Jack Culcay was extremely close to calling himself the WBA junior middleweight champion earlier this year, but now will be back in the ring on October 21 to get back on the championship road.
The German-Ecuadorian boxer is fighting Maciej Sulecki on the World Boxing Super Series undercard at the Prudential Center in a WBC junior middleweight title eliminator semifinals. Culcay spoke to Fightful and said he is excited to fight for the opportunity to potentially challenge for another world title at 154 pounds.
"I've been training for this fight for about seven months because I didn't know who my opponent would be. The opportunity came from my promoter and we initially thought it was going to be an eight-round fight, then it's a 10-round fight and now it's a title eliminator for the WBC title. It's a big day for me, especially fighting here in the United States," Culcay said.
Culcay was a former WBA interim champion at 154 pounds and fought Demetrius Andrade for the full WBA title earlier this year, losing via split decision. Culcay has since learned from the experience, but still thought he got robbed from the fight and even said he wanted to have a rematch. Andrade has since vacated the title to move up to middleweight and the title has been won by Erislandy Lara.
"Each fight gives you more experience, more to think about the next time you come out to the ring. I always thought I was one of the best in the world and my last fight against Andrade proved I can hang with the best of them. In fact, I thought I didn't lose the fight. We were in Germany, and I thought the judges didn't look at the fight the right way. I asked my promoter the day after the fight if I could get a rematch and later on I find out that he's moving up in weight. It happens. It's boxing and I need to move forward. For this fight, I have to give 110 percent to win," Culcay said.
In regards to his opponent, the undefeated Sulecki, Culcay gave his thoughts on Sulecki. Culcay hinted that Sulecki could face issues going up against Culcay because of weight cutting. Sulecki is 6'1" but having to fight at 154 pounds is not healthy, according to Culcay. Culcay did admit that he will have to fight fast against Culcay to offset the near six-inch height advantage Sulecki has over Culcay.
"I know he's tall and his style is to give him a height advantage, but he's skinny. At this weight, he probably had to drop 10, 15 kilograms. That's a lot for any athlete to drop. Still, it's tough fighting a tall guy. I have to take the fight to him and employ a fast-style to win, either via knockout or decision. It's only 10 rounds and rounds go by quick, so I have to do my best to fight my fight," Culcay said.
The main event of the Prudential Center card is a WBSS cruiserweight quarterfinal match between IBF champion Murat Gassiev and Krzysztof Wlodarczyk. Fightful will have live coverage of the entire event on October 21.