Junaid Boston reaping the rewards of sparring Curmel Moton and Caleb Plant

 

The junior-middleweight prospect Junaid Bostan believes that his experience of sparring Caleb Plant and Curmel Moton has strengthened his confidence in his abilities.

 

Bostan recorded the 10th win and eighth stoppage of his career on Saturday on the undercard of Jack Catterall-Regis Prograis at the Co-op Live in Manchester. He impressed many with his performance, and produced an eye-catching finish by stopping Maico Sommariva with a left hand to the body. 

 

Bostan was happy with his showing on but insisted that he hadn’t been working on the shot that finished Sommariva so impressively.

 

“But I knew that shot would come off,” he told BoxingScene. “I work on things to set up the shots – not necessarily the shot if that makes sense. Knowing when to do certain things; knowing when to switch. I found it natural to switch southpaw in the second and found it worked better than orthodox – not that orthodox wasn’t working. 

 

“I was keeping on my jab in orthodox, but the power shots weren’t coming off. I thought, ‘Southpaw is better, it will take away things he does well’. I capitalized on certain things, so all in all, a good performance. I’m happy with the fact I listened; I’ve been doing the things I’ve been working on in the gym. At the end of the day, the opponent wasn’t the best, but the performance was decent.”

 

As Sommariva was being helped to his feet by his team, Bostan’s trainer Grant Smith ran over to he celebrating Bostan and seemed to say something to halt the celebrations. Bostan, however, was unclear about what Smith said.

 

“It was a bit of a blur to be honest,” he said. “Probably saying, ‘Calm your ass down.’ That’s probably it, but Grant has got me. Anything he says I’ll take in and listen.”

 

After the contest Bostan and his fellow 154lbs prospect Ishmael Davis were sat ringside with Eddie Hearn discussing a fight between them. 

 

“I am not arsed in the slightest,” Bostan said. “Just give me whoever. What is the point in me calling out names? Right now I’ll just do whatever. If my team wants me to fight them, I’ll fight them.”

 

During Bostan’s preparations for an originally scheduled fight date in September he spent time in the US sparring Plant and Moton. 

 

“[My manager] wanted me to spend some time out there before the fight in September,” he said. “It was very good experience and they really looked after me. I got valuable rounds and there’s a few lessons that I took from there.”

 

When asked how much confidence he had taken from sharing the ring with them, Bostan replied: “It solidified more what I already knew.”