Jonas Sultan turns focus on beating Butler, dedicates fight to friend that passed away

Jonas Sultan is laser-focused on getting the job done as he takes on former world champion Paul Butler for the WBO interim bantamweight title on April 23 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England.

Sultan, 18-5 with 11 knockouts as a pro, replaced WBO world bantamweight champion John Riel Casimero after the latter was taken out of the fight for violating a British Boxing Board of Control policy that prohibits fighters to use a sauna to make weight for a fight.

“This is a big moment for me and I am hungry for it. There is a lot of hard work that has gone into my preparation and it was meant to be that I get in the ring against Butler this week,” Sultan said.

“I will be dedicating this fight to my friend Ali Tazeem who tragically died last week. I have been training with him since we came over to the UK to prepare for this fight and I am 100% focused on bringing the belt to his family when I win on Friday night.”

Casimero, for his part, was given 48 hours by the WBO to explain why he should not be stripped of his world title. Should the sanctioning body decide to strip Casimero, the fight between Sultan and Butler could be elevated to a full-blown world title fight. — LA, GMA News