Kemahl Russell (right) punishing Richard Holmes against the ropes during the 2015 Wray & Nephew Contender final at the National Indoor Sports Centre.

Leroy Brown, STAR Writer

Wray and Nephew Contender Middle-weight champion for 2015 Kemahl Russell departed for New York on Monday for special training. He will be away for a month. He was accompanied by his manager Leiza Keane.

Keane told STAR Sports before departure that after his excellent performance in the Contender show, she wanted to keep Russell engaged, as a prospective overseas fight had not materialised. There is, however, a strong possibility that he will have a fight within the next 60 days, so his training schedule was being stepped up, she said.

Russell will be training at the Green Fitness Gym, located in Brooklyn, New York, under the watchful eyes of trainer Mustafa Marconi. Marconi has an impressive stable of boxers, including Courtney Pennington, who was one of the overseas boxers that participated in the Contender series this year.

Marconi saw Russell in action at close range while here in Jamaica, and made the offer for him to come to New York for training.

One of the benefits of training in New York, Russell said, is that he will not only have an experienced trainer guiding him, but he will also have good sparring partners to work with.

"I am really looking forward to the next several weeks, and I am sure that I will benefit a great deal from the training that I will receive from Mr Mustafa, and the boxers who I will train with in Brooklyn," he told STAR Sports.