Malian in roped sqare against hard-puncher Tua

August 26, 2006 has be tagged a "night of hard-hitting punchers" at the Hard Rock Live Arena, Hollywood, Florida following a bill, which features a bout involving Malian rugged fighter, Cisse "Cool C" Salif and another brawler, David Tua. Reports reaching nigeriasports.com from IKE ENWEREUZO in New York indicate that, the bout promises to be one of the Malian's toughest outings since his amateur days in France.

David Tua, we gathered from IKE ENWEREUZOR, is not just a hard-punching puggilist, but also a former world heavyweight challenger. On the otherhand, Salif, who made his professional debut on May 26, 1998, had Donald Colbert as his first prey, when he sent him to sleep in the first round in Baltimore.

This year alone, he had decisioned three big fighters - stopped Dennis Mckinney in the second round in April, heaped Jason Shackleford in 2 on May 27 and floored Clarence Goin by a TKO in the first round on July 1, 2005.

Inspite of all these all-conquering and intimidating catalogue of victories, the towering Malian (6ft 5 inches) tall would be in for a big showdown when his faces Tua, who is a different class in the game.

Tua we were informed had an encouraging come-back, when after two year off the ring, he bounced back to nick a victory against Talmadge Griffis, whom he stopped in 10 in March at the Homeland Auckland, New Zealand.

Both Tua and Sallif have the knack for stepping forward and hitting real hard on a toe-to-toe fisticshowdown and here is a chat the Malian 'giant' had with nigeriasports.com - courtesy IKE ENWEREUZOR in the US:

nigeriasports.com - How is training going for your fight with David Tua August 26 ?

Salif: Everything is looking good. I'm heading the gym right now. If they think this fight is going to bean easy win for Tua, I have surprises for them. He comes forward, I come forward. He's a puncher and I'm a puncher too. He's a heavyweight, I'm a heavyweight too. So, this is a great match -up and I'll prove to the world that Cissie Salif,is another African from Mali.

"I'm not a bum, he's not going to see a fighter like Obed Sullivan, Danell Nicholson, Michael Moorer, John Ruiz or Russell Chasteen. I'm coming to smoke some ass and I'm focused. It will be a repeat of Ike Ibeabuchi vs David Tua. I hope he shows up and I'll do what Ike Ibeabuchi did or even better.

I know it's going to be a tough fight for both of us. They can keep thinking I'm a warm- up for Tua. It will be a great surprise and fight to watch. He had better prepare himself because, it's not going to be an easy fight for him.

nigeriasports.com: What do you think of the Rahman-Barrett fight?

Salif: I wasn't impressed by Hasim Rahman performance. It wasn't exciting. Monte Barrett rocked him a few times, but he has to bring in more than this when he fights Vitali Klitschko. Rahman better bring better than this next time. Klitschko-Rahman should be a good fight.

nigeriasports.com: What do you think of the Klitschko-Peter fight?

Salif: It should be a good fight, height, weight and experience... I don't know. Both can punch, we know Klitschko has a suspect chin, but we don't know if Samuel Peter has got chin yet. This will be a big test for Samuel Peter. I think Samuel Peter has a big chance, if he does everything right.

nigeriasports.com: Tell our readers about your fight with David Bostice september 2004?

Salif: The fight took place at Pechanga Resort Casino, Temecula, California. I beat that guy, but they robbed me and gave David Bostice the fight. David knows I won the fight. Fans were throwing bottles in the ring because they were angry at the decision. I let that pass me, now I'm just thinking about David Tua.

Ike: Tell us about your fight with Kevin Montiy?

Salif: Another fight I won but they made it a no contest. I was the one, who was cut and I was ready to continue bu,t they knew I was going to knock Kevin out, so they just stopped the fight. The fight was supposed to be an 8- round fight but they changed to 6 and tried to change it again to 4 rounds. I refused a 4- round fight, so they made it 6. Kevin was scared right from the weigh-in. I'm not worried about that experience any longer.