It was the coming out party for Sadam Ali, a man who earned a stunning ninth round KO of tough vet Luis Carlos Abregu. Ali who recently signed with Golden Boy had spent the majority of his career promoted by his father, a wealthy entrepreneur. Ali shook off a shaky performance in his last outing on the undercard of Danny Garcia versus Rod Salka, one that in hindsight we will view as less of a reflection upon him and more so on the toll his body took training and observing Ramadan.
In many boxing circles you hear whispers of two things; looking so bad it’s easy to get a fight or looking too good that it is hard to get a fight. Ali might have found himself in this stage as Nestor Gibbs of ThaBoxingVoice.com asked this question and Ali had an interesting answer. “Honestly, I have never seen people run away from me [and] don’t see that happening.”
Ali who controlled the distance early in the fight created a boxing match rather than a brawl which would have favored Abregu, yet Ali still feels that the performance could have been better. “You learn lessons all the time and I learned not to fight around Ramadan.” Ali explained in a moment of candid reflection.
Still Ali explained that Golden Boy head honcho Oscar De La Hoya believes in him and that gives him the utmost confidence in the way in which he will be brought along. Ali also explained that the motivation of seeing the Brooklyn fighters getting a push since 2012 with the opening of the Barclay’s Center has being a big motivating factor. On top of that, Ali explained that with the help of his coach an ability to focus on the technical side of the sport helped ease his mind in the fight.
“I saw that he was hurt, I didn’t know that he was out, I just stayed on him [and] the referee called the fight.” Ali explained about the ninth round stoppage. As for the card and the magnitude of the fight card, Ali explained that it helped having the Olympic pedigree to give him the experience of fighting on such a big stage. “If you believe, you can achieve and that’s what I stuck to,” Ali expressed with a shoulder shrug in the press conference. Ali, who explained that he didn’t want to go toe to toe due to the fact that he prefers to appease the fans which could have lead to a less than advantageous dialogue inside the ropes.
“This was a big fight for me, it’s my coming out. [Luis] Carlos Abregu has tremendous power, he was a very hungry fighter and my life was on the line too. I started boxing at the age of eight years old,” Ali explained. “I knew I could do it, but I knew it would’t be easy.”
“I knew if I kept my movement, making him miss and making him work to hit me, I would win.” Ali may not be the next one in line for a belt, but with this win against a durable and experienced fighter like Abregu, Ali now looks poised for a big year in 2015.
