‘Lover Boy’ promises war

Kenneth Llover believes he has Keita Kurihara all figured out that his team seems to be gushing over what’s on the horizon for the hard-hitting Filipino southpaw who is being likened to Manny Pacquiao.

While he swears that Kurihara, who will put his Orient-Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) bantamweight crown on the line on Monday at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, is tough, he feels his power will spell the difference.

“I think he’ll feel my power and the fight’s not going the distance once I connect,” Llover said during a press conference on Monday.

The undefeated Cavite-based puncher is being backed by his chief handler Gerry Peñalosa, the two-division world champion, and the duo of Elmer Anuran and Dioceldo Sy.

Sy, who owns Blackwater in the Philippine Basketball Association, even believes that in due time, Llover might end up becoming bigger than Pacquiao.

“He reminds me of Manny Pacquiao back in the day,” Sy said.

“I am very optimistic about his future,” he added.

Even Peñalosa can’t help but rave about the 21-year-old Llover, who needed just 60 seconds to win in his last fight in Osaka last December.

“I took this fight because I knew this is a very winnable fight,” he said.

Sy just can’t stop heaping praises for the puncher he christened as “The Lover Boy.”

“They asked me to watch his fight and I thought I was watching a preview but the entire thing that they asked me to watch turned out to be the entire fight itself,” Sy added.

Anuran is so moved by Llover’s explosiveness that he is already looking way down the line although he reminded everyone to take it one step at a time.

But Llover appears to be extremely confident of making his team happy and proud.

“I prepared hard and I am ready to go to war with Kurihara. I am ready to fight to the finish with him.”

Titleholder, a streaming platform, will show the fight live for a fee of P199.