Kal Yafai Says He Will Become A Two-Weight World Champion

[Ruthless-RKO]

By Shaun Brown

It’s been a couple of weeks since Kal Yafai lost his WBA super flyweight title to future hall of famer Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez in one-sided fashion.

The Brit went into the fight having won the vacant title in December 2016 against Luis Concepcion. From there Yafai, older brother to fellow pro Gamal and amateur talent Galal, went on a run of five defences which began in May 2017 against Suguru Muranaka.

The Gonzalez fight was one which Yafai always craved, often being asked about it during his reign and hoped one day that he would face his idol. The fight looked to be a distant prospect when Gonzalez lost back to back fights against Wisaksil Wangek, the first one on a majority decision, the rematch more conclusively when the Thai knocked out the Nicaraguan in four rounds.

After a couple of routine wins against Moises Fuentes and Diomel Diocos, the Yafai-Gonzalez fight was brought back to the table and eventually landed in Texas on February 29. What followed was a blistering performance from Gonzalez to dominate his 30-year-old opponent culminating in a ninth round knockout.

The tactics and the performance of Yafai have been questioned and on Saturday he spoke about his first professional defeat and now looks likely to be moving up to bantamweight in his next quest to win a world title.

“A couple of weeks ago things didn’t go my way in Texas,” he wrote on Facebook.

“I learnt a lot sharing the ring with Chocolatito who is a great fighter and the better man won on the night. I was a fan before I fought him and will continue to be, so congratulations to him.

“People ask me what went wrong, but there’s no point talking about it publicly, as it always sounds like an excuse and at the end of the day it doesn’t change anything, the result is what matters. I know what I did/went wrong and I have to redeem myself, which I will do.

“Thank you to everyone who has messaged me before and after my fight I appreciate them all and thank you to everyone who has followed and supported my career up to now and I promise I will be back better and stronger than ever!

“I look forward to becoming a 2 weight world champion!”

[Ruthless-RKO]

I'm assuming he's be going up to Bantamweight..

Where we have the likes of Naoya Inoue, Nordine Oubaali and John Riel Casimero as world champions.

Hearn is good at getting his guys world title shots, or getting them into mandaory positions.

The only way I see Kal winning a title at Bantamweight, is if it's vacant or the IBO. Even then, it's gotta be an easy challenge.

[mickey1975]

God help him if he gets The Monster.

[Stobbo]

He'll have his work cut out moving up, but ,compared to other post defeat interviews, that was classy stuff

[Coco]

I imagine he will get a vacant shot against Edwards!

A mouthwatering encounter

[Ruthless-RKO]

I imagine he will get a vacant shot against Edwards!

A mouthwatering encounter

Which belt? Also Edwards is moving to SuperFly, whereas Kal is moving up to Bants.

[rio]

Feed him to the monster on NYE in Tokyo. Its traditionally a big card over there. All Yafai needs to pack is a pillow

[Ruthless-RKO]

“It’s been very, very difficult,” Yafai said. “One of my fights I was 10-11lb over four or five days out. But for this one, I wasn’t even half that.

“You have a lot of people telling you that you look great, saying your weight is better than usual and you tell yourself you are feeling good. But inside you are dying.

“That’s what you have to do all the time, I have to trick my brain into thinking I’m fine.”

“It just wasn’t meant to be on that night,” Yafai said. “He was great on the night, I wasn’t.

“I could say a few things that weren’t right, but it will just sound like an excuse. No one is interested in excuses and it won’t change anything for me now.

“I know what went wrong, I know what I would need to do, but I give him all the credit. He is a great person, not just in the ring but outside it too.”

Yafai was down twice in the fight, at the end of the eighth round and then from a big right in the ninth that finished it. But nothing went right for him

“I tried to box him early him on, to make him use his legs, but it was me who ended up using my legs,” he said.

“The thing is I was always thinking ‘it’s still there, I’m going to get him, I’m going to catch him clean’.

“When I was down at the end of the eighth, I was miles behind and they wanted to pull me out. I just said ‘no chance’.

“And I never even saw the right hand that finished it.”

He says he will wait until he starts training again to think about where he will return, be it at bantamweight or super bantamweight, depending on where the best opportunities lie.

“I’ll move up in weight, see how much weight I put on and then move on from there,” he said. “Going up is just something I have to do. I’ll have a chat to my nutritionist.

“These are lessons learnt and I wouldn’t change anything.

“I could fight again at the weight, I could do the rematch, I have the rematch clause. If I was good at the weight and could hold my physical strength, 100 percent I would.

“Maybe I could have implemented the gameplan that would have worked. I’m not stupid, I know what I am capable of, but I have got to move up.”

[TheLeprechaun]

It's easy to blame the weight.

I think he came in with the right tactics but fought the wrong fight. I actually like Yafai and I'm glad he came to fight as it made for an exciting fight but he was shown up on the night. I don't mind him coming in to overpower the smaller Chocolatito and trying to impose himself but once you've realized that you're losing that kind of fight and in danger of taking a hiding, it is prudent to change tactics. After the third or fourth round he could have elected to box. Instead he decided he was going to stand in front of the guy and bully him. Choco proceeded to nearly double Yafai's punch output and give him a good hiding before stretching him out on the canvas.

[wsemok]

To be honest, I think he is trying hard to achieve his goal. I respect his way.