'I will win'
Reid to face Boudouani for WBA super welterweight title
Posted: Friday March 05, 1999 03:32 PM
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Say cheese: David Reid (right) is a 4-1 favorite over Laurent Boudouani. AP |
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- David Reid will fight for a world pro title in only his 11th bout since scoring arguably the most dramatic victory in U.S. Olympic boxing history.
"Every morning when I'm home I like to watch that tape," the 25-year-old said.
What he watches is his one-punch knockout of Alfredo Duvergel that made him the Olympic 156-pound champion and the only American boxer to win a gold medal in 1996 at Atlanta.
On Saturday night, Reid gets a chance to add to his morning viewing pleasure when he challenges 33-year-old Laurent Boudouani of France for the WBA super welterweight title in a ballroom at the Boardwalk Convention Center.
Although Boudouani has had nearly four times as many fights as Reid, who is 10-0 with seven knockouts, the challenger was a 4-1 favorite.
Boudouani, 36-2-1 with 32 knockouts, will be making the fifth defense of his 154-pound title. He became WBA champion by knocking out Julio Vasquez in the fifth round of his 35th pro fight after his silver-medal performance in the 1988 Olympics at Seoul. There, he was knocked out by Robert Wangila in the second round of the 147-pound final.
The fight will be Boudouani's fifth in the United States and second in Atlantic City, where Reid has fought seven times.
"This will be sort of a graduation day for him," said Larry Hazzard, the New Jersey boxing commissioner who has watched Reid develop.
"It would be learning experience," Reid said when asked what a loss would mean.
Both Reid and trainer Al Mitchell, head coach of the 1996 Olympic boxing team, know he has the youth, speed and power to recoup a loss.
"I will win," Reid said Friday.
It certainly didn't look as if he would win his Olympic championship match. Duvergel was far ahead in the scoring when Reid nailed him with a right to the head.
"That punch changed my life," said Reid, who got a $1 million bonus for signing a contract with promoter America Presents.
Reid's title bid will be the second half of an HBO doubleheader. The telecast will begin at 10:15 p.m. EST, and the opening match will be a 10-round heavyweight bout between veteran Lou Savarese, 38-2-1 with 32 knockouts, of New York and prospect Lance Whitaker, 18-0 with 16 knockouts, of Van Nuys, Calif. The 6-foot-8 Whitaker fights as Mount Whitaker.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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