DEARBORN — Every sports fan knows that Detroit has always been a good fight town. But truth be told, it’s been a while since a top-of-the-line boxing card has found its way to the Motor City.
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Arab American boxer Brian “The Lion” Mihtar is scheduled to fight on the undercard of a major boxing event at the Joe Louis Arena on March 27. |
The main event has boxing fans around town excited, and so does the co-feature between Dearborn’s own junior middleweight prospect Brian “The Lion” Mihtar and Robert “The Doctor” Kamya.
The bout between Mihtar and Kamya will be for the North American Championship Title. While the undercard bout isn’t expected to be televised on Showtime as the main event will be, it’s still an extremely important fight as winning the title could be a stepping stone to an even bigger prize later on for Mihtar.
“It’s the biggest fight of my life so I’m excited,” he said. “The title is a branch off of the WBC World Title which could put me in line for a shot down the road so it’s a big deal for me.”
Mihtar’s manager, Mike Criscio, talked about the hype surrounding the Super Six fights.
“They haven’t had a big fight (in Detroit) in a long time and with Showtime coming to town, it’s going to be big.”
Criscio said that he believes Mihtar has a chance to be the WBC title holder at some point if he keeps working hard and improving, and that’s the one Mihtar has his sights set on.
But before Mihtar, who boasts a 12-1 record, can dream of making a run at that prize, he’ll have to deal with Robert Kamya, a sturdy opponent of Ugandan descent from Florida.
Mihtar expects Kamya to be his toughest challenge to date because of his experience, as Kamya will enter the ring with 27 fights worth of experience under his belt and a 17-10 career record.
He feels that he’s ready, however, after making some changes to his style and spending time recharging his batteries following a tough, questionable decision loss to Chris Gray in April 2008.
“I had a bad taste for boxing after that fight, I wasn’t really motivated and I felt like something was taken away from me,” said Mihtar, who left the sport from June 2008 to November 2009 and worked at AT&T full time before finally leaving two weeks ago.
“After some soul searching, I feel like I’m back on track now, back in the right weight class and training really hard.”
Mihtar added Asa Beard to his team as a trainer and has worked hard with Beard, the brother of Lee Beard, who trains superstar boxer Ricky Hatton.
Mihtar has won his last three fights since the Gray fight, with two of them coming by way of technical knockout. He talked about his recent improvements and feeling re-energized toward a run at a possible title.
“The first thing I did was go back to the drawing board,” he said. “My combinations and speed have doubled. My foot movement has remained sharp, and my power will always be there.”
Mihtar hopes to put on a good show for his fans, who always seem to follow him to his fights to provide support.
“My fans are very loyal, they always tell me they’re proud of me but I tell tell them that they make me proud too,” he said.
As for the main event, Mihtar is a fan of Abraham, who is undefeated and ranked as one of the top 15 boxers in the world.
Criscio predicted that Abraham will end up winning the Super Six Tournament, which has garnered a ton of attention from both casual and hardcore boxing fans because of its unique format, but Dirrell could also be his toughest challenge.
For more info on tickets, call 313.671.1950; for more information on the Super Six World Boxing Classic go to //sports.sho.com/world-boxing-classic.html. The event will start at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 27 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
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