Suffice to say, Kenneth Sims Jnr has had his fill of Oscar Duarte’s constant trash talk.
The attractive junior welterweight pairing has quickly developed into a grudge match. Mexico’s Duarte has repeatedly taken aim at his foe, calling him out for withdrawing from their originally scheduled clash last November and vowing to become “the new face of boxing” after this weekend’s DAZN headliner.
The return promise was much more direct and to the point ahead of this weekend’s DAZN headliner.
“He gonna see. He’ll see [on Saturday],” Sims told weigh-in emcee Beto Duran after making weight for his rescheduled meeting with Duarte. “He was nice [on Thursday]. Fuck all that. It’s that time. We on that. It’s BTA – belt to ass.”
DAZN will air its scheduled 12-round WBA 140lbs title eliminator this Saturday from Credit Union 1 Arena in Sims’ hometown of Chicago.
Duarte and Sims were previously slated to meet on Golden Boy Promotions’ “Latino Night” show during Riyadh Season last November 16 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Sims, 22-2-1 (8 KOs), was forced to withdraw less than two weeks out because of a knee injury he sustained during training camp.
“I didn't like the trolling that his team did last year,” Sims noted during Thursday’s final pre-fight press conference. “It takes a lot to get to me. He was bothering me, so I was bothering him. We have to fight anyways.”
After Sims fell out in November, Duarte, 29-2-1 (23 KOs), faced Uzbekistan’s Batyr Akhmedov, whom he defeated via 10-round unanimous decision. Duarte, a 29-year-old native of Parral, Mexico, added a fifth-round knockout of Miguel Madueno in February in Anaheim, California.
Sims returned on the Duarte-Madueno undercard in a 10-round unanimous decision victory over Kendo Castaneda. The win was his ninth in a row since a November 2018 upset defeat to Samuel Teah.
His current run includes an upset win over then-unbeaten Elvis Rodriguez in February 2021 and a 12-round unanimous decision over Akhmedov in their May 2023 thriller that was instead to establish the leading WBA 140lbs challenger.
Sims has yet to receive that due title shot. Worse, even a win on Saturday still won’t advance him to the front of the line. Whoever prevails this weekend will then have to wait out an ordered title fight between WBA junior welterweight titlist Gary Antuanne Russell and Japan’s Andy Hiraoka.
Both sides of Saturday’s main event at least have the proper support to protect their future interests. Sims was all but punished in the past for winning fights the house expected to go the other way. He has since aligned with Golden Boy Promotions, which has resulted in his first-ever home game, barely a year into their current deal.
“Sims has proven to want to face everyone,” Golden Boy chairman Oscar De La Hoya told BoxingScene. “He’s in his hometown and is one step away from a world title.
“This is a great 50-50 fight and the winner should get one of the champions next.”
Sims is just fine with that plan, however long it takes for the sanctioning bodies to get around to making it happen.
In the meantime, he’s content to just beat on the best available competition – particularly those who make a point to get under his skin.
“We're both ranked top five in the world. The best versus the best,” noted Sims. “But this is my city, so I am going to whoop his ass.”
