Heavyweight Etienne ready for toughest challenge
by Rodney Mallett,
Advocate staff writer
In his Showtime debut on Friday, local heavyweight Cliff Etienne will face what could be his toughest opponent yet.
Etienne (19-0, 13 knockouts) will face slick-boxing Fres Oquendo (19-0, 10 KOs) at 10 p.m. on the undercard of David Tua vs. Danell Nicholson match from the Texas Station Gambling Hall in Las Vegas.
Etienne, ranked No. 4 by the WBC, will be fighting for the first time with a pain-free right elbow. He recently had surgery to remove bone chips and said people watching the fight will see the results.
"It feels better than it has my whole career," Etienne said of his elbow. "I can throw harder punches now."
Boxing promoter Les Bonano said Etienne has been whipping his sparring partner regularly. He also said the surgery gave Etienne a "bionic arm."
However, despite the past displays of power and the improved elbow, Oquendo will pose his share of problems with his boxing skills.
Oquendo has an effective jab and likes to move around the ring. It’s a strategy he has used before and said he will use on Friday.
"Clifford is a very strong, aggressive fighter and when he gets a fighter in the corner he gets off," Oquendo said. "But in the middle of the ring, Clay-Bey used his jab and movement and made him (Etienne) look at little bad.
"I think a fighter with a good jab and great legs can exploit that."
The Clay-Bey fight, which Etienne won by unanimous decision on Nov. 11, was listed as a possible fight of the year on ESPN.com and in Ring Magazine.
In that bout, Etienne used his aggressive style, throwing many punches to back Clay-Bey to the corner where he would unload. Although he pummeled Clay-Bey often, he couldn’t stop him. And some have questioned Etienne’s power.
"You can’t knock out everyone," Etienne said. "Tyson didn’t do it. Julian Jackson didn’t do it. Thomas Hearns and George Foreman didn’t do it. I know that I can’t knock everyone out. I work to throw a lot of punches and am in shape to throw a lot of punches. I want to outwork someone. If I don’t knock them out, I’ll outwork them. A win is a win any way it goes."
Oquendo is trained by Felix Trinidad Sr. and said that will also give him an advantage.
He said he feels more comfortable with Trinidad and that his training for this bout has him feeling confident.
"Condition-wise, emotion-wise and confidence-wise he (Trinidad) has brought me to another level that you’ll see on March 23," Oquendo said.
Etienne didn’t seem bothered by Oquendo’s confidence and game plan, saying he’s heard it all before.
He said the’s been training to outwork any opponent and plans to throw lots of punches. He also said he doesn’t feel he’s getting the respect he deserves for his own boxing ability.
"They say Fres has a good jab and I think I have a good jab, too," Etienne said. "I mean, I can box. I feel like he (Oquendo) is a good boxer and stays on his feet and likes to shoot his jab."
He said Clay-Bey also planned on jabbing and moving, but it didn’t work against Etienne, who used his own jab and barrage of body punches to force Clay-Bey into the ropes.
"You can move around and sooner or later you are going to slow down or run out of the ring," Etienne said. |
