by Tony Nobbs
17.07 - IBF Rated Bantamweight Nathan "The Real Thing" Sting (22-6-1, 11 ko's) faces former Indonesian Bantam Champ Dozer Tobing (given as 22-7-1, 9 ko's) in a scheduled ten rounder on Friday night at the Southport RSL on the Gold Coast on a Jamie Myer Fox sports promotion. The current Australian 118 lb Title Holder says he expects a tough fight from the 24 year old visitor who arrived on Tuesday and will be out to impress a National Television audience and a parochial hometown crowd.
"I'm grateful to be back on TV and also to be back fighting on the Gold Coast. I've had a couple of distance fights this year and I hope this one will go the rounds as well. When I got the rounds under my belt, I fight well, each fight I have I'm getting sharper. All these Indonesians are good at the lower weights and this guy has had about two months to prepare. I fought over there (Indonesia) in 1999 against the WBA number two Super Bantamweight (Bugarsio) and got a terrible decision given against me, so I really want to show him how good I am".
Southpaw Sting, 29 is one of Australia's more underated fighter's in recent memory and this was shown on the Mundine-Ellis bout shown on pay per view across Australia on Monday night. "They had a couple of adds for the show and they never mentioned Nathan"said trainer Les Wilson. "Shannan Taylor is fighting the Main Event and rightfully so. He has been a very good fighter for this country and deserves all the publicity he gets. But then they mention Micheal Katsidis, a good kid, but he's only had three fights. Nathan is highly regarded world wide but can't get a go in Australia. He has won three Australian Titles and is rated 13 in the IBF for the simple reason he can fight. Name the last Australian fighter, apart from Kostya Tszyu, who has gone overseas and beaten a bloke rated number one by the WBC, can you do that?" asked Wilson referring to Sting's bout in England 12 months ago with Dimitri Kirilov, who to be accurate was number two at 115 lb at the time but moved to number one soon after. It should also be stated that Sting did not "officially" beat Kirilov, but it was rated as one of the worse decisions in England for a while. "Joe Bugner told Nathan the same thing happened to him in England. He never got respect in his own country. Even after he beat their hero (Henry Cooper) and all those other rated fighters, he never got his due. But the best thing to do is to keep winning. Nathan has trained well for this fight, he is going good He was so hot the other day, the gym nearly burnt down. No seriously, you know when a guy is fit, when you do pads and he's hitting harder as the rounds go on, normally it's the other way round. He has tapered well. This bloke on Friday night, we only know a bit about him, Nathan has been around, he will just move and box, have a look at him until I tell him to put the heat on".
Headlining Friday nights promotion is a 12 rounder for the Vacant PABA Super Welterweight Title between Australian Shannan Taylor (29-3-1, 18 ko's) and former Title Holder Harman Ajadarto ( given as 24-7-2, 18 ko's) from Indonesia. The main support is the PABA Cruiserweight Title fight between WBA #11 Daniel Rowsell (18-2-1, 9 ko's) and Simon Patterson (6-2, 3 ko's). Katsidis meets flashy Sydney based 36 year old American Jay Washington in a Super Lightweight six rounder.
Other prelim fights see local Gold Coast products . Simon Noble v Shane Green and Brad Hemming v Paul Tapley, a late sub for ex Queensland State 140 lb Champion Dale Hawke in a pair of Welterweight four rounders.
