By Ryan Burton
Cruiserweight contender Andrew Tabiti (15-0) is very confident ahead of his May 11th fight against Lateef Kayode (21-2). The bout scheduled for 10 rounds will serve as the co-feature underneath the Ishe Smith-Tony Harrison main event. Both fights will be televised by Bounce TV as part of the Premier Boxing Champions series.
The 28-year-old Mayweather Promotions' fighter last fought in August when he defeated former champion Steven Cunningham on the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor pay-per-view undercard. He believes that after this fight he will be ready for any of the top fighters in the deep cruiserweight division.
"I want to fight for a title. I wish I was fighting for a title this fight but the tournament is still happening. Hopefully I can fight for a vacant title because I heard after the tournament some of the belts might go vacant," said Tabiti in reference to the WBSS finals that are being targeted for a July date.
The winner of the Oleksandr Usyk-Murat Gassiev fight will have unified all four major titles and will have several mandatory fights due so it is likely that some of the belts will be vacated which will present for fighters such as Tabiti who are looking to get a title shot.
"I think it will be a good fight. Me personally I had Usyk favored in the fight. I thought he might win but after looking at the tournament and looking at Gassiev I think Gassiev might upset Usyk. I think Gassiev has a really good chance to win the tournament. I think it is going to be a really good fight where it is like a chess match the first couple of rounds but I think Gassiev might stop him in the later rounds," Tabiti told BoxingScene.com.
The cruiserweight division traditionally hasn't been very popular in the United States but Tabiti feels that the tournament is helping to promote the division. The division has many elite fighters but fighting the winner of the World Boxing Super Series is Tabiti's ultimate goal.
"It has brought a lot of attention to the division. In America they really don't know much about the cruiserweight division. Hopefully I will be able to fight the winner and help bring attention to the cruiserweight division in America," said Tabiti.
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