After considering retirement – Jade Karam to return with two fights versus Irish prospects

Jade Karam [9(4)-6(3)-2] admits that he considered retirement following his quick-fire knockout loss last time out but the Cork-based South African has reconsidered and is now approaching two successive bouts with Irish pro prospects.

Back in February, Karam was blasted out inside 30 seconds by Waterford welter Rohan Daté at the WIT Arena.

A combination of fearsome power and being caught cold had Karam gone after the first punch landed.

The African took the devastating defeat hard but is now back and will fight two Irish boxers in the space of a month – first facing Sligo-Manchester middleweight Jordan Latimer [1(0)-0] in Scotland on May 25th before taking on Dublin welter Keane McMahon [3(0)-0] in Drimnagh on June 16th.

Karam is back in the swing of things following his date with Daté, and noted how “it was a hard loss to recover from and I even considered calling it a day.”

“But with help from friends and family I got over my problems and got back to training. I focused on the prize and realised that one or two good wins could land me a title shot.”

The former Gauteng provincial champion has vowed to improve from his most recent outing and described how “the result has taught me something and that’s to be more aggressive from the first bell.”

“I’m a fighter that usually takes his time to get into the fight and try see what my opponent’s like before being aggressive but that will all change now.

At the Crowne Plaza in Glasgow next week he takes on pro novice Latimer as part of the undercard for Jay Byrne’s BUI Celtic light middleweight title fight with Dundee’s Paul Kean.

While Daté was an elite amateur, Karam believes he has a good chance of success versus the relatively inexperienced Latimer.

Karam, who turned 28 today, described how Latimer “only has one pro fight and had a short amateur career like myself with only 23 amateur fights.”

“When I watched his first pro fight I saw that he’s a boxer that will come to swing for my head from the get go. He has aggression but doesn’t seem to hold to much power.”

“I know that from interviews and hearing him talk his a fighter that is always going into a fight looking for the knock out and that’s a big mistake in this game. That’s when you make mistakes.”

“If the KO is there it will present itself. Boxing is like fishing, you have to use the correct bait and wait for the bite but when the bite hits you’ve got to be quick at taking your opportunity.”

A big fight in his adopted homeland next month versus McMahon, however, is Karam’s main focus.

‘The Beirut Rebel’ outlined how “it’s not tough to focus on two fights.”

“The first is a short four rounder just to keep ring rust off. My focus is on June 16h. That’s a six rounder and my first at welterweight and that’s where I’ll campaign.”

“My opponent [McMahon] is tough as nails and the winner of that fight will be in line for title shots in the near future. So I hope it’s me.”

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)