During their amateur careers New England middleweights Russell Lamour (11-0, 5 KOs), of Portland, Maine, and Thomas Falowo (12-3, 8 KOs), of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, met several times, with Lamour defeating Falowo all but once. Now these two fighters meet again as pros for hometown bragging rights in their ESPN Friday Night Fights debut at Foxwoods in Mashantucket, CT.
The 26-year old Falowo is from nearby Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He is coming off a seventh round stoppage defeat to Ronald Gavril on ShoBox. Although he only beat Lamour once as an amateur, he feels he can defeat Lamour as a pro. He said, “When we fought each other in the amateurs it was four or six rounds, but now that this fight is up to eight rounds it definitely gives me time to break him down. More rounds gives me the advantage because I am a pressure fighter and it definitely takes me awhile to try to get warmed up.”
The undefeated Lamour is a native of Portland, Maine. He made his professional debut in 2012 and has fought his entire professional career in front of New England crowds. Lamour admits that Falowo has improved since they last fought each other but still feels he will have the edge. “My game plan has changed a little since our last meeting because his skill has gotten much better,” explained Lamour. “There are a few small mistakes that we are working on but not too much has changed. To me the number of rounds does not matter. I know him. He will be ready. I will be ready. It will be a great fight. I am just looking to outbox him.”
With both fighters residing in New England, each expects to have a lot of crowd support at Foxwoods, but Lamour feels Thomas may have the bigger crowd. Russell does not think the crowd support will make much of a difference. He explained, “His family lives closer to Foxwoods so he will probably have a bigger crowd then I do but if he does, he does. It really doesn’t matter to me. It is not my concern. I will be in the ring doing what I do.”
Falowo believes his key to victory is aggressiveness, “I am working on more effective aggressiveness. Lamour likes to move around a lot. He is a boxer-type. I really doubt he is going to stand there and try to trade with me but, if he did, it would be even better for me. He is probably going to try to box me, so I am just going to work on effective aggressiveness and hitting without getting hit so much.” Lamour downplays Falowo’s only victory against him adding, “In the one loss I had against him it was a close fight. He won by a split decision.”
Main Events CEO Kathy Duva said, “Fights where there is a history and a little bit of animosity between the fighters make great fights in the ring. The Fox Theater at Foxwoods will be packed with Lamour and Falowo fans. Russell tried to downplay his crowd support but his team is literally bringing in busloads of people from Maine! This will be a great start to FNF on January 30.”
