Rising super featherweight star Toka “T-Nice” Kahn-Clary (17-0, 11 KOs) returns to action this Saturday night against Mexican opponent Gabino “Flash” Cota (18-5-1, 16 KOs) at Sportsman Lodge in Studio City, California.
A decorated American amateur boxer (131-11 record), his career highlighted by a gold-medal performance at the 2010 National Golden Gloves Tournament, Kahn-Clary is a native of Liberia who passed on a shot to make the 2016 U.S. Olympic Boxing Team, turning pro three years ago.
Kahn-Clary’s impressive second-round stoppage of Sergio “Cuatito” Lopez (19-10-1, 13 KOs) last November was supposed to lead him graduating to a 10-round fighter. His promoter Top Rank’s show this Saturday, headlined by Alex Saucedo vs. Clarence Booth, doesn’t have a single 10-round fight, in favor of three 8-rounders including Kahn-Clary vs. Cota.
“That really doesn’t matter to me,” Kahn-Clary said. “I trained to beat this guy, not how many rounds. I’m a lot better fighter than I was a year ago. I’m a lot more relaxed in the ring. I think more as I’m moving in the ring, adjusting a lot better, and my combinations are coming out a lot better.”
A former WBC FECOMBOX and Mexican featherweight champion, Cota is a dangerous opponent who has knocked out 16 of the 18 fighters he’s defeated as a professional.
“Cota may have lost four of his last six but they were all title fights or on television against name opponents,” Kahn-Clary’s head trainer Peter Manfredo, Sr. noted. “He has some pop, throws a zillion punches and just keeps coming forward. This is a good step up for Toka.
“Toka is ready for this fight. He’s had a lot of good sparring. Toka is aggressive, well-conditioned, a good defensive fighter who can crack. There wasn’t a 10-round fight available on this card but we wanted this fight. Toka’s still only 23 so there’s no reason to rush things.”
Cota is battle tested having fought world title challenger Jonathan Oquendo, Puerto Rican Olympian Orlando Cruz and Russian champion Andrey Klimov.
“I like fighting guys that come to me like Cota,” Kahn-Clary remarked. “It makes my job easier. I can setup my punches and fights against guys like this aren’t as much as a chess match. I’ll be landing hard shots and fans like that better than a chess match.”
Follow Kahn-Clary on Twitter and Instagram @TokaKahnClary, or friend him on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/tokakahn.
