Heavyweight Adam Olaniyan set to do something that no one has done since Muhammad Ali
Irish heavyweight prospect Adam Olaniyan is only two fights into his pro career, but already plenty are taking note of the heavy handed 20-year-old.
Managed by Brian Peters and promoted by Queensberry, Olaniyan bids to go to 3-0 (3 KOs) on Saturday in Dublin before setting his sights on the September 5 Croke Park bill.
The 6ft 6ins Dubliner made short work of veteran journeyman Viktar Chvarkou in June and reckons the Watford-based Kazakh might have been on the wrong end of some of the best punches he has thrown.
Olaniyan, who rates his jab has his best shot, said the right hand that brought about Chvarkou’s demise was the best he has landed to date.
“I've obviously had big ones in sparring, but, you know, sparring is different,” he said.
“I'd say in a fight that's been recorded, that's been live-streamed, I'd say that one [the right hand is the best]. There’s going to be a sparring story for everybody, but sparring doesn’t even compare to a fight, they’re two different things, really.”
Needless to say, he was satisfied with how he boxed in Southampton to dismiss Chvarkou but it wasn’t long before his attention turned to the next date. And after August 1, there’s September 5.
Is he taking some time to enjoy the journey?
“Of course, I’m a very appreciative person and I just like to look back on things and think about how far I’ve come and where I can be,” he said.
“But, yeah, it’s probably a combination of the two. I look back at it sometimes but then I’m like, ‘Well, I have this fight August 1st and then September 5th, so don’t want to look back at it too much because I’ll get caught up with it.”
But Croke Park, in particular is what dreams are made of, and the significance of his spot on the bill is not lost on the likable Olaniyan.
“To be honest, Muhammad Ali being the last heavyweight to fight there and then I’m going to be the next heavyweight after Muhammad Ali to fight there, he’s someone I've idolised, someone I’ve watched growing up for my name to be beside his, it’s a pinch me moment. I still haven’t really comprehended it, still don’t even know what to say. It leaves me speechless every time I think about it but, yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”
While Olaniyan has had little time to demonstrate his skills so far, he has shown his strength. That is an attribute he has had as long as he can remember.
“I think I've always been really heavy-handed, even as a kid, everything I touched, every toy I ever played with, I broke. My mum says it to me to this day, she's like, ‘I don't even know how strong I am.’ It was actually a funny story, we were wrestling on the schoolyard and there was this kid and I suplexed him and just picked him up and smashed him off the ground. We were like seven or eight and the teacher was like, ‘How did you even do that? You're eight years old.’ So I’ve always been pretty naturally strong, and obviously my dad, he's a big fella. He used to box and I actually remember the first time I sparred, that’s what they said to me. ‘You’re punching really hard, so just try to work on that.’ But obviously it's a strength so we try to work on the weaknesses, bring everything up to a level, really.”
And, at 20, it’s frightening how strong he could become. He’s not unlike Tyson Fury at that age; big, gifted and strong.
But Fury always talked about aesthetically pleasing heavyweights who were musclebound.
Olaniyan doesn’t care what anyone looks like. Winning and experience are the two things he cares about most.
“I’m not a bodybuilder, the most important thing for me is performance, it's getting the rounds, being strong, being fit, being sharp, being agile, though, I feel I haven’t really fully, finished growing yet, so I reckon I probably will develop an even more chiselled physique than I already do have. I'll definitely fill into my frame, get a bit bigger, get a bit stronger.
It is what it is. If you condition your body to do a certain thing, it will do it. If you condition your body to lift weights, you’ll look pretty good in the gym, but if you’ve been, like myself, training boxing, since you’re seven, you're going to know how to punch and land effectively.”
And that is clearly something Olaniyan does very well because, in the fight before Olaniyan, Chvarkou went six rounds with Matchroom’s young heavyweight prospect, Leo Atang.
