Adegbuyi hopes to rematch âcrazyâ Guto Inocente in GLORY 50 CHICAGO tour...
- News
- Jan 11, 2018
Anderson âBraddockâ Silva and Guto Inocente were both present at Decemberâs GLORY REDEMPTION event, the former winning a fight with Brian Douwes, the latter cornering his countryman Alex Pereira.  Both heavyweights did backstage interviews after the event and in both interviews the same name came up: Benjamin Adegbuyi. Silva wants to avenge the GLORY 44 decision loss to the Romanian, Inocente (33-8, 17 KOâs) wants to prove his GLORY 43 win was neither a fluke nor a bad decision.  Adegbuyi (28-4-1, 16 KOâs) is currently in the Netherlands, training with Dennis Krauweel (Rico Verhoevenâs coach) for the upcoming GLORY 50 CHICAGO four-man heavyweight tournament. But he remembers his reaction when he watched those post-fight interviews while at home on his couch in Bucharest, Romania.  âI was like man, these guys are crazy!â he says, his voice rising in emphasis. âI watched their interviews and I was like what are these guys talking about? They are crazy.  âGuto has that win but it is not, in my opinion, a real win. Not only I say that, everyone says that to me. Not only do I not feel like I lost. The fight, I donât even feel like it was a close fight! It was a really weird decision.â  Providentially, Inocente is part of next months GLORY 50 tournament. Heâs in the opposite bracket to Adegbuyi, so if they are to meet it will be in the tournament final. Thatâs a scenario Adegbuyi is now strongly keen on.  âI hope we can meet in the final so I can get the revenge,â he says. âBackstage after that first fight I did my own interview and I said at the time I didnât care about a rematch for revenge because really I didnât feel like I had lost a fight.  âBut then I heard Guto saying what heâs saying and now Iâm like âOK man, you really think you got that win? Letâs see.ââ  As for Silva (41-17-1, 26 KOâs), thereâs no sign of his and Adegbuyiâs paths crossing again in the immediate future, but âMr Gentlemanâ is puzzled by the Brazilianâs insistence that the judges got it wrong in Chicago.  âIt went to an extra round but in my opinion I won all three rounds clearly anyway. Then in the fourth I put him down for an eight count, so what is he talking about!?â he says.  In the meantime Adegbuyi has his next target in front of him: DâAngelo Marshall (17-2, 9 KOâs), a one-time Heavyweight Contender Tournament winner who is coming off a win over Ismael Londt in December.  âHeâs young, heâs hungry - he reminds me of myself, actually, when I first came in to GLORY,â says Adegbuyi. âI remember it like it was yesterday, coming to GLORY 14 ZAGREB in Croatia and wanting to show everyone that I am the next big thing. I get that same vibe from Marshall when I watch him.  âBut.. I think heâs good, but not great. Heâs not my level. Actually I donât think anyone in this tournament is my level. I think youâve got me and Rico clearly at the top of the heavyweight division and then the rest of guys are [some distance] below.â  Speaking of Verhoeven, the reigning heavyweight champion is doing some sparring with Adegbuyi to help him prepare for next monthâs tournament. Itâs a slightly odd situation, the divisionâs champion and #1 contender training together under the same coach, but it seems to work for everyone involved. For now, at least.  Adegbuyi always laughs when heâs asked what itâs like for the divisionâs main rivals to be training alongside each other. Thereâs a certain awkwardness to the situation, but it also seems that it really isnât that big of a deal to all the people involved.  âLike Iâve said in the past, we donât think right now about a fight with me and Rico. Only the fights we have in front of us right now. When that situation comes around, we will deal with it, we will sit down and work it out, but for now itâs not an issue,â he says.  âIâm planning to win everything I do this year. I made my pro boxing debut last year and I think I will do two or three more boxing fights this year, plus kickboxing. Iâm trying to win everything. I have been the #1 contender for two years, my goal is to be champion and that goal hasnât changed.  âThe most obvious solution would be for me to change team for that fight, a different camp. Dennis has been with Rico for fifteen years, obviously I couldnât expect him to train me for that fight. But for now everything is great. Heâs a great coach, really intelligent, really helpful in all sorts of ways. This is a great team for me and this is going to be a good year for me.â  GLORY 50 CHICAGO takes place Friday, February 16 at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois and features two world title fights: Murthel Groenhart defends the welterweight title against Harut Grigorian and Sitthichai defends the world lightweight title against Chris Baya.  To check your local listing for GLORY 50 Chicago, click here!