ENJOYING the sights but here on business.
That is Team Ward who are coming to the end of their second full day in New York.
Tommy Ward, trainer Neil Fannan and their entourage have settled in nicely to their USA base ahead of the WBO world super-bantamweight title eliminator with Jesse Angel Hernandez in Kansas on Friday, February 15.
It looks some fight as the unbeaten 24-year-old Co Durham talent locks horns with the Texan, who is looking to break into the World Boxing Organisation’s top 10.
Such is the stature of the fight at the Kansas Star Arena, it is being shown live in the USA on Showtime and in the UK by BoxNation.
Much is, therefore, riding on the USA v GB confrontation and while Tommy is enjoying the tourist attractions with brothers Martin and Jimmy, team-mate Lewis Ritson and the Fannans, Neil Snr and Jnr, there is more to the trip than the photo opportunities.
“We’re in New York until Tuesday and that will do us,” said Fannan.
“We didn’t have to take in New York, we could have gone straight to Kansas, but there was a chance to train here and see somewhere we’ve never seen before.
“For lads from a travelling background, Martin and Tommy are not the best of travellers! They are like me, they don’t like to leave their own patch, they like being at home.
“But this is the trip of a lifetime, hopefully it won’t be the last.”
Fannan has already put Tommy through his paces in the famous Gleasons gym in Brooklyn yesterday and in the Mendez gym today (pictured above).
For those who have sampled the banter in Fannan’s Hartlepool HQ, the verbal exchanges can be as sharp as the punches and they have maintained the atmosphere in the Big Apple.
And Fannan says a happy camp helps make it a successful one.
“We train hard, we take the gym seriously, but we have a laugh too,” he told punch-lines. “That’s important.
“But there is one thing we are here for – and that’s to win. If I didn’t think that we’d not have taken the fight.”
NE Security-sponsored Tommy has won all 25 of his pro bouts, with three of his last five appearances coming in title contests, two British championship wins (Jazza Dickens and Sean Davis) and an IBF European master class against Alvaro Rodriguez.
His other two fights have produced stoppage wins (Lesther Cantillano and Tom Tran) so he is not short of confidence.
Nor is Hernandez who, while not boasting any title dates, has taken 12 victories, seven inside the mark, tasting defeat only once.
Words: Roy Kelly
