Rising lightweight contender Dzmitry Asanau has had to adapt from a late opponent change but is geared up to make the necessary adjustments required.
The 29-year-old was in relaxed mood ahead of his fight with Carlos Ramos on Thursday at the Montreal Casino, Montreal.
“The missions stays the same,” Asanau (11-0, 5 knockouts) told punchinggrace.com. “Full focus on the fight event.
“Every training camp we improve things and thanks to Eye of The Tiger for this opportunity that they give me. They put me on their show; they put me to defend my [WBC Continental Americas] title. They still believe me.”
Asanau had been preparing Claudio Daneff, but when he couldn’t get a visa in time, in stepped Ramos.
As well as a different opponent, Asanau had been getting ready for an orthodox opponent but will now face a southpaw but is relaxed about the situation and will lean into his amateur experience to ready him for what’s ahead.
Photo: Jeff Lockhart – Dzmitry Asanau and Carlos Ramos
“[The] amateurs gave me discipline, we train not just for 10/ 12 weeks, we train all year, we don’t know the opponent but we improve some skills,” he said. “That’s what the amateur gave me.
“When the opponent changes, I know I can do this, I know I can fight southpaw, I know I can fight orthodox because I did it in my training. In the amateurs, we have, for example, five days of the competition and have a different opponent, but we still have time to analyze the opponent. We have one day. But if you don’t have skills that will help you in the fight it doesn’t matter, if you don’t know how to do it in the ring.”
Asanau spent training camp in Montreal where the weather conditions are in the minus figures during the winter months, considerably colder than in Dubai where he lives, but not too dissimilar to his native Belarus.
Every day, Asanau commutes an hour from his accommodation to Marc Ramsay’s gym where he trains with Samuel Décarie-Drolet.
Photo: Vitor Munhoz – Samuel Décarie-Drolet and Dzmitry Asanau
“It keeps me humble and keeps me hungry,” he revealed. “If I had a car or private car to take me from the hotel to the gym, it would be easy for me and I’m in the comfort zone but now I’m a little out of my comfort zone and gives me be the best version of myself every day and to be better than I was yesterday. That’s a good thing.”
He hopes to harness that hunger and desire to reach the top sometime this year.
“For me, now, I focus on this fight but in the future, I want the world title fight,” he said. “I am in the IBF [No. 11] and WBC [No. 4 in the rankings.]
“I believe in my team, I believe in Eye of The Tiger, they have a plan and the thing is if God gives me this opportunity to be world champion, I will do it. I believe in my skills.”
Eye of The Tiger head honcho, Camille Estephan believes his fighter can mix with the top guys at 135-pounds.
“He’s already ranked very highly, unfortunately, we had to switch the opponent,” said Estephan. “He’s active and getting better every fight. We’re confident he can really compete. It’s a great division and play in that water.”
