Bobby Rimmer Discusses Super Bantamweight Jon Kays
By Terence Dooley
Jon Kays returns to the ring on the undercard of the Frank Maloney-promoted Jason Booth versus Scott Quigg British title bill in Bolton later tonight. It is Kays’ first outing since a brave but unsuccessful challenge to Liam Walsh for the Norfolk man’s Commonwealth super-featherweight belt back in March. Kays was due to fight for the English belt against Ben Jones only for the Crawley-based titlist to pull out due to illness and then announce that he will appear in the next Prizefighter tournament.
The Ashton-based boxer meets Ibrar Riyaz on Maloney’s show. Bobby Rimmer, his trainer, feels that ‘2 Smokes’ will show the Sky viewers that his performance against Walsh was not a one-off.
“Even though he lost the last one he showed he can be a force,” stated Rimmer when speaking to me about Jon’s recent form. “Jon got a lot of good out of it. He had a title fight against Ben Jones lined up, Ben pulled out with an injury then went in for Prizefighter, how do you work that one out?”
Kays traded with Walsh in a move that prompted a rollicking from Rimmer and Jon’s return to the pre-fight blueprint. The 28-year-old’s fine mid-rounds resurgence was ended by a classy brace of blows to the body from the defending champion.
“Jon did a few things wrong early, he got bollocked a bit in the corner and then boxed well. As the fight crept on his guard came up and it gave Walsh openings for the body shots,” Rimmer’s analysis of the contest.
“The kid is a warrior, he showed that and to be honest I was going to stop it anyway when he got dropped in the tenth because he was behind on the cards. That title fight has got him chomping at the bit, he is fully focused and it will be a little bit of a wait but he’ll move forward again.”
Jon, though, will have to face a different type of test against Riyaz tomorrow evening. Riyaz is 4-26-1 (2) and without a win since stopping Bobby Ward in 2010 yet Kays cannot take anything for granted during this scheduled six-threes run out.
“Jon’s been back in the gym a long time, looks strong and it should show later today. Jon can box his head off if he puts his mind to it,” mused Rimmer.
Sky Sports 1 and HD1 televise Booth-Quigg at 8PM.
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