Kodjo backs Big Bang Theory
By Jonny Stapleton
DANIEL Kodojo hailed Willie Casey as one of the strongest fighters he has faced.
The tough French based fighter is a veteran over 50 fights and has shared the squared circle with Patrick Hyland, Scott Quigg and Joe Murray amongst others-and despite being disappointed in the manner in which he lost to the Limerick fighter Kodjo labelled Casey as one of the most powerful he faced.
Casey sent Kodjo to the canvas in round 7 before stopping him in the last stanza of an eight round contest on the undercard of Tyson Fury’s Belfast debut, but the French based fighter believes the stoppage was premature.
“I have a reputation as hard to beat. However as much as Willie was stronger than other fighters I have faced the referee played a major role in my defeat. I didn’t think I was in danger. To recover from a knock down and then be stopped like that is hard to take. The fight was tight in terms of points.”
However despite praising Big Bang’s strength Kodjo claims it is hard to make comparisons between the touted super bantamweights he has faced because he didn’t fight them all under the same circumstances.
“All the fighters are different, but you have to consider the context of the fight too. When I fought Quigg it was my first fight after 19 months without regular combat I didn’t recognise myself. With Hyland I got 10 days notice so it was hard to prepare. In that regard I can’t really say who was the best I fought, but Casey was one of the strongest.”
Meanwhile Gary Hyde’s other Belfast based star Levan Ghvamichava takes on experienced Giuseppe Lauri on Wishaw fightcard on October 28th
Irish fight fans will remember Lauri as the fighter Paul McCloskey stopped in the 11th round of a Kings Hall hosted European light welterweight title fight.
