EXCLUSIVE Anthony Ogogo will join world title challenger George Groves’ Big Bear training camp

IN a weekend packed with action, world title fights will occupy most of the sport’s attention. But one man who will be happy just to box is Anthony Ogogo. The middleweight, a bronze medallist at London 2012, has been out of action for a year, after having two operations on his Achilles tendons and undergoing exhaustive rehabilitation.

โ€œI forgot what it was like to train and compete and box pain-free,โ€ Anthony told Boxing News. โ€œTheyโ€™re doing brilliantly, theyโ€™re doing really well, I couldnโ€™t be happier with how itโ€™s all gone.

โ€œIโ€™ve done so many rounds of sparring, Iโ€™ve done countless rounds, Iโ€™ve sparred so many different types of people, itโ€™s just been really good.โ€

Now he can finally train pain-free. โ€œIโ€™m remembering why I loved it,โ€ Ogogo continued. โ€œIโ€™m absorbing all the information Iโ€™m being told by my team because I can absorb it. Before I was using so much energy, I didnโ€™t realise it was just a case of how it had to be, I was using so much energy trying to ignore the pain in my Achilles, when I was given instructions I wasnโ€™t really taking it on board and I wasnโ€™t really getting what I was supposed to doโ€ฆ Now when I get told to do something it makes sense.โ€

His new lease of life comes with a new promotional set up. Golden Boy have come to an agreement to co-promote Ogogo with Sauerland Event. โ€œThey said they can make me as busy as I want but all their shows are in America,” Anthony explained. “I didnโ€™t really want to [move to America] because Iโ€™m British. Iโ€™m very proud of being British. Boxing at the minute in Britain is on the crest of a wave at the moment. I want to enjoy it and be in the thick of it.”

Sauerland, who also represent George Groves and David Price, will help him progress in Britain and Europe. โ€œI genuinely feel like Iโ€™ve got the best of both worlds, Iโ€™ve got Oscar De La Hoya over the pond and Iโ€™ve got the Sauerland guys here in the UK. I couldnโ€™t be happier with how everythingโ€™s turned out. After a long period of being unhappy and being injured, and being inactive finally Iโ€™ve worked so hard to get back and now Iโ€™m going to be able to experience the fruits of my labour,โ€ Ogogo added.

He will box on the undercard of the Arthur Abraham-Robert Stieglitz WBO super-middleweight world title fight in Halle, Germany on Saturday (July 18), against Ukraineโ€™s Ruslan Schelev. โ€œHe is by far the best person on the list of 10 names that they gave us. Initially my team wanted me to fight someone whoโ€™s not as good. I said I donโ€™t want to fight him. I want to fight [Schelev]. Heโ€™s got the best record [on the list], heโ€™s good, heโ€™s big, heโ€™s strong, he can switch hit, he boxes southpaw, boxes orthodox. Iโ€™ve condensed my 12 month rehab programme into six months, Iโ€™ve worked so hard, I havenโ€™t done that to fight a road sweeper. Iโ€™ve done that fight somebody decent, whoโ€™s got a good record, heโ€™s 11-3, so even as a 7-0 fighter, fighting someone whoโ€™s 11-3 thatโ€™s pretty good anyway. Bear in mind Iโ€™m coming off a 12 month lay-off, thatโ€™s pretty good.โ€

Ogogo has every intention of keeping busy now. His next stop will be a trip to California to spar with George Groves ahead of the latterโ€™s world title fight, which is expected to be finalized imminently. (Groves is the mandatory challenger for Badou Jack’s WBC super-middleweight title.)

โ€œIโ€™m going over to Big Bear in California with the George Groves camp. Iโ€™m going to be helping him finish off his preparations for his world title fight. Thatโ€™s going to be great for me, as a young boxer, going out and helping George Groves with his final preparations for his world title fight as well. Iโ€™ll get loads of experience doing that,โ€ Ogogo said. โ€œIโ€™m backing myself to get to the top. Iโ€™m 100 per cent sure Iโ€™m going to be a world champion one day. Thereโ€™s going to be times when I might have to go away to California and Iโ€™m going to be fighting in Vegas and Iโ€™ll need to go to California and do a training camp so itโ€™ll be great for me to go over there and be privy to it all and see it all first hand.

โ€œItโ€™s going to be a great experience for me and itโ€™s going to hold me in good stead if I can get three weeks of sparring with George Groves in California, Big Bear and maybe some rounds of sparring with whoever else is there at the time. Itโ€™s going to be good.โ€

First, of course, he must get through Saturday nightโ€™s fight. โ€œHeโ€™s going to be handful but I think Iโ€™ve got more than enough to get the win and I want to be doing it in style. Iโ€™m going to get this win out the way, first fight back in 12 months and then I can crack on. Each fight Iโ€™ll be fighting better people, people who are high up the rankings. I want to be ranked, I want to be ranked by governing bodies, I want to be right up there in the British rankings, I want to be there and thereabouts,โ€ he said.

โ€œIโ€™ve wasted a year. Iโ€™ve had a year out. I havenโ€™t got time to waste. By 2016 I want to be there or thereabouts, I want to be knocking on all the doors for all the belts. This year is about getting there, getting to 12-0 so next year Iโ€™m ready to go.โ€

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Photo: Stephan Johnson/J P Boxing

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