Tonight's cruiserweight championship bout at Madison Square Garden will see World Boxing Council champion Wayne `Big Truck' Braithwaite getting off to his usual fast start. After his penultimate training session at the Crunch Gym in Manhattan, Braithwaite warned that it would only be business as usual when he takes on challenger Louis Azille.
"Watch out for me I'll be coming out blazing. I don't know why people are making such a fuss over Azille. My approach would be the same as the last time. It will be a very quick start," Braithwaite promised. "I'm not going to change my style. This is how I fight."
The Guyanese knows for sure what a quick start is. In 20 pro fights he has dispatched three opponents in the first round. Five were sent to sleep in the second while three were relieved of their senses in round three.
Three others bowed out in the fourth round. Only Dale Browne (9th) and Vincentzo Cantatore (10th) and Wayne Harris (7th) were taken into the latter rounds for polishing off.
But even as Braithwaite prepares for a swift start Azille's credentials prove that the challenger too is a quick starter.
Nine of his 15 knockouts came in the first round although the opposition could not be vouched for. Two knockouts were in the second round and the same amount in the third.
Azille's only loss came against Braithwaite and Kelvin Davis. A native of Dominica in the West Indies, the squatty Azille swore that the belt would be around his waist at the end of the encounter.
On Wednesday, the champion followed the trend mapped out for this week and did approximately 45 minutes of work in the gym which consisted of shadow boxing, hitting the speedball and skipping. The champion was expected to do little work yesterday.
"We will do very little. Wayne is prepared and all we have to do now is wait," trainer Colin Morgan said.