Boxing 2022: Paul Fleming Vs Samir Ziani, 14-year world title bid, Dubai

Posted by Delta Gatti on Sunday, May 12, 2024

Aussie super featherweight boxer Paul Fleming is potentially two fights from a world title shot after landing a huge opportunity on December 16.

Out of the ashes of a grudge match against former friend and training partner Billal Dib which was meant to go down on November 30, Fleming is now heading to Dubai to take on 33-3-1 No. 1 IBF super featherweight contender Samir Ziani on December 17 in Dubai.

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A win against the Frenchman would likely put Fleming in the position for an IBF world title eliminator fight for the belt currently held by Tajikistan’s Shavkat Rakhimov.

At 34 and 14 years into his professional boxing career, the 2008 Olympian knows better than most opportunities like this don’t come easy.

Nicknamed “Showtime”, Fleming is confident he’ll live up to the moniker on the big stage, with word the Dubai royal family will attend the fight night.

Having battled his way to a 28-0-1 record throughout his career, Fleming said he’d rise to the occasion.

“I’m not a person with stage fright,” he told news.com.au.

“They call me Showtime for a reason. I put on the shows and the bigger fights, the big opportunities, the better I go. So, you know, I’m really looking forward to going over there.”

Having worked with Bruno Tarimo, who is preparing to fight Japanese fighter Yoshiki Takei in Japan for the Oriental and Pacific IBF super bantamweight titles days before Fleming’s fight, the stars aligned for the pair. Tarimo fought a super featherweight world title eliminator against Zelda Barrett last December before announcing he was stepping down two weight classes to his natural weight.

Fleming, who runs two businesses, including a new gym — Showtime Fighters Academy — in Penrith, said he had twice given the sport away but said he was fortunate to be given another chance not afforded to many other boxers who drift away from the sport.

Now with a path to a world title, he’s hungrier than ever.

“I’m not able to sit back and just rely on my natural talent and my skills anymore because I’m getting a little bit older,” he said.

“Having six kids and a wife and no help, you know, I’ve got to be a bit more structured and at times that drives me absolutely crazy with my ADHD it’s kind of hard to stay structured. It’s really made me have to dig deep down inside myself and ask myself the question ‘do you really want it because if you do, you got to pull your finger out’. And I have.

“At the moment getting over there, getting the job done coming home, spending Christmas, having a good New Year’s with my family, making up for the bulls**t that I put my wife and kids through in this training camp.

“It’s been up and down and the mental health has been up and down. I’m just I’m just really focused on this and focused on spending a good Christmas with my family.”

Although the Dib fight collapsed in unfortunate circumstances, Fleming didn’t appear to hold any hard feelings against his rival.

He said the issue appeared to stem from “Chinese whispers” which exposed “the ugly side of boxing” in the deal making process.

Fleming was meant to fight Dib before taking the Jackson Jon England fight on the Sonny Bill Williams-Barry Hall undercard.

Fleming added if there was an opportunity in the future to fight Dib “we’d be able to get the fight done”.

Dib has also moved on, fighting two-time world title challenger Francisco Fonseca on December 12.

But Fleming wishes his rival the best, particularly if a fight is worked out in the future.

“I wish everyone the best because if they’re winning, when I fight them and beat them, it looks even better for me,” Fleming said.

“I want him to win. So when I beat him, I can take his titles and then I move up the rankings.

“I want Liam Wilson to go over there and beat (22-0 Englishman Archie Sharp, on the undercard of the Tim Tszyu-Jermell Charlo undisputed title fight). I’d love for him to win that fight so when he comes back and I fight him and I beat him, there’s no excuses.

“I just want the biggest fights that make the most sense, that make the most money that push me forward. I’ve only got a few more fights left in me. I’m 35 next year. I’m a 35-year-old with six kids and two businesses.

“I’m just looking for the biggest fights that make the best sense, the best money and make Australia stand up and pay attention.”

A proud Indigenous man, Fleming is also planning something special for the Dubai crowd.

Saying he had heard the Dubai royal family like Indigenous art, Fleming teased his custom boots, painted by famous Indigenous artist Otis Carey, and shorts for the fight, which represent Australian colours and his Aboriginal culture, as well as a unique walk out.

“My mom grew up in a time where she wasn’t even able to call herself Indigenous until she was 11 years old before they passed the referendum,” he said.

“I’m doing this for her and my family before me who wasn’t able to do it and all the other Indigenous people that weren’t able to celebrate and their culture. That brings joy to my mother and my family seeing me do it on the big stage.

“I’m doing something that mum would have wished she could have done when she was young. That brings me a lot of pride and joy. I’ve been gifted with this platform so I’m going to use it and until the day I die.”

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