BOXING prospect J’hon Ingram has been touted as “the next Floyd Mayweather” by the man himself… but he is out to make a name of his own.
Ingram is just 3-0 as a professional by finds himself in good hands under the watchful eye of Mayweather.
The lightweight returns to the ring on Sunday night in Dubai on the undercard of his mentor’s next exhibition bout.
And when they travelled to London to promote the Middle Eastern pay-per-view, Ingram was given the highest praise possible.
Mayweather, 45, said: “This young fighter right here J’hon, I want you guys to look out for him.
“This could be the next Floyd Mayweather, we just never know.”
But Ingram feels no pressure to live up to the boxing icon’s words.
He said: “At the end of the day, I just want to be me, I don’t want to be compared to nobody else.
“I want to be loved for me, if they compare me as the next Floyd, I’ve fine with that or whoever they want to compare me to.
“But I want to be known for me. There’s no pressure at all.”
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Ingram had only a short amateur career of 12 bouts and was instead destined for the paid ranks.
He said: “I didn’t have much amateur experience, I only had 12 fights but I always had a pro style in the amateurs.
“It was hard for me to get a lot of fights. Eventually, since I had that pro style we decided to go pro and ever since then it’s gone up.”
Ingram was first introduced to Mayweather by his coach Bobby McRoy last year.
Litte did he know, but Mayweather was looking for a sparring partner for an upcoming exhibition fight in Dubai.
It ended up taking place in May against Don Moore, which the American comfortably dominated over eight rounds.
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The first sparring session with Mayweather proved life changing for Ingram and gave him experiences money can’t buy.
He said: “I learned so much, every time I get in there I learn something.
“He looks good, he still got good movement and everything. He still has the pop and all of that.
“I didn’t get to work with him for this exhibition because he’s fighting a left-handed guy.
“I trained for him for his last Dubai fight and I’ve seen what he’s doing with his sparring partners for this one, he’s still sharp.”
Mayweather faces YouTuber Deji, 25, after Ingram opens up the show against Japanese kickboxer Koji Tanaka, better known as Kouzi.
Kouzi in September knocked out Mayweather’s bodyguard Jizzy Mack, real name Ray Sadeghi in Japan.
So Ingram is out to avenge the loss for his team and refused to engage in Kouzi’s trash talk and mind games.
He said: “I’m not a big talker. I do all that in the ring.”
