EXPECTING to box in an African homecoming bout, injury derailed Souleymane Cissokho’s best-laid plans. Cissokho was set to meet Lithuanian puncher Egidijus Kavaliauskas on December 7 in Equatorial Guinea in a WBC final eliminator. Prior to that scheduled contest, Cissokho spoke to Adam Noble-Forcey about his future plans.
Senegal-born welterweight Souleymane Cissokho has seen his career come to halt over the past year despite being within touching distance of a world title shot.
Cissokho (17-0, 9 KOs) and promoter Jerome Abiteboul outbid American powerhouse PBC to stage a WBC elimination bout against Canada’s Cody Crowley this summer. Cissokho’s hometown of Paris was due to host the contest with a view of ultimately challenging for the WBC world title, then held by Terence Crawford, but is now in the hands of Mario Barrios, who will defend his belt against Abel Ramos in Arlington, Texas, on November 15.
“Yeah, we won the purse bid against PBC but Matchroom proposed for Cost Crowley to fight [Jaron] Boots Ennis,” Cissokho told Boxing News. “There was more money on the table for him, so I didn’t blame him. This is boxing, it’s just part of the business.”
Crowley would ultimately pull out of a clash with IBF champion Ennis, with David Avanesyan stepping in to lose by a fifth round stoppage in Philadelphia.
The 33-year-old who claimed bronze for France at the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympic Games has had to think outside the box, now having gone over a year without a fight.
“We’ve been waiting for the WBC to give us another opponent,” Cissokho explained. “They came back to us in the summer with Egis Kavaliauskas. It’s a good fight, he has good experience. We didn’t need to go to purse bids because we were able to negotiate the fight. We will go on December 7 and we will fight in Africa! It will be in Equatorial Guinea. It’s really nice because it will be the first big fight over there. The undercard will be very good with a lot of international fighters.”
The central African nation with a population of just under 1.8 million has become the unlikely destination for Cissokho’s most important professional fight to date. His African roots in Senegal lay close to 2000 miles away, far from the host city of Malabo.
“I’ve always had the dream in my head to fight in Africa,” Cissokho continued. “I spoke with Jerome and it was something we were thinking about for a while, we are both big boxing fans. We spoke with Mauricio Sulaiman, too, and decided to take this fight to Africa. It will be the first event of many events in Africa. We are trying to bring those big events back to Africa. We had some partners and sponsors over there who wanted us to do it, so we said; ‘Let’s do it, let’s go.’ We will move on after December 7 and take boxing to other parts of Africa.
“In August, we knew it was going to happen. Now we are all set. It will be on Canal + in France, it should be on Sky Sports and ESPN as well. It will take place in the capital, Malabo. We will go to the arena, the stadium is a little too big. It’s our first event there, and we want to do everything right.
“I’ve been over there and a few friends have been many times. It’s a very nice place, Spanish speaking. A lot of people know nothing about this city, but it is a very nice place. They love boxing there, this is just the start. They want to see many events there, not only in Guinea, but everywhere in Africa. Our partner wants to go everywhere in Africa, and why not in Senegal, too. I think it will be great for them too, people will start to discover this amazing country. It’s win, win. The people are very nice.”
Lithuania’s Kavaliauskas (24-2-1, 19 KOs) is the man standing in the way of Cissokho’s African ambitions. The 36-year-old challenged Terence Crawford for the WBO welterweight title in 2019, and has since gone 3-1, losing to Vergil Ortiz Jr before racking up two wins over Mykal Fox and the little-known Jose Marruffo.
“I’m already in camp,” Cissokho said. “I’ve just finished a spar today. It’s a big one this fight, we are working very hard. The negotiations were quite easy for this fight. He is now with PBC too, so we did have to wait a little bit with the back and forth with Tom Brown and his manager Egis Klimas, but Jerome handled it very well. We put the money on the table, they were happy and we got the contract signed.
“I think it is a tougher fight than Crowley. He’s strong and he had a good amateur career where he went to the Olympics twice. He’s been in the ring with Terence and Ortiz. He’s very good to be honest with you, but if I want to become champion we have to pass this test. We are ready for him and ready to go. We have been out of the ring for over a year, it’s been long. We have just had to wait because we thought we would fight Cody Crowley. It is what it is. All we have done is just focus on our boxing in the gym, the time away doesn’t matter that much.”
Far from Cissokho’s African dream, he trains across the Atlantic ocean in Oakland, California.
“I’m still with V [Virgil Hunter] and we feel good,” Cissokho added. “I’m working with SNAC, too. We’ve just been training very hard for such a serious fight. I can’t wait to share the ring with Kavaliauskas.”
Investment has poured into boxing from the Middle East in recent years, transforming many parts of the sport which has seen a gluttony of desired bouts become reality and has made rival promoters work together.
“I think boxing can work in Africa,” Cissokho said. “Look at the Saudi guys, they put the money on the table for people to go there. At the beginning everyone was a little but ‘ah, I don’t know if it is safe to go there’ and things like that, but they have proved it is a safe and nice place to visit. If the money is right, we can maybe bring a world title fight to Africa. We will have to see. It’s all about the money, or maybe we go to a purse bid. We are solely focused on Kavaliauskas for the time being.
“Since Crawford moved to 154 pounds, everything is more open now. There are a lot of good fighters, but it is all to play for. [Eimantas] Stanionis has the WBA, Ennis has the IBF and Brian Norman Jr has the WBO. We are going to see what is going to happen. Everything is wide open, but our goal has never changed, we want to be the world champion. I feel that all the champions right now are pretty good, they all have their own style.
“A lot of people think Ennis is the man to beat, but the other champions are very good. I know Stanionis from the amateurs and have shared a lot of rounds with him. There is also a good fighter coming out of Japan called Jin Sasaki. Conor Benn called me out, too, I thought that would be a great fight. I respect all of them.”
Cissokho’s African project is firmly underway. However, a return to his adopted home of Paris, France, gives him an alternative option. Ahead of Crowley’s switch to face Ennis, Cissokho had largely been expected to fly the flag for French boxing.
“For now, it is all about Equatorial Guinea, but I would love to go to Senegal too,” Cissokho added. “I would like to do a show in South Africa and why not in the Congo? I also heard Rwanda is on the table, too. We will see, but I haven’t forgotten about Paris. It looks like they still want to be involved in this upcoming fight. We could go back to Paris to do a big fight and then head to Africa again. Right now, I do have to be focused on my boxing and I leave all the promotion to Jerome and his team. It’s all very new to them, this is the first big fight they will host, but it’s such a nice country.”
