But it is softly spoken Gairy St Clair, for long Tszyu’s main sparring partner, who has a chance of international glory in a bout with boxing’s most ferocious featherweight Manny Pacquiao. There are plans to stage the fight in LA-based Pacquiao’s home town of Manila on November 27 at the Big Dome, which played host to the final battle of the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier trilogy in 1975.
Pacquiao is regarded by many experts as the greatest Asian boxer of all time and is certainly one of the most exciting fighters in the world today – a brawling southpaw who has won world champion belts at both flyweight and super-bantamweight and decked world featherweight king Juan Manuel Marquez three times in the opening round of their 12-round draw in Las Vegas in May.
Last year he crushed Marco Antonio Barrera of Mexico, the only man to beat Britain’s flamboyant Prince Naseem Hamed. Another Australian, Nedal Hussein, gave him one of his hardest fights in 2000, dropping “Pac Man” before losing on a controversial cut- eye decision.
IBF vice-president Ray Wheatley said that the Pacquiao-St Clair fight would probably determine the No.2 contender for Marquez’s featherweight crown.
“Its a great opportunity for Gairy,” Wheatley said.
“He is a brilliant boxer who benefited enormously from his years sparring with Kostya.
“He hasn’t lost in four years and his only defeats have been points decisions to three world champions – Diego Corrales, Leonard Dorin and Vivian Harris.”
St Clair, 29, was born in Guyana but he developed his skills while living in Brooklyn for five years. He is now based in Perth.
Since coming to Australia he has beaten Sydney Olympians James Swan, Johnny Shifferaw and Jackson Asiku.
The main fight on Sunday at Madison Square Garden pits Trinidad – a former welterweight and middleweight champ who has not fought in two years – against “Mad Man” Mayorga, a chain-smoking, beer-guzzling, drag- racing fiend who has dodged a rape trial in his home town of Managua to fight one of the most anticipated bouts of the year.
Trinidad boasts a close win over Oscar De La Hoya, but suffered his only defeat when stopped in the last round at Madison Square Garden in a middleweight title fight against Bernard Hopkins back in 2001.
Mayorga took out the world welterweight title against Vernon Forrest last year but lost in his second defence to American Cory Spinks, a Tszyu target in 2005.
Also on Sunday, in Las Vegas, big-hitting Sydney Olympian Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy, from Florida, who is a major threat to Danny Green and Anthony Mundine, faces the smart-boxing Canadian Syd Vanderpool for the IBF super-middleweight title that has been left vacant following the retirement of Mundine’s conqueror Sven Ottke.
