BOXING - Tough fight in offing for Azzaoui

A LACK of southpaws capable of testing Mohamed Azzaoui may force the Ohaeawai boxer to fly to Australia this week for sparring practice ahead of his fight against German Yoan Pablo Hernandez at the end of the month.
Azzaoui is back in training for what is almost certain to be one of his toughest fights as a professional, as he takes on the Cuban-born 23-year-old in Bielefeld.
His camp are concerned that the lack of sparring won't help his chances against Hernandez, the South American champion, who is already being tipped as a future world champion.
"We had a session lined up against one guy here but he got cut in a fight last week so that went out the door, so Aussie looks like the only option," said Azzaoui's manager, Anthony Warren.
"It's difficult fighting southpaws because it's a different way of fighting but Mohamed has come up against a few before, it's just frustrating because it's hard to organise training - there are only about four boxers in the Oceania region that we can train with." Warren said it wasn't ideal for the build-up but on the positive side, they had been able to access several tapes of Hernandez and were confident Azzaoui could match the young German.
"This fight is really to get Mohamed back on the horse and people say that we should be looking for a patsy [easy] fight but we wouldn't gain much out of that, a win isn't enough, you need credible wins and that brings kudos.
"If we can win this fight then we'll be right back up there - this guy is climbing the ladder and I'm pretty sure the reason he's picked Mohamed to fight is that he thinks he can beat him but he'll have to prove that on the night," Warren said.
After Azzaoui's first professional loss to Welsh WBO Champion Enzo Maccarinelli at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in November, this is looming as an important fight for the Algerian-born fighter.
``Mohamed is a lot wiser after that fight, ring wise, and hopefully he can show that in his next fight,' Warren said.
``It also helps that he is used to fighting Cubans, he spent time there as an amateur with the Algerian national team and he isn't fazed by them at all.'
Warren, Azzaoui and his trainer Rusty Porter fly out to Germany on Boxing Day, ahead of the fight on January 29.