The featherweights are going to discover I’m a problem - Gully

Gully Powar…Mexican KO artist next. Pic: Manjit Narotra/BCB

“IN the featherweight division, I’m a problem,” Gully Powar declared during the countdown days of cutting weight.

He believes a big enough problem to win the WBC Grand Prix – a Riyadh based “last man standing” tournament between some of the best prospects on the planet.

At the last 16 stage of the tournament, the Wolverhampton 22-year-old faces poker-faced Mexican assassin Brandon Mejia Mosqueda next Saturday, June 21. Mosqueda, who has won all his nine fights inside distance, is continuing his country’s proud tradition of producing KO artists such as Ruben Olivares, Carlos Zarate, Pipino Cuevas…

That record doesn’t impress Powar too much. “I’m not fussed,” he shrugged. “The people he’s been knocking down are not of the calibre I am. I’m going to win with my IQ, I’ll be a smart fighter.”

Taking part in the Grand Prix was a roll of the dice for Gully, trainer Richard Carter and his promoters BCB. But it was a risk worth taking, with $200,000 and a WBC silver world title fight for the winner.

And whatever, the outcome on Saturday the gamble has paid off. The competition has catapulted Powar, unbeaten in 12m from the Black Country small hall circuit to Riyadh’s gilt-edged fight scene.

Gully’s outstanding win in the tournament’s first stage gave him a global audience. He produced a near faultless performance to widely outpoint southpaw Japhethlee Llamido, who had lost only one of 13 going into the competition and beaten a world champ.

“That wasn’t just a win, it was a breakthrough,” he said. “The amount of followers it’s given me in Mexico, my own community, in India, in the Punjab community. On paper, Llamido was out of my league, he showed what he was about by beating a former world champion. But I’m a problem in the featherweight division.”

Another problem was the fact that, at home, Powar had to stay busy by facing much bigger men. “I was a featherweight fighting lightweights, super-lightweights,” he said. “It was good experience getting the rounds under my belt. When I got down to featherweight people could see the strength difference.”

Some of the best British boxers have sparred Powar in preparation for menacing Mosqueda, aged 21. Among many others, he’s shared the ring with Galal Yafai, Ibraheem Sulaimaan and Nyall Berry.

“It’s been a great camp and you’re going to see a masterclass,” he said. “I’ve got stronger and stronger – you can see that in the way I spar, the way my nutrition is. Richard (Carter) has been mentally testing me in this camp.

“It’s a great fight, people are in for a treat. I know what I can do, I’m very confident in my ability. I love to watch (Mexican featherweight legend) Salvador Sanchez. He was 21 when he won the world title, I’m 22. Back then, the champions fought for 15 rounds and I would love to be in 15 round fights. They never ducked anyone and I’m the same mentality.”

Fight abroad certainly doesn’t phase Gully.

He added: “The way I see it, wherever you fight, it’s a ring, a square circle. Wherever it is, when I step into that square circle I’m prepared to give absolutely everything.”