LaManna Considers Douglas An Unproven Prospect, Too

By Keith Idec

Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna might’ve surprised some people when he embraced what is sure to be a very difficult fight Friday night against Antoine Douglas.

The middleweight from Millville, N.J., has built his 16-0 record against a low level of opposition and his last opponent entered their Dec. 13 fight in Philadelphia with a 4-5 record. LaManna didn’t hesitate, however, to agree to face the undefeated Douglas (16-0-1, 10 KOs) on Friday night in a “ShoBox: The New Generation” main event.

“I think whoever wins or loses, we should gain a lot of respect [because] two young and undefeated fighters are taking a risk,” LaManna said. “In boxing, when an opportunity presents itself, you can’t say no. … I have been a professional for four years and 16 fights and I just felt, with my team, [it’s time] to take this necessary risk to see where I am at.”

The 23-year-old LaManna is confident as the most challenging fight of his career approaches because he doesn’t consider Douglas a truly battle-tested fighter, either.

“I disagree with the notion that he has fought great competition and I haven’t,” LaManna said. “The only time he has had to bite down and grind it out, he was only able to get a draw. Not to take anything away from him, [but] I have had to bite down and I have won fights.”

The 22-year-old Douglas, of Burke, Va., drew with France’s Michel Soro (25-1-1, 15 KOs) in another “ShoBox” bout last July 25 in Verona, N.Y. Otherwise, he, too, has padded his record against a mostly modest caliber of opposition.

“He has fought two undefeated guys,” LaManna said. “One of them was from the Midwest and the other did not beat anybody of note. On paper it may look better and maybe because of the way I look or my body type, people come in thinking that they will beat me. I can’t say that for all of his opponents. I also have not faced many guys on short notice. Just about all of my opponents have had full training camps to face me.

“I am going to say this, that professional ranks are different than the amateurs. I bring a lot more to the table than his other adversaries. Just like him, I am undefeated and I do not know how to lose. On March 13, I will do everything to keep it that way. I am not in awe of anybody and I consider this another day at the office.”

The Douglas-LaManna match will headline a “ShoBox” quadrupleheader scheduled to start at 10 p.m. ET from The Space at Westbury in Westbury, N.Y. It’ll begin with an eight-round super bantamweight bout between San Antonio’s Adam Lopez (9-0, 4 KOs) and Houston’s Pablo Cruz (11-0, 3 KOs).

Hard-hitting super middleweight prospect Jerry Odom (12-1, 11 KOs, 1 NC), of Washington, D.C., is slated to face Phoenix’s Andrew Hernandez (8-0-1, 1 KO, 1 NC) in the following fight. That eight-rounder is a rematch of a Jan. 9 bout in New York that Odom lost by disqualification for hitting Hernandez when he was down during the fourth round.

The co-featured fight will pit Venezuelan lightweight Ismael Barroso (16-0-2, 15 KOs) against Issouf Kinda (17-2, 7 KOs), of the Bronx, N.Y., in a 10-rounder.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.