KASH FAROOQ is as mild mannered and softly spoken a boxer as you will ever come across. But when he enters the ring to face Lee McGregor for the British and Commonwealth titles this evening, he is, he says, going to be unrecognisable.
“I do my talking in the ring,” the 23-year-old said, who boasts a 13-0 unbeaten record.
“You’ll see a different sort of person in the ring. Right now I’m quite cool and calm but on Saturday the devil is going to be in me. I’m going to be possessed.”
Farooq’s bout with McGregor is the biggest all-Scottish clash this country has seen in years. Comparisons have been drawn with Alex Arthur’s fights with Willie Limond and Craig Docherty and there has been surprise in some quarters that both Farooq showed such willingness to accept such a big fight so early in their careers.
But Farooq insists avoiding the fight was never an option for him, and in fact, he’s been desperate to get in a ring with McGregor. that two titles are on the line just makes the night even more special
“I couldn’t have lived with myself if I had (swerved this fight),” the Glasgow fighter said.
“He couldn’t have lived with himself if he did either. It’s two fighters at the same weight, fighting for two major belts in Britain and I’ve wanted to box him since the turn of the year.
“Everyone was saying ‘McGregor, McGregor, McGregor, and me being me, I wanted to box him but I had two fights I had to get out the way first. But it’s here now and I am ready to go.”
McGregor has been talked up as a rising star of the Scottish boxing scene since he entered the pro ranks and has racked up a 7-0 record, but many observers have been more impressed with Farooq’s recent performances than his opponent’s. And the Glaswegian is in no doubt as to who is going to come out on top.
“It’s great that I’m fortunate enough to be part of such a big fight,” he said.
“This is going to go down in history as one of the big fights in Scotland. I want to put on a great performance and write my name in history again.
“I’ve got plan A,B,C and D, whatever he is planning, I’m preparing for every type of fight. I need to wait until the night because once you get punched it’s a different ball game.
“Body shots will be a big, big factor. People forget how strong I am as well. We were on the same amateur team back in the day and I was two or three weightclasses above him, even though he is taller, I’ve always been a wee chunky kid. You’ll see on the night how strong I’m going to be.
“There isn’t enough room (at the top) for two people because there can only be one. Lee will be thinking the same but he’s caught me at the wrong time, I’m really hungry and I want to win this fight so much.”
Farooq may appear ice cool but he admits that he is not immune to nerves. This fight will be live on television in the UK and America and it will be a rare opportunity for Farooq’s extended family in Pakistan to watch him live.
So while Farooq admits he will have a few butterflies, he has become well accustomed to dealing with them.
“Nerves do play a part, but nerves keep you on the edge of your toes and make you perform on the night,” he said.
“If you don’t have nerves, you’re not going to perform because you’re going to get to slack. I’m going to be nervous, every fighter going into a ring is but that’s part of the night.
“If you think about the fight weeks out you just end up wasting energy. I’ve done that before and come fight night, you’re burnt out mentally. I know boxing is physical but it’s just as much mental so you just think about the fight on the actual night.”
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