New Zealand heavyweight Junior Fa is on the brink of the toughest test of his professional career – a fight in the United States against a former three-time amateur champion.
A victory over American Craig Lewis tomorrow afternoon in a fight to be screened live on Sky TV should catapult Fa up the rankings – he is targeting a shot at the WBO world title, held by fellow Kiwi Joseph Parker – and Fa will hope for a similar result to his last fight in the US, a dramatic first-round knockout win over Fred Latham.
Lewis, beaten only once in 16 professional fights, will be much tougher opposition for Fa tomorrow in Deadwood, South Dakota, where the outside temperatures are hovering below freezing.
He has arrived in good shape at a trim-looking 112.5kg, but so has Fa, the Kiwi tipping the scales at 116kg, the lightest he has been in his professional career and two kilograms lighter than his weight for the Latham fight in November last year.
"For the past 10 weeks I've been training really hard," Fa, 28, told the Herald. "My diet has been great as well. It's a good sign – I can see I'm finally finding my weight. I'm pretty close. I think from 114kg to 116kg is a great weight for me."
