In his heyday, Mike Tyson was an intimidating fighter with major punching power.
Red Deer boxer Cam O’Connell won’t be intimidated when he takes on ‘Little Tyson’ Friday at the Genesis Centre in northeast Calgary.
Hungarian fighter Csaba Toth carries the colorful nickname and will face O’Connell in a lightweight bout on the undercard of the Dekada Premier Fight Night event that will be shown later on the Fight Network.
O’Connell, 7-0-1, was originally slated to trade punches with Abraham Gomez. But the Mexican fighter pulled out of the bout and was replaced by Toth, who carries a not-so-impressive 14-27-1 record. Toth has recorded nine knockouts but has also been knocked out on 18 occasions.
Nevertheless, O’Connell expects his opponent to be aggressive and to have a sturdy chin. Toth has never been KO’d by a Canadian boxer, but his Red Deer opponent plans on snapping that streak.
“I know he’s a tough fighter. My (pro) debut was against a guy from Hungary and I know they come to win,” said O’Connell. “He’s not flying all the way here for nothing. Nobody from Canada has stopped him yet and my goal is to be the first.”
O’Connell last fought on Sept. 11 in Edmonton, where he scored a unanimous decision victory over Randy Lorenzo of Mexico. He took five days off following the fight, then returned to the gym.
“Arash (Usmanee) helped me train for this fight and we sparred with Lukas Wierzbicki as well,” said O’Connell. “We might take a week or two off after this one. It’s been a long camp.”
O’Connell hopes to get back into the ring on Dec. 4, once an opponent has been identified. As for now, it’s unlikely to be the Canadian title shot he’s aiming for.
“If we have to look past it, we will, but hopefully a Canadian title fight is coming up soon for me,” said O’Connell, who believes that his potential lightweight opponents are afraid to step into the ring with him.
“But it’s just a matter of time. They’ll have to fight me at some time.”
Wierzbicki, from Calgary, will fight in the main event of Friday’s card.