By Terence Dooley

Leicester’s Rendall Munroe is one fight away from world title glory; the super-bantamweight is the mandatory challenger for Toshiaki Nishioka’s WBC crown and is waiting on a date for his big night.  The champion’s team hold all the aces in negotiations, with Frank Maloney today revealing to BoxingScene.com that Rendall might have to travel to Japan for the fight.  Munroe, though, believes that he is genuine world class and can wrest the title away from the 33-year-old’s grasp.

“It is a dream for most boxers,” said Munroe when discussing his world title shot.  “I have proved I am good enough to be at world level.  Beating Victor Terrazas [in a WBC title eliminator] put it on the plate for me and I’ll see what happens next.  I am one of those fighters who goes by what the management and the team says.  For the last fight [Terrazas], I wasn’t sure if I needed it, but the team told me I needed it for to get the WBC shot so I took it and won it, now I’ve got the title fight.  You have to beat the best out there and they’ve put the best man on the table for me to beat.

“I’ve never boxed in Leicester and could be going further from home but you sometimes have to go away to get your chance.  I leave that to the Shinfields [manager Mike and trainer Jason], they’ll tell me what I need to know to beat this guy – I leave it to them.  I do what Jason tells me to do and that has worked.  Four, five years ago I was rated low in the world rankings but they’ve told me what to do and I’m now rated the number one challenger in the world.”

Munroe, 30, failed in his first title tilt when losing on points to Andy Morris for the British featherweight title in 2006, three wins brought ‘The Boxing Binman’ back into the mix, with a pair of decision wins over Kiko Martinez, in 2008 and 2009, cementing Rendall’s status in the 122lb division.

“It was down to hard work and determination mixed with belief in the Shinfields,” revealed Rendall when talking about the turnaround.  “They always told me I deserved to be up there and I believed in that myself.  I had a knock back in my career but proved that I could turn things around and come back from defeat.  It is all down to work and dedication.

“I’m still out there on the bins and doing my training three or four times a week, Jason tells me I need to slow down a bit but I’m a fitness fanatic and keep myself in shape between fights.  My dad always said, ‘When the time comes you have got to be ready’, and if I’m halfway to fitness anyway I can be right up there when the time comes to step it up for a fight.  I’m not here to play around.  I work on the little things that need working on without struggling for weight and struggling to get fit.”

Munroe’s EBU title run was greeted with euphoria in Leicester; the 21-1 (9) boxer became a celebrity in his own town but eschews the trappings of fame in order to pursue boxing glory.  “It makes me laugh, really”, he shrugged when asked about his profile in the local area, “because I always tell people that I might become a world champion but they can still respect me when I get to the top because I’ll always be the same Rendall Munroe.

“I love what I’m doing in boxing because it is something that can be rewarding financially and can set-up my two kids for their future.  The respect people give me is more than I could ask for.  Whatever is in the pipeline is a bonus.  I keep my feet on the ground and am just thankful that I can do this.”

A win for Munroe would provide promoter Frank Maloney with his first world champion since Scott Harrison’s much-publicised implosion; Jason Booth, who is also guided by Maloney, has his own title fight with Canada’s Steve Molitor in the pipeline; if both men win then there could be a distinct possibility of an all-British super-bantamweight showdown between two firm friends.

“Yeah, I came to Boothy’s gym when I turned pro.  We’ve trained together for a long time and still worked, and sparred, together when he moved gym, it is one of those things, we could end up fighting but that could be a good thing,” mused Munroe. 

“I don’t look into those type of things, if my team says I have to fight Jason Booth then I’ll fight Jason Booth.  Frank will decide if we have other options to go for first but if he says we have to fight then so be it.”

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