WBA World Heavyweight Champion Manuel Charr vows to knock out Oquendo, wants Joshua next

Photo credit: Marianne Mueller / GSM

On September 29th, WBA World Heavyweight Champion Manuel Charr defends his title against mandatory challenger Fres Oquendo at 16,000 seat LANXESS arena in Cologne, Germany. In the lead-up to the fight, “The Diamond Boy” hosted a media workout and looked to be in great shape.

“I feel very strong”, says Charr. “I fought Ustinov only five months after hip replacement surgery. Now I am completely used to my new hips and I puch a lot harder than I used to. All my life I fought without really using hip rotation. I feel like a new fighter.”

Charr’s strength and conditioning coach Chris Mohr confirmed that the 33-year-old heavyweight champion has more stamina and power than ever. “I have never seen him as strong, fast and focused”, says Mohr. “We had a long time to get ready and you can tell that when you see him.”

While Charr knows that he cannot underestimate Oquendo despite the fact that the Puerto Rican has not fought in four years. “Fres is very experienced and has always been a very slick fighter”, says Charr. “Lots of people avoided him during his career because of his style. On the other hand, he is an old man and my home crowd in Cologne will push me above my limit. So I promise that I will knock him out and then have a great party with my fans.”

It was Charr’s Manager Christian Jaeger and his promoter Bernd Trendelkamp who made sure that the fight ended up in Cologne. “I promised Manuel that we will give him the chance to fight at home. It took us a while but here we are”, states Jaeger. “Negotiations were long and not always easy but I want to thank Fres Oquendo and his team for accepting the challenge and coming to Germany.”

If “Diamond Boy” Charr can keep his word and beat Oquendo, he knows exactly what his next steps should look like. “Bring on Anthony Joshua!”, says Charr. “He calls himself WBA Super Champion. I think it’s time to prove how Super he really is. I am the World Champion and I think we all agree that there should be only one Champion. So, AJ, if you beat Povektin and I beat Oquendo, we should find out who is the real WBA Champ.”

But does Charr really believe that he has a chance against Joshua? “Of course”, he says. “Wait until you see me in the ring and you will know that I can beat anybody now. After taking care of Joshua, I will go on to fight the winner of Fury vs. Wilder – and then retire as undisputed heavyweight champion of the World!”

The WBA Heavyweight Championship between Charr and Oquendo will take place at LANXESS arena in Cologne, Germany, and will be broadcasted live on Sky Pay-Per-View in Germany. Tickets starting at 45 Euros are available on koelnticket.de and eventim.de. For more information see charr-oquendo.com.