WBSS Super-Lightweight and Bantamweight Semi-Finalists Josh Taylor and Ivan Baranchyk and Naoya Inoue and Emmanuel Rodriguez met at the final press conference ahead of Saturday’s showdowns of the unbeatens at The SSE Hydro.
“I’ve never felt so relaxed and confident heading into a fight,” said Scotland’s Josh ‘Tartan Tornado’ Taylor (14-0, 12 KOs), the WBC Silver champion who fights for his first World title on Saturday.
“I’m ready to do the job. Baranchyk is strong, he comes forward but I see a lot of flaws in him, a lot of mistakes and I’m going to exploit him. I cannot wait to get in and fight him.
‘”The World Boxing Super Series is the best guys in boxing all fighting against each other. It doesn’t happen enough and I’m in this game to prove I’m the best. I believe Baranchyk is one of the best in the division but I’m fully confident I’m going to win on Saturday.”
“I don’t mind being the visiting fighter,” said the IBF titleholder, Ivan ‘The Beast’ Baranchyk (19-0, 12 KOs). “I will fight every man, everywhere and I believe I can knockout Taylor on Saturday.”
The bantamweights felt equally confident of not letting their O’s go either.
“I have a lot of respect for Rodriguez and I expect a tough fight,” said WBA champion Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue (17-0, 15 KOs). “I have studied him quite a bit, but you don’t really know him until you get in the ring. Once we are there I will figure out how to get the victory,” he said feeling confident of going all the way; “I entered the tournament to get the trophy.”
“I am very excited to be here,“ said IBF champion Emmanuel ‘El Sensacional’ Rodriguez (19-0, 12 KOs) who is putting his belt on the line on Saturday. “This fight with Inoue is something we wanted for a long time, so we are glad it’s happening. On May 18 I will still be the world champion!”
The winner of the bantamweight semi-final will face Nonito Donaire in the final, and Regis Prograis awaits the winner of the super-lightweight contest.
Tickets for the Monster WBSS Semi-Finals night, Ivan Baranchyk vs Josh Taylor and Naoya Inoue vs Emmanuel Rodriguez on 18 May at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland are on sale now from TheSSEHydro.com
All the action will be live on DAZN in the U.S. and Sky Sports in the U.K.
WBSS Season 2 Semi-Finals:
27 April – Cajundome, Lafayette, LA, USA
- Regis Prograis vs Kiryl Relikh – Prograis W TKO6
- Nonito Donaire vs Stephon Young – Donaire W KO6
- Josh Taylor vs Ivan Baranchyk
- Naoya Inoue vs Emmanuel Rodriguez
15 June – Arena Riga, Riga, Latvia
- Mairis Briedis vs Krzysztof Glowacki
- Yunier Dorticos vs Andrew Tabiti
