Asikainen's alternatives: World Championship bout or retirement?

Much at stake in EBU title bout in March

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Professional boxer Amin Asikainen is relaxed when he talks about his European Boxing Union super middleweight championship bout, even though from his career perspective the upcoming fight is extremely important, even pivotal.
     
The 34-year-old Asikainen and his coach Pekka Mäki admit openly that if Asikainen were to lose the European Championship bout against Poland's Piotr Wilczewski, the Finnish fighter’s career would very likely come to an end.
      “I think that would be it. Having said that, I am sure I will win”, Asikainen says.
      A victory, on the other hand, would take the Finn a step closer to a World Championship fight, about which Asikainen and Mäki talk only very cagily.
      There is no cause for any bluster, either, for Asikainen’s career turned to a steep decline after the 2008 loss he suffered to Khoren Gevor and the 2009 defeat against Matthew Macklin.
      Now Asikainen is heading upwards again, but there is no room for error.
      “Our plans reach beyond the EBU bout, but right now this is what we are concentrating on. If Ami wants to win he has to deliver a 100 per cent performance. No badly prepared boxers ever come out of Poland”, Mäki points out.
      To win the EBU title is vital, if Asikainen is to keep the World Championship dream alive.
     
Although Wilczewski is a hard hitter he is not one of the best boxers in the super middleweight class. Asikainen, too, believes that the opponent is not the toughest possible he could face in the ring.
      “My legwork is better and I am faster.”
      The opportunity to fight over the EBU super middleweight championship was presented to Asikainen and Wilczewski when the current champion, Brian Magee of Ireland, gave up his belt in order to challenge for the World Championship title.
      Asikainen, who previously fought at a lower weight, has boxed only twice in the super middleweight class. “It would have been ideal, had Amin had a chance to complete one ten-round fight in the super middleweight class before the title bout”, Mäki says.
      “I should have changed weight classes earlier. But sparring is going well, and next I will have a boxing camp in Tenerife”, Asikainen comments.
      The EBU title bout will be fought at Helsinki’s Hartwall Arena on March 4th. The promising Finnish female boxer Eva Wahlström will also appear in the ring on the same programme. Mäki did not reveal as yet who else will be on the evening's bill.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  One more season: Finnish sports icons stubbornly hang on in there (9.2.2010)

See also:
  Gevor downs Amin Asikainen´s dream of retaining his EBU title (1.12.2008)

Links:
  Amin Asikainen (Wikipedia)

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