English heavyweight prospect Leo Atang has been thriving in Los Angeles ahead of his US debut Saturday. Atang figures on the Matchroom bill headlined by the 168lbs clash between Diego Pacheco and Immanuwel Aleem.<\/p>\n
Atang, from York, is 7-0 (6 KOs), and \u2013 still only 19 \u2013\u00a0boxes Glen Williams, a 2-1 heavyweight from Houston.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been unreal, it\u2019s just like what you see on the films and all, on GTA [Grand Theft Auto] and stuff like that. It\u2019s mad out here, but I love it and I\u2019ve been settling in nicely, eating well, sleeping well, so just ready to go on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atang and Williams have seen one another in the fighter hotel, but there have been no pleasantries exchanged.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s big,\u201d Atang said of \u201cThe Gorilla.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve just seen him walk around the hotel, [I\u2019ve] not really looked too much into him, I\u2019ll leave that to obviously my coach Ash [Ashley Martin] and then just do whatever he tells me to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atang is flying high and full of confidence. Five of his seven fights have ended in the first round. So would it be a statement if he made quick work of Williams, or would he be better served putting on a show and doing the rounds?<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a bit of both, really. It\u2019d be a shame for it to just be over in 30 seconds or so, but at the same time, that\u2019s where I felt a bit annoyed in my last few fights when they\u2019ve gone too early because the refs have jumped in,\u201d Atang said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always going to take my time with it and then get that clean knockout.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atang has blamed his handspeed for the early wins and he admits that is one of his biggest assets.<\/p>\n
And doing the rounds as well as travelling to the USA are all important for the young heavyweight that promoter Eddie Hearn has invested in.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike you say, the shapes and styles [of different opponents], that [the travel] helps you get used to stuff,\u201d Atang said of building his experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut also the different occasions, and getting used to the jet lag, the new audience, the way they run things different over here. So it\u2019s all experience. But it\u2019s also a bit of a dream come true. Everyone wants to fight in America in their career. So the fact I\u2019m doing it so early as well, yeah, I\u2019m very grateful for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atang is going to stay in the US for a few days after the fight and enjoy the sights but understands it\u2019s \u201cbusiness first.\u201d<\/p>\n
That said, Atang did get to watch some of the England-Argentina World Cup semi-final match. He had to stream the first half on his phone at the doctors while getting his medical, and watched the second half in the hotel bar.<\/p>\n
He admits he was \u201cgutted\u201d England lost, and added: \u201cbut it\u2019s not going to dictate my life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Boxing is at the forefront of everything Atang is doing and he\u2019s content with what he\u2019s done to date in the pros.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey [Matchroom] have gone above what they\u2019ve said,\u201d Atang said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so, so grateful. I was able to box in Ghana, I\u2019ve boxed all over England so far, like eight fights in the first year. And I was out for three months with an injury as well. \u201cThey\u2019ve more than delivered. It\u2019s helping me build my image, but as well as that, I\u2019ve gained a lot of experience as a pro.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, before any big moves, Williams comes first tonight in Los Angeles and you can\u2019t knock Atang\u2019s confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst round knockout, but in the last 20 seconds,\u201d Atang said of what he was hoping to achieve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"English heavyweight prospect Leo Atang has been thriving in Los Angeles ahead of his US debut Saturday. Atang…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":811170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[2095,64,63,802,1920,6653,249885,85],"class_list":["post-811169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-america","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-boxingscene","tag-leo-atang","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}