Jamaica’s ‘HellRazor’ grabs Canadian, WBL titles

Jamaican Super welterweight boxer Joshua ‘HellRazor’ Frazer defeated Mponda Kalunga for the Canadian and WBL International titles at the Queen’s Manor Event Centre in Brampton, Ontario, with Kalunga being forced to end the fight prematurely after picking up an arm injury in the second round.

Frazer felt out Kalunga in the first round, before turning up the pressure on the ‘Egyptian Prince’ in the second, from which he picked up the injury and was forced to retire early, giving Frazer a TKO and the two titles.

Frazer’s coach and father, Dewith Frazer, says the victory and the titles will now force other top fighters to face him in the ring, after most avoided him for years despite his number-two ranking.

“What this represents, is that the international community will see his name more often. He will also have opportunities because of these belts.

“Some champions will now look at him as somebody to fight because he has something they might want,” the elder Frazer articulated.

He pointed out that now all of the top fighters who stayed away from challenging him, will have to reconsider that stance after he took the two belts.

“It will give him more international recognition and his ranking will go up. A lot of these guys didn’t want to fight him. But now he will have more opportunities, and for everyone to see him more internationally as well,” he stated.

Despite the fact that Kalunga retired hurt, Dewith noted that from the opening round they realised it would be a cakewalk for Joshua, who toyed with his opponent over the first round, before taking him to task in round two.

“This guy he beat, it’s only the second time he (Kalunga) has been stopped. In his last bout he fought a middleweight, who is highly ranked, and he went the distance. So this really says a lot because Joshua stopped him in a very short period.

“But it was expected. Regardless of if it was the second or the fifth. From the fight started we realised that it was only a matter of time.

“He didn’t know how to deal with Joshua’s height. He didn’t know how to deal with him being a southpaw. Everything was a challenge for him. So I think he realised there’s no need to pursue any longer because he had no answers for what Joshua was giving him.”

According to Frazer, there is no rush regarding what is next, saying the team will assess the options on the table when they come, and make the best decision for Joshua’s future. In the reckoning, the coach says, is the possibility of fighting in Jamaica.

“We hope very soon Joshua will make an appearance in Jamaica. Ultimately, that’s one of the things we want to do. He himself wants to show Jamaica his skills and thank them for the support they have given him. Also, he wants to show the community the possibilities that exist for them. So it’s something we want to entertain and we want to start working on also.”