By Mark Vester
Better late than never? A few weeks ago, former champion Jeff Fenech, 44, announced that he was going to come out of retirement to face Samart Payakarun in mid-June. Fenech has not fought since 1996.
According to an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Fenech says that one of his career rivals, Azumah Nelson, has called him out for a trilogy bout. Nelson, 49, has not fought since 1999. Fenech told the paper that he will consider making the fight for the later part of the year if he can get past Payakarun. Should he win in June, Fenech says that he will travel to Nelson's home of Ghana to make the fight.
Fenech hopes to make $1-million for Payakarun and even more for a trilogy bout with Nelson. Nelson fought Fenech to a disputed draw in 1991. The following year saw Nelson pull off the upset by stopping an undefeated Fenech in the eleventh round.
"Azumah said he'd love to do it again," Fenech said. "The fight could be very big. I'll take one step at a time, but I would love to fight him again. Hopefully I can knock out Payakarun again and then do the same to Azumah Nelson. But at the moment I just want to train properly and prepare well for Payakarun."
"Forget the first fight (with Nelson), I was ripped off," Fenech said. "But that wasn't the real Jeff Fenech in the second fight. My hunger wasn't there and I had asthma. There are other reasons too: I thought I would win. But Azumah showed what a great fighter he was and did the job."
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