Larry Olubamiwo "I will have an answer for anything he does fight night!"

This Saturday night at York Hall, Larry “War Machine” Olubamiwo (10-1) will write the next chapter in his boxing career. Larry will face off against perennial contender and former English heavyweight champion, John McDermott (25-7).

Larry is in a rich vein of form, coming into this fight off the back of four stoppage wins, three of them coming in the first round. Before we move forward to discuss Saturday’s fight Larry looks back at 2010, which was a successful year for him.

“Yeah, all in all 2010 was a good year for me, I won the Southern Area belt, I won a Masters title and won an English title eliminator. Most importantly I managed to show improvements in each of my fights. I would have liked a couple more fights but that’s boxing."

Anyone who has seen Larry fight before knows he takes his training very seriously. He is a true sportsman who used to be a sprinter before he took up boxing professionally. Larry feels it’s been another top quality training camp.

"For this fight I have been based in the Pedro Club which is James Cook's gym. I’ve just been doing my usual training routine, which I don’t want to talk too much about! It has been a very good training camp. I’ve had people telling me about John McDermott and how fit he is for this fight, we’ve heard all that before. I don’t need to brag about what good shape I’m in; if people ask I will tell them. But I know I’m in excellent shape as usual.”

These are exciting times ahead for our domestic heavyweight scene with all the guys involved thinking they deserve their chance to prove they are superior to their peers. Is this Larry’s chance to shine and to get ahead of the pack?

“Yeah definitely, it's amazing in boxing how some people have such short memories, I thought I proved something in my fight against Ferguson. It was a similar situation before the Ferguson fight, some people thought I was going to get out boxed and lose. Ferguson is a good boxer and it turned out the way it did because I was 100% prepared for the fight.

“I think it’s funny that people don’t mention the improvement in my boxing skills. When I first started people said that I was a just a slugger, which is fair enough. But I have really taken my time to refine my boxing skills which showed a lot in my last fight. Paul Butlin had just been eight rounds with unbeaten German Edmund Gerber and Chisora couldn’t stop Butlin either. I had him down two times on route to an eighth round stoppage win. I think that says a lot about how I have improved and I intend to just keep on improving.

“It’s exactly the same for this fight, I am 100% prepared for John McDermott. I respect John and think he is a very good fighter and that is why I have pulled out all the stops getting ready for this fight. I am so confident that no matter what he brings to this fight that I will come out the winner."

Talking of confidence, this is something Larry is not short of. He is certain he will prevail against McDermott.

“There is no doubt in my mind that I am going to be victorious on the 19th. I will have an answer for anything he does fight night.

“When I win this fight and win it big I know there are more big fights out there for me and hopefully more title fights. I’m aiming for 2011 to be my breakout year. “

Larry’s fight can been seen on Sky Sports HD1 and Sky Sports 1 at 20.00.

(Ed. writes - Fans could do with some confirmation as soon as possible as to whether this jinxed bill is proceeding.  Original headliner Tony Bellew pulled out citing injury; replacement top of the bill match, Frankie Gavin v Jason Cook fell through (revealed here yesterday) after the Welshman couldn't make weight.  Frankie - a regular poster on BoxRec's British and Irish forum - has apparently posted on his Facebook that he's going up against Michael Lomax now. 

Sky's policy is to showcase bills which are headlined by a world, European, British or Commonwealth title fight. Sky Sports recently pulled a bill when George Groves' proposed opponent, James Obede Toney, failed a Board medical and no adequate top of the bill fight could be found. Given these terms, it could be argued that Sky Sports had already been very accommodating by allowing Gavin v Cook in the first place, even if it rapidly became an 'eliminator' for the British welterweight title - despite Gavin's last match being for the Irish light-welter belt.

We all want to see as much boxing as possible on TV but all is not lost for the armchair fan if this bill is sadly shelved - Premier Sports are showing the Hennessy bill from Wembley on the same evening.

In fact, this might be one major reason that Sky want to keep the card in place.)