Clottey Off For Unification Bout In November

THE International Boxing Federation (IBF) Welterweight Champion of the world, Joshua Clo-ttey, is scheduled to engage in a unification fight with Paul Williams the World Boxing Organisa-tion (WBO) champion in the division.

Clottey told the airport press corps on his departure for New York yesterday that his manager Luis Scorpino had almost completed negotiations for the fight to be staged at a yet to be decided on November 29, 2008.

On the impending fight, Clottey said, he had two options, either to fight Antonio Magarito or Paul Williams, but prefers to fight Williams because the WBO champion had earlier this year, beaten Magarito.

He said the fight with Williams would attract a bigger purse because of the lat-ter's victory over Ma-garito, and the fact that he is a HBO registered fighter.

As regards preparations, he said his left hand which was injured is almost healed and that he had been training seriously since his return to Ghana.

He said he had to leave Ghana early to step up his preparations for the fight with Williams since he needs to put in a little more effort to beat him.

 Clottey added that he cherishes the overwhelming support that Ghanaians gave him during his bout with Zab Judah and his subsequent victory.

“I want to use the medium of the media to thank President John Kufour, Minister of Sports Dominic Fobih, Mrs Hessey, Chief Adviser to the president and the whole nation for their continued prayers and support,” he said.

He sated that he is encouraged to continue upholding the flag of Ghana as far as his exploits in international boxing arena is concerned.

Clottey was accompanied by his brother Emmanuel Clottey.