Team Conwell clears the air on Janibek Alimkhanuly fight rumors

In this FanSided exclusive, Otha Jones Jr. who is the manager of junior middleweight Charles Conwell clears the air on a tweet sent by ESPN’s Mike Coppinger.

When it comes to boxing news, at times, the stories come out fast for the fans to consume, but there are always two sides to the story, and in all fairness, sometimes getting both sides isn’t feasible, so you go with what you have. Earlier today, ESPN’s Mike Coppinger tweeted, “Charles Conwell has been offered a middleweight title shot against Janibek Alimkhanuly in May, sources tell ESPN. Conwell campaigns at junior middleweight. He’s also in position for a 154-pound fight with Sebastian Fundora, but the WBC hasn’t ordered it yet.”

That seems like an unusual move for Conwell (18-0) as he has worked hard while navigating through boxing’s politics to position himself for a shot at the junior middleweight title as early as this year. So I reached out to Team Conwell, specifically his trainer (Otha Jones Jr.), who runs the Soul City Boxing Gym in Toledo, OH, a non-profit organization that aims to get kids off the streets and into the boxing gym.

Jones Jr. had plenty to say while having Conwell beside him. Jones Jr. told FanSided “I spoke to Lou (Dibella) a couple of days ago and told him we weren’t interested. I hadn’t heard anything back after that. Jones Jr. continued, “In reference to Mr. (Mike) Coppinger’s post, that fight doesn’t make any sense to us for a number of reasons. For us to take the fight, they aren’t offering enough money. They are offering us way less than what the fight is worth. Why would we move out of our weight class? We worked hard the last eighteen fights at 154, and for little money, why would we jump up a weight class to fight the champion? That doesn’t make any sense. We would fight at 154 for that same money but not another weight class. It’s not our fault that we have a promoter that doesn’t have television. We would take the fight for nothing less than a mil (million dollars).”

Charles Conwell wants the big names at junior middleweight like Danny Garcia or Sebastian Fundora

So there you have it straight from Team Conwell that they turned down the fight for the reasons mentioned and that it was done a few days ago. There was also another rumor out there on the current whereabouts of Conwell. Jones Jr. told FanSided, “There are a lot of opinions out there. People are tweeting that Charles (Conwell) is in Australia getting Tim Tszyu ready for his fight, which is far from the truth as he is sitting next to me. But he will be in Australia to help Tony Harrison prepare for Tim Tszyu.”

Social media is an interesting world, and Jones Jr. wanted to ensure he cleared the air as the rumors were saying differently. Team Conwell has expressed clearly that they want the big fights at 154. Those big names are the WBC interim junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora and former welterweight champ Danny Garcia who is not campaigning at 154. “We are waiting on Lou Dibella (Dibella Entertainment) to get us what we want. We want Danny Garcia or Sebastian Fundora, but chances are we won’t get them. We would love to face those guys. Maybe the WBC can mandate or order a fight with one of those guys. We were just ranked #2 by them last night. We are ready at 154 for anybody in the world. Charles (Conwell) is the boogie man at 154.”