawley had been mouthing off about him.
He said: “There’s been a lot of negativity thrown my way in the past six months and that’s got my back up. It’s got me back in the gym and I’m working as hard as ever – he’s in for a shock.
“I’ve always liked Ryan but when I’m hearing he’s said things about me, I’m raging. I’ve never bad-mouthed anybody, and maybe Ryan has just been hearing someone else talking rubbish and he’s jumped on the bandwagon, but I don’t like that.
“The lesson for him will be to keep his mouth shut, simple as that. I’m not taking it personally but I am thinking ‘OK, if that’s what you think of me, we’ll see what you think after this fight’.
“I feel as though I’ve fallen out with the world and I’m just going to take it out on the next guy I fight, and the next guy I fight is Ryan.”
Limond refused to be drawn on the exact nature of the perceived slights against him, but hinted that they revolved around his move into management and promotion.
He said: “I’ve ran shows for the past few years, and they’ve all run at a loss because I don’t want to put my fighters under pressure.
“The last show I put on was a headache and now there’s people who want to say things about me.”
But former Prizefighter winner Brawley claimed he was taken aback by the allegations, maintaining it’s not in his character to trash talk other fighters.
He responded: “I don’t know where that’s come from, I’ve got too much respect for other fighters to get involved in that. I haven’t got a clue what he’s talking about.”
The Irvine-born fighter insisted that he’s been fully focused on his training, having recovered from a rib injury to defeat Londoner Jordan Grannum in June.
Now he’s ready to take on Limond as he tries to re-establish himself as a big name in British boxing.
“He said: “I’m very confident, I wouldn’t have taken the fight if I didn’t think I could beat him. The training I have been doing has been brilliant so I’ll be faster and sharper, I also think I’m a better mover.
“If I was to beat a big name like Willie Limond that would put me right back up there.”
Limond, who has enlisted the services of former middleweight world champion Lawrence Murphy, has put everything else aside to fully focus on the upcoming bout.
“I’ve made sacrifices for this fight, including stopping running my gym because it was a distraction. My family’s staying with my mum so I’m basically just living on my own and training – no phones or anything, just working hard.”