Boxing: Rances Barthelemy Not Impressed with Mickey Bey

It is not a matter of disrespect, IBF lightweight champ Rances Barthelemy wants you to know, but nothing really impresses him about Mickey Bey -- the opponent he will face on Friday at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Their bout airs at 9 p.m. ET on Spike TV.

Barthelemy (24-0, 13 KOs) concedes Bey is a former world titlist for a reason, that he will give him credit for.

“Otherwise, nothing really impresses me about Mickey Bey, and I can’t tell you much else about him,” said Barthelemy, the Cuban exile who will be fighting before a Cuban-heavy partisan crowd. “No, I’m not saying I’m going to roll over him. I come from the Cuban school of boxing, and we don’t [view] anybody [as] easy and we don’t believe in bad fighters. I’ll be ready for anything Bey will bring.”

Fighting before the Cuban crowd, Barthelemy admits, will provide great motivation. It is another obstacle Bey may have to overcome. Barthelemy has maintained the same discipline he had in Cuba. Fighters that leave Cuba and reach the United States often lose discipline, thinking they hve reached the Promised Land and do not have to work anymore. Ex-Cuban fighters often eat themselves out of contention and find their careers ending fast.

“There really is no better place to fight outside of Cuba than in south Florida, and I expect all of my Cuban people, my family and friends to attend,” Barthelemy said. “I see this, fighting before my Cuban people, as a greater responsibility to put on a great display. I know that’s what the Cuban people there and my close friends will be expecting. They’ll be expecting me to do great things, and it’s why I’ve been preparing for the utmost to put on that display.

“It’s tough for Cuban fighters, because once they come here, it’s a sort of a shock,” he added. “You’re used to a system that’s completely different. There are all sorts of distractions. Because of that, Cuban fighters find it difficult to maintain their discipline. I really want to thank my management team, who got me out of Miami and away from the distractions. That helped me keep my discipline.”

Barthelemy won the vacant IBF title by beating the man Bey (22-1-1, 10 KOs) did not face: Denis Shafikov. The rangy 5-foot-11, 29-year-old Cuban won a unanimous decision, but it came with some valued lessons.

“I did learn a lot in that fight,” Barthelemy said. “It was a great learning experience because Shafikov is a tough, smaller fighter. I wanted to beat Shafikov at his own game, and that was fighting inside. I did that, and then I went back to the Cuban school of boxing and gave him a boxing lesson. After the first seven or eight rounds, I could see he had nothing left. I think the most important things that I learned is that I can fight inside, in short distance. I learned I don’t have to always box at range. I found I can be as aggressive inside as I can outside. I fought a smaller [man] inside and beat him at his own game.”

That is interesting, considering Bey is two inches shorter and is giving away four inches in reach, 69 inches to Barthelemy’s 73.

“Mickey Bey is taller than Shafikov, and he has a way different style; he won’t come inside on me like Shafikov did,” Barthelemy said. “Bey is a technical boxer who likes to counterpunch. There is nothing Mickey Bey can show me that I haven’t seen before. I would love for Mickey Bey to bring something that I haven’t seen before. I’m pretty sure Mickey Bey has trouble sleeping at night knowing he has to fight Rances Barthelemy, because it’s going to be a tough night for him on Friday night.”