The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Heavyweight Sherman ‘The Tank’ Williams is coming home on Thursday and he promised to unleash the “conch punch” on his new opponent, Manuel Banquez from Colombia, at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium on Friday night.

Still reeling from his disappointing 10-round unanimous loss on October 16 to Joseph Parker at The Trusts Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand, Williams said he’s eager to return home to avenge his frustration in his first local bout since he knocked out American Wade Lewis in the first round on April 18, 2007 at Clifford Park.

“I feel great for the opportunity to come back home and fight and put my skills on display,” said Williams from his residence in Vero Beach, Florida. “It’s been a long time coming, so when I was asked to participate on this card, it was an honour of mine to participate.

“I think this will be the beginning of more professional fights to come. When I started my training camp for my last fight in New Zealand, we were actually looking at bringing a professional card to Grand Bahama. So with this one going off on Friday, I think this will only encourage the boxing community to get ready for more professional boxing.”

Williams, a 42-year-old journeyman who sports a 36 (19 KO)-14 (1 KO)-2 win-loss-draw record, will meet Banquez, a 33-year-old southpaw from Colombia , who will be coming with a 7 (5 KO)-4 (4 KO)-2 record on the undercard of the “Pain and Glory Part 2 - The Revenge” card that will feature Meacher ‘Pain’ Major in a rematch against Brazilian Roger Rosa in the lightweight main event.

“I’m excited about the fight. It’s a great card with a great line-up,” Williams said. “I’m looking forward to Friday night.”

Since going back to the United States after losing to Parker, Williams said he has been in the gym working on the things that he felt he didn’t execute and he’s coming here to put “something” on Banquez.

“We’ve been working on the basic fundamentals,” Williams said. “It’s a six-round fight and the guy I’m fighting is from Colombia, but I’m not concerned about him. I have more than enough talent to take care of him on Friday. I feel good. I’ve been back in the gym and I’m looking forward to getting back in the gym and picking up a quick ‘w’ and moving forward to the next year.

“I have some great aspirations for 2015. On the short list is pulling off a professional bout in Grand Bahama. I’ve been working with the Tourism Board in Grand Bahama as well as several rugby matches that I hope to bring to Grand Bahama as well. I think this fight Friday will be the kick off for great things to come because professional boxing is looking great for the future in our country.”

Banquez is a late replacement, but Williams’ trainer Gus Current said the preparation doesn’t change.

“He’s looking great. He’s ready to go,” said Current during a training session in Florida. “We’ve been staying in shape. As soon as we got back from New Zealand, we were right back in the gym, working and hoping to get a rematch with Joseph Parker. In my opinion, in the opinion of many people, we think he won the fight. He got robbed in that fight. So we were hoping for a rematch, but they didn’t want that.

“We got the call from the Bahamas and we were waiting to find an opponent and we just got the call on Monday that they secured the guy. He’s a lefty and so we’re making the adjustment to the fight. It doesn’t matter because we went over to China and beat up Chauncy Welliver, who is also a lefty, and we gave him a real good beating. We will just work on a few things here and we will be ready to go.”

Like Williams, who advised the public that he’s going to throw the “conch punch” on Banquez, Current said this will be an explosive fight that everybody will enjoy.

“For as long as it lasts, he’s going to come out at this guy and put it on him,” Current said. “We just found out about this guy. But we are prepared for him. We’ve just been staying in shape working on all kinds of things and so even though we were not preparing to fight a lefty, we are making the adjustments and I can assure you that he will be ready when he comes home to fight on Friday.”