I just read the art about him on fightnews and I know he recently beat the highly regarded, but untested Eric Fields. Can someone tell me a bit about Afolabi?
Afolabi is a product of the Freddie Roach's Wild Card Gym. First trained by John Brey, then Freddie, but after he knocked out Orlin Norris in 2005 he couldn't get any fights. He has an extremely frustrating style fighting off the ropes and is very hard to hit. Because he is so tall(6'4") he basically leans back to the first row and counters opponents. He has sparred every big man training out of LA, from the Klitscho brothers to Toney. He has an iron chin and has never been down professionally or in sparring. He has a lot of natural talent but never had the drive to train hard. I guess figthing came easily for him. He is very smart and I think the lay off and the recent win(NABO title) has inspired him and I predict he can go far in the cruiser weight division now that he will be ranked
He sounds like another "hard-to-hit" spoiler, Mike "The Bounty" Hunter, the late father of Michael Hunter, who was at his best in the early 90:s. Is there anyone who got a videoclip of Afolabi, btw? http://boxning.blogspot.com/
After I heard he beat Fields I thought to myself "didn't he stop Orlin Norris?" and sure enough I checked it and saw that he did. I was surprised that I remembered that but then again, a name like Afolabi is rather unique. I'd like to see what happens with his career. He should fight as much as he can even if the opponents are weak. That way the activity can help him become a mandatory and force someone to defend against him.
