GOLD COAST, Australia – Mexico’s German Garcia Montes has struggled to find suitable sparring partners with which to prepare for the 6ft 6ins Teremoana Teremoana.
The 37 year old has been matched with the Australian widely recognised as one of the world’s most promising heavyweights, and before even trading a punch with him considers him his “biggest” fight, both in profile and in Teremoana’s size.
They will fight on Saturday on the undercard of Jai Opetaia-Huseyin Cinkara at the Gold Coast Exhibition Centre, where Teremoana will attempt to record his ninth stoppage victory in his ninth professional contest.
Montes is an experienced fighter who is willing to travel – he has previously lost to Sergey Kuzmin in Russia and David Light in New Zealand – but the Mexican fight scene is mostly populated by those who compete among the lighter weight divisions and it is partly for that reason that he has struggled to secure the services of someone capable of emulating Teremoana’s threat.
When he is not preparing to fight, the father of three boys trains other fighters at his gym at home in Chihuahua. His younger brother Juan has overseen his preparations for Saturday and will work his corner on fight night, but between them they are aware that those preparations have been somewhat compromised.
“This is my biggest fight,” Montes told BoxingScene. “When they talked to me about him and showed me him, I went online to look at videos. He’s a big guy; he’s a strong guy. It’s gonna be a heavy fight, and my biggest fight right now.
“He’s [also] probably the biggest guy, stature-wise, that I’ve ever fought.
“We try to simulate; we try to fight against people in training – tall, big, burly guys. We just tried to match his qualities – obviously it’s not going to be the same – but we try to pre-emptively make sure that we train for those qualities just to be prepared for the ring.
“It’s been difficult, obviously, in Mexico. They are not the highest of statures. But we have been trying our hardest. I’ve been preparing in Chihuahua, where I’m from. That’s where I’ve been boxing. I’ve been having a hard time, but been successful and finding people strong and burly like he is.
“He’s a very fast boxer – he’s got a large reach. He’s also very intelligent in the ring. We’ve seen some things – as everyone has, he has weaknesses. We want to exploit that.
“We always come confident. I always come in confident. I’m pretty confident that I can go and win.”
Montes arrived in Australia less than a week before he confronts Teremoana in the ring, and he added: “It’s 17 hours’ difference from Mexico [to the Gold Coast], so it’s a very big change. The first few days, the sleep is really tough to get used to, but I’m getting the hang of things now.
“We’re listening to our bodies, not trying too hard to fight against it; giving it what it wants; some rest and recuperation. It’s obviously hard, but I’m listening to my body; getting into the rhythm of things.”
