The quarterfinals of the WBC Boxing Grand Prix tournaments will take place Wednesday, August 13 at the Cool Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Thirty-two fighters remain from 15 different countries in four different weight classes: heavyweight, middleweight, junior welterweight and featherweight.
All 16 fights will be broadcast on DAZN on Wednesday, August 13. The slate will begin at 3 a.m. Eastern Time (8 a.m. BST)
Several of the fighters remaining in the tournaments gave quotes via press release – and motivated ones at that.
“I think Qamili is a tough opponent,” Troy Nash, an American featherweight, said of his next opponent, Muhamet Qamili. “But I don’t care how tough he is – I’m ready to do whatever it takes. It would mean a lot to advance to the next stage, but my goal is to be number one. Once I get there, I’ll be happy.”
Devon Young, an American heavyweight, has hopes of being the next big thing among the big men.
“This could launch my career,” he said of the WBC Grand Prix. “They say they’re looking for the next heavyweight champion…Hey – I’m right here.”
Another American heavy, Dante Stone, works a full-time job on top of his pugilistic career.
“I work 9 to 5, like a lot of boxers starting their careers. Shoutout to all the fighters who juggle work and boxing – I see you.”
One such fighter is Kevin Ramirez, who BoxingScene spoke to last week, and who sweeps streets and collects garbage in his native Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Ramirez, a natural cruiserweight adding a couple extra pounds for this tournament, will take on Piotr Lacz on the 13th. Lacz is fresh off a contentious second-round bout in which his opponent punched during the break, a blow that lowered him to the ground, which was scored a knockdown – but Lacz came back to finish him in the same round.
He’s confident of victory over Ramirez: “I will be ready for Kevin. I’m faster and stronger. No disrespect – I just know how prepared I am. It’s going to be a great fight.”
Fighters in other brackets are driven to meet a friend in the final rounds.
“Misael Cabrera and I promised each other that we would meet in the final. He’s the only one in the division that I talk to, and we get along really well. We set that goal for both of us, and we must meet in the final,” said Carlos Utria, a Columbian junior featherweight. “I have been achieving great things thanks to the WBC Boxing Grand Prix. I am building my house and bought a car not too long ago. I hope this motivates people and that it allows people to know my story. Everything I lived through and that I have been achieving little by little by little with effort and sacrifice. That fills me with joy to keep advancing.”
Cabrera spoke to BoxingScene last week of the hardship he experienced earlier in his career. He also spoke about it in the press release:
“I haven’t come back home, and I don’t even think about coming back until my mission is complete. I said goodbye to my parents and my siblings telling them that I wasn’t coming back, and I was serious. A lot of fighters celebrate after winning a single fight…I won’t celebrate until I win it all.
“Carlos Utria and I decided that we are going to face each other in the final. We took a picture, did a face off, and why not? We wage war inside the ring and continue being friends outside of it, just as it should be.”
Emiliano Aguillón, a Mexican middleweight, wants to promote the popular style of his legendary countrymen: “I want to come back to the kind of boxing style that´s about always moving forward, the clashing that I like and that the fans love to see. I feel like I get grittier the more I get hit or the more I fight, going forward and looking to fight even more.”
He feels right at home in the new format of the WBC Grand Prix.
“I like the new wrinkles that the WBC implemented. I like the 30-second warning before the round is over, because 10 seconds isn´t much. The 30 seconds give you more of an incentive to press forward and try more things.”
There are plenty more characters – Mexican featherweight Brandon Mosqueda wants to fight Troy Nash in the final, while Colombian middleweight Carlos Sinisterra wants to win the tournament for national pride.
The quarterfinal round promises the further development of these storylines that intersect across nationality and weight class. By the end of the day, half of them will be eliminated.
