



“Everything has gone Wright for me in preparation for this bout. Plenty of lead up time – quality sparring – time to acclimatise and importantly plenty of time to research Winky. There is no doubting he’s the real deal with plenty of strengths in his style, however I intend to create gaps in his armour & force error. I am confident that I have the style to take Winky to places he hasn’t been before and will come up trumps on the night. I am a realist and know what I am up against and know that anything less than 150% against Winky won’t be enough. I am peaking both mentally & physically and the support that I have had from my team – family and fans in Australia has been tremendous. Always looking to take positives out of negative situations – I take all the media reports as added motivation, underdog of the century, with almost all Writing me off. To me this will make it all the more special on Sunday morning – Upset of the Year perhaps ?
"Some even having a go at Winky saying why are you fighting this bum ? Winky in my eyes will always bee a true champion because he has provided me with an opportunity the same way he was. He hasn’t forgotten where he came from which to me says a lot for his character. My message to all the knockers is ; I am fighting a Marquee name Pound for Pound rated 11 time Champ as a main event on HBO – in a fight I believe I can win. I want to fight the best in the division and after watching B-Hop & Jermain go at it on the w/end confirms I am. I would like to thank HBO – Gary Shaw & my promoter Dan Goossen for making this possible & my trainer Dave Hedg**** & Manager Stuart Duncan for believing in me and getting me there."
Other than the Howard Eastman fight (in 2000), I don't care about the losses," he said. "I don't care because I know I kicked their arses. I won all those fights and that's why I was never (bothered) about getting a rematch, I had nothing to prove. As for fighting 12 rounds in my second fight and going up and down the divisions, I am not in boxing to be protected and get a 40-0 record before I have a real fight. I am ultra-fit, no-one trains harder than me. I have a style all of my own and throw punches from different angles."
But can he defeat Wright?
"I will beat him," Soliman said. "It is very difficult to get past that guard but he's never fought anyone who attacks from the angles I do. He likes to stand in front of you where he can see the punches coming and it's been very effective for him. But I will be coming at him with angles. Sooner or later he will have to fire a shot and I will counter him. I think I am faster than he is so we'll see who counters who."
"I know he is probably disappointed not to be fighting Taylor after his win over Trinidad but this is his last fight before he gets his undisputed title shot, his last chance to send a message. If Winky had two or three fights to go before he gets to Taylor then, yeah, I think he'd be a little (lacklustre) but I don't think he will be in this fight. I don't want anyone to take anything away from me afterward by saying I didn't beat the real Winky.
"I'm going out there for one thing and one thing only, to win. If I was going for the money I'd have waited for the vacant IBF title shot and fought a lot of easy fights and made money that way. I could sit on the title and demand big money from any promoter who had a top fighter anywhere in the world. That's not what I wanted to do. I want to fight the best, like I always have. You can't look at my record - fighting overseas, fighting top prospects in their own back yards, fighting much bigger guys just because I want the opportunity - and say I do things the easy way.
"Fighting Winky Wright in a non-title fight is exactly the type of thing I've been doing all along in my career, accepting the challenge from the best fighters available.
"People say it is impossible but I'll just do my best. And my best has always been good enough."
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