BY AMER ABDALLAH:

“I have to start by thanking God for bestowing the blessing of victory and allowing me to take one step closer to my lifelong dream of becoming world champion. My wife Al-Anoud is next in line as she has been nothing short of amazing during this long 10 week training camp. Without her, I simply wouldn’t have been this prepared.”

TRAINING CAMP…“We had a tremendous training camp that started in Las Vegas with Jeff Mayweather and finished up here in WNY with Corey Webster and Greg Jones. My team is my family and they ensured I was 100% ready. Jeff Mayweather came back to WNY to make sure we stayed on pace up to the fight.”

THE FIGHT…”We knew going into this fight James Wallis was going to be amongst the best opponents I’ve faced. Just like Francois Ambang and Tiawan Howard, he’s dangerous. He’s comfortable in the ring, smart and has tremendous power. The fact that he can’t get anyone to fight him in Kickboxing speaks leagues in itself. From the opening bell I felt his power, fed him a few things to see how he reacted and began developing the real game plan. You know, on TV or Youtube, you can watch and come up with a plan, but a different guy may show up in the ring. That’s when you need a real time plan and must be able to make adjustments each round. I believe we did just that and slowly broke him down each round.”

ON THE CUT…”I didn’t mind the cut or the bleeding because it didn’t bother my vision. Sometimes those types of things can ruin a fighter and give him a false sense of urgency & getting them really hurt by panicking. My cornerman Dr. Alnakeeb did a wonderful job closing it and we had no issues moving forward. Today I’m still as pretty as I was before the fight.”

ON JAMES WALLIS…”When you fight top caliber opponents, there isn’t much trash talk and on the contrary, a great deal of mutual respect. James not only honored himself by being a true gentlemen, but his countrymen as well. I was truly humbled when he wouldn’t allow the official to put the belt on me, but insisted he put it on. Wales should welcome this champion back home with a standing ovation for the level of class he brings to our sport.”

ON THE WEIGHT ISSUE…”Here’s the bottom line…he’s a professional and I knew that. Upon him coming in 8lbs over the contracted weight I wasn’t happy. We had a private meeting and I looked him in the eyes and asked him directly why he was over. The travel, jet lag and change in environment shut his body down. I believed him. My team asked that he go out and lose as much as he could in the next 2 hours and come back to weigh in. I made a decision against the will of my top advisors to take the fight as is. I was confident enough in winning the fight & didn’t want anyone saying he was too weak, drained or anything like that. I went with my gut feelings on that one… In the end, we didn’t fine or penalize him. I just wanted to fight.”

ON THE FUTURE…”My wife and I are going to enjoy the month of Ramadan in Jordan with our family and just let the offers and opportunities come in. We will look at each one closely and make a decision when the time is right.”

FINAL THOUGHTS…”I have to thank all of my supporters and fans that continue to humble me with each fight. We win together…TEAM ABDALLAH!”

Photo by J Stoos Photography