Teen sensation James Power becoming a Mexican fan favourite ahead of fight #2

Teen pro James Power [1(1)-0] is planning to give his new horde of Mexican fans an exciting fight to enjoy this weekend.

The 17-year-old lightweight fights for a second time as a pro and for the second time in Tijuana on Saturday night.

A seek-and-destroy debut seems to have made him somewhat of a local favourite and the lad from Cork has been receiving messages of support from Mexicans all too keen to tell him they are looking forward to watching ringside on November 3rd.

“I’ve received a few messages from people living in Tijuana and other Mexican cities, even one from L.A., saying they’ll be traveling to support me on Saturday night,” an excited Power told Irish-Boxing.com before the fighter, who can’t fight in Ireland until he turns 18 next April, paid homage to the support he has received at home.

“In saying that, nothing can compare to my Irish fanbase. They have been incredible and I couldn’t wish for a better bunch of people to have behind me in my career. I appreciate everyone’s love and support, it really does mean everything to me.”

The crowd at his second pro fight will be more green-white-and-red than green-white-and-orange and it’s those he will be looking to get behind him over the four rounds.

Power is looking to slow things down a little and apply more tact to his approach this time around, but wants to excite as the same time.

“I predict that I’ll enjoy every second of it and that it’ll be a very exciting and enjoyable night of boxing,” he responded when asked for prediction before revealing something of how he would plans to approach just his second outing.

“There is always room for improvement, no matter what. I’ll try slow everything down this time and be more relaxed in there. I’ll take my time and choose my shots better and I’m going to try and show more of my boxing ability in this fight.”

While he is looking to improve, the Coachford College Leaving Cert student’s debut went as well as expected – and he is more than happy with his first outing.

“I’m happy with it. I went in there to make an exciting fight that the crowd would enjoy, and I did that.”

“However, I did see some little mistakes and I have worked very hard in training to fix them. I will show everyone my improvements in a few days. But overall, I think it was a decent debut!”

Power’s opponent, while understably no world beater is meant to represent a step up this weekend and he his happy with the idea of a tougher test.

“I like challenges and I can’t wait to find out what he’s like. I’m expecting him to have a lot of heart, to hit hard and to come to fight,” he continued before stressing Mexico didn’t provide too much of a culture shock.

“Being honest, nothing was a major shock. Everything was new to me so I just sat back and took it all in. I really enjoyed my last trip and hopefully there will be no surprises this time either.”