Wayne `Big Truck' Braithwaite may be experiencing deja vu and from all reports it's not a pleasant one. Scheduled for a rematch with Vincenzo Cantatore next month, Braithwaite recently expressed disgust with the way plans for the upcoming fight are unfolding.
"This is just like the first time," he told Stabroek Sports earlier this week. "I just heard that the fight is in June and is supposed to be in Italy. There is no date and no one is saying anything."
Braithwaite defeated Cantatore on October 11 last year to win the vacant World Boxing Council cruiserweight title. The fight was staged in Italy.
However, the Guyanese had to endure a royal run around leading up to that fight including countless postponements and no money for training expenses.
Adding to Braithwaite's frustrations then was the fact that the fight was slated to be held in Rome but was at the last moment shifted to Como (3,000 feet above sea level).
On top of that Braithwaite and entourage, comprising trainer Colin Morgan and local boxing technician Maurice `Bizzy' Boyce, were housed some 90 miles away from the fight venue.
It was reported that throughout their daily trips to and from the fight venue (traveling time totalling approximately four hours round trip) Braithwaite incurred several problems with border guards.
In the interview with Stabroek Sport the knockout specialist explained that he expects the same or even worse treatment this time around especially since Cantatore's handlers had won the purse bid.
"No one is telling me anything and it seems that they will be trying the same thing all over again. Just as I was the last time, I'll be prepared this time also," Braithwaite said from his Brooklyn home.
"I'm still in the gym, I'll keep training and when the time comes or he is ready to step into the ring I'll do what I have to do. That's how my story goes," the WBC champion said.
Meanwhile, the matching of the two less than six months after they first met has raised eyebrows in some boxing circles since it was expected that Braithwaite would have taken on WBC number one ranked O'Neill Bell rather than be mandated to fight Cantatore.
Cantatore is ranked number two by the WBC. Braithwaite was quoted by internet website Fightnews as saying that it is a waste of time having a rematch with the Italian whom he `softened' before knocking out in the tenth round to snatch the title.
"I don't know why I have to waste my time fighting Cantatore again. Bell is the one that is ranked number one. I should be fighting him next and move on to better things. For them to make Cantatore my mandatory is B.S! It's the politics of boxing," he said.
The 27-year-old Braith-waite who celebrates his birthday on August 9 has never lost as a professional.
Sixteen of his nineteen bouts has been won inside the distance.