By Ben Jacobs

Ricardo Rizzo, adviser to Ismael Barroso (19-0-2, 18 KOs) assured BoxingScene.com that his man is looked better than ever in training camp for the upcoming title challenge of England’s Anthony Crolla (30-4-3, 12 KOs) in Manchester on May 7.

The Venezuelan trained as he usually does in South Florida under the guidance of Osmiri ‘El Moro’ Fernández, and Rizzo is confident that he will leave the UK as the new WBA lightweight world champion.

In his last ring outing, the 33-year-old captured the WBA interim title at 135lbs with a devastating stoppage victory over Kevin Mitchell.  This will be his second consecutive bout in the UK after having previously fought on two occasions in the United States.

“The win over Kevin Mitchell in London gave him even more confidence,” Rizzo explained. “He is very calm in the ring and he does exactly what his corner ask him to do.  He never gets nervous.

“Barroso is not just a puncher but he can box and a southpaw who boxes well is very dangerous,” he continued. 

“He also knows how to cut the ring off well.  Barroso is the Golovkin of the lightweights.  He punches very hard - remember he knocked Mitchell down with a jab.”

There was some speculation prior to the fight being made that Crolla would look to avoid such a dangerous first title defence, although that was not so realistic given the character of the Mancunian.  Rizzo as well was not surprised that the fight was made.

“I’m not surprised they took the fight because Barroso is the mandatory and Crolla would have been stripped had they rejected it. Crolla is a good boxer but if he tries to go toe-to-toe with Barroso he will get knocked out quickly.  It’s also hard to land clean on Barroso due to the way he fights.”