Local boxer Cheong Lap Cheong will be fighting in Shangluo, Shaanxi Province, on Saturday night for two titles, the World Boxing Council’s (WBC) Far East Super Fly belt which he won in May against South Korea’s Han Sol Lee and the WBC Asian Super Fly belt of his opponent Cao Jiangtao.
The Post caught up with 28-year-old Cheong yesterday morning at his gym, the Macao Boxing House, on the seventh floor of Fat Lei Industrial Building in a side street near Triangle Garden, to talk about the fight on Saturday and his month-long training camp in Manila.
Cheong said that he was very tired as he only returned from Manila on Tuesday night and that the training camp at Elorde Maceda Gym had been intense and that he had sparred with Pedro Taduran of the Philippines who is the current International Boxing Federation’s (IBF) World Minimum Weight Champion.
When asked how he felt about sparring with a world champion, Cheong said, “I was happy to spar with him as it was the first time that I had touched a world champion.”
Cheong went on to say that the time in the training camp went far too quickly, although it was hard. “I had to wake up at 5 a.m., go running, then do conditioning training, then wash my clothes, after lunch I had to train again for two or three hours, then I could relax, watching a film, learning something or just relaxing.”
When the Post asked Cheong (11-0-0) what he knew about his opponent 25-year-old Cao (10-4-1), he said: “I sparred with him in April before my fight with Lee in May. He is a southpaw (leads with his left fist), he is very strong and a good boxer. He is China’s number one in the division”
Cheong continued, “I have not fought a southpaw [competitively] before [but] all my sparring partners in Manila were southpaws.”
When asked how he felt about Saturday’s fight, Cheong said, “I am excited and am full of confidence because in the Philippines I fought some of the top 30 boxers in the world. I am ready to fight this new style [against a southpaw]. I am really ready.”
The Post also spoke to Cheong’s trainer Wai Cheong (no relation to Lap Cheong), who said, “I fully expect Lap Cheong to win although I am a little bit nervous, maybe as nervous as I was when he had his first [professional] fight [in October 2017].”
Wai Cheong went on to say, “Lap Cheong’s fight is the main bout on Saturday and it is the first time we have ever been the top billed so I think Lap Cheong will be a bit nervous, although it is all psychological. I am fully confident about his preparation especially as the training camp in Manila is very famous, many champion boxers train there. The trainer there is an ex-professional boxer who had won titles before. Our opponent [Cao] has been training in Japan for this fight so both fighters have been really preparing for this fight.”
Wai Cheong said at the end of the interview, “We shall bring the belts back [to Macau]”.
Local pugilist Cheong Lap Cheong (left) poses with his World Boxing Council’s (WBC) Far East Super Fly belt which he won in May next to his trainer Wai Cheong at Macao Boxing House Gym yesterday. – Photo Lesley Wells
