Catford super-bantam Amechi left frustrated by wait for fight action

BY MATTHEW NASH

Joke Amechi has laid bare the frustration he has suffered in trying to find opponents and says he is more driven than ever after going full-time as a professional boxer.

The 34-year-old beat Ricky Starkey in June but has since been thwarted in his bid to follow-up with a fourth professional victory.

It will be nine months on Saturday since he last fought but he has finally found an opponent in Jack England and returns to York Hall in Bethnal

Green raring to go over six rounds, even if the agonising wait has been hardly bearable at times.

“I can’t even put it into words – it is just so frustrating when you are following a regime and been eating the same three meals to make sure I’m well looked-after,” said the Catford super-bantamweight.

“To then have your opponent pull out, for whatever reason, you wonder what it’s all for.”

Amechi has not been idle in that time, far from it.

He moved his training base from Double Jab ABC in New Cross to Royal Resistance in Kidbrooke, where he trains under former European welterweight champion Larry Ekundayo.

While he was in Dan Azeez’s corner for the Lewisham man’s defeat by friend and rival Joshua Buatsi at Wembley Arena last month, Ekundayo has also seen something in Amechi after he left the charge of ex-coach Dick Kwame.

“I train full-time now with Larry, I’ve always admired his story and I liked his style as a fighter,” added the 34-year-old.

“I reached out to him and he took me under his wing. I had a few sessions with him and he liked what he saw. There’s no bad blood at all between Dick and me and he will be at the fight.”

He may have had to wait nine months for the chance to get back in the ring but Amechi has at least been able to get physically fit and strong to very high levels under Ekundayo at Royal Resistance.

And going full-time rather than working as a mentor in a college allows him to focus solely on boxing. It is a regime he believes can spearhead him to greater things this year.

He said: “I go in as a different fighter – I feel like I’m the fittest fighter I’ve ever been. Having more time plays a big part in that, I’m fitting in a lot more sessions. Before I was constrained, now I can have an extra nap for two hours and do a 10-mile run later.”

Amechi’s sessions alongside light-heavyweight Azeez have proved worthwhile, even if they have left a cautionary tale in the 3-0 Southern Area title hopeful’s mind.

Amechi added: “One day in the gym he seemed flat and I spoke to him and remember him saying: ‘You haven’t been in a 12-round fight yet – when you train every day for that you won’t be smiling every day!’”

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