'Hitman' ready to KO Mexican

KINGSTON, Jamaica:

Calling it 'a fight made in heaven', Jamaica's Kemahl 'The Hitman' Russell says he is ready to knockout Mexican Jorge 'Michi' Munoz when he defends his North American Boxing Federation (NABF) middleweight belt in front of his home crowd on a Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum-sponsored card set to begin at 7 p.m.tomorrow at the National Arena.

The eight-round boxing matchup will be the feature bout on the card which doubles as the launch of Season 8 for the hugely popular Wray and Nephew Contender boxing series.

"I feel good about the fight, I feel ready. I've been ready from last month, before the fight was pushed back and this month I'm even more ready because I got more time to prepare for the fight so I'm definitely in the best shape I've been in a while and yea, it's showtime!" said a confident Russell who has lost once in 13 fights.

The fight is scheduled to last eight rounds, but Russell, 28, has no plans to go the distance.

"Normally I wouldn't give a prediction, but for this fight I think Michi is the perfect match. I'm not putting anything past him, but I think this fight will be stopped in one of the rounds," he said.

"I don't know which round, but I think the fight will be stopped somewhere in the middle rounds, somewhere in the early rounds. It depends on how he takes the punches, but the fight will be stopped," added Russell.

The 36-year-old Munoz, known as 'The Mexican Sensation', once held the North American Boxing Council (NABC) light middleweight title. His record shows 33 fights as a professional, with 26 wins, 17 of which have come by way of knockout. He has seven losses.