Kid Galahad is convinced he stands on the verge of greatness.
The unbeaten Sheffield star will make his move up into the potentially lucrative featherweight division this weekend as he takes on former world bantamweight champion Joseph Agbeko in the toughest test of his pro career to date on ITV Box Office.
Kid Galahad, real name Barry Awad, is on a roll of 21 straight victories but this is the first time he will step up a division into featherweight and it is not a switch which remotely fazes him.
“I’m a natural and I can go up or down as it is only a few pounds,” he said. “But it makes sense to fight at featherweight because that’s a hot division right now and I want to clean it up. I will clean it up. There will be only one person standing in a few years from now with an unbeaten record still intact and that is me.
“Frampton has lost for the first time, Lee Selby has already lost and Scott Quigg got beat by Frampton. I’m the only one still with an unbeaten record and believe me, I can see myself retiring undefeated because nobody is going to find a way to beat me. It can’t be done.”
There is touch of the old Prince Naseem Hamed in Kid Galahad, supremely confident of his own ability and not afraid to tell anybody.
“Why not? I know I’m the best out there.” He said. “I’m unbeaten for a reason, because no-one can live with me. I either win on points by making my opponent look silly, or I knock them out. I can’t lose.”
He has a formidable opponent in Ghanaian-born Agbeko this weekend on the undercard of the Chris Eubank Jnr v Renold Quinlan world title clash at London’s Olympia.
He said: “Sure, Agbeko is good as he has been in there with everyone and never been stopped. That’s why it is my mission to become the first and to make a real statement of intent. When I stop Agbeko that will make all the other featherweights in the world know what they are dealing with.
“Agbeko is the perfect opponent for me because I know I have to raise my game to beat him and I will. He has been in there for 12 rounds with Guillermo Rigondeaux only a couple of years ago so he knows how to take a punch as well as give it. I’m under no illusions, this is the toughest test I’ve had since turning pro, but I will show everyone that I am something special, both the thousands in attendance at Olympia and the many thousands watching on ITV Box Office.”
Kid Galahad has cleaned up everything thrown at him domestically – Josh Wale, Jason Booth, James Dickens amongst many others – and is now ready for the world stage.
“I’m destined for great things,” he said. “I can punch, I can move, I can take a shot, there’s no-one out there who can beat me. I know that. It is a fact. I’m on the way up and that starts with Agbeko. He’s an opponent I have lots of respect for but I truly believe at the end of our fight there will be thousands of fans saying the same thing: that I’m going to be the very best.”
