This week I conducted a phone interview with rising middleweight Antoine “Action” Douglas of Washington, D.C. who is scheduled to fight his 6th fight of 2013 against seasoned veteran Ibahiem “The Almighty” King on June 14th at the Richard J. Codey Arena in West Orange, N.J. as part of ESPN’s Friday Night Fights. Antoine has had to overcome a lot of adversity in life. Douglas grew up with two drug-addicted parents, both of them in and out of jail. He and his sister and two brothers were raised by aunts, uncles, cousins, and strangers in the foster care system.
Boxing Interviews
The latest boxing interviews from boxers all over the world
Q & A with super bantamweight prospect Jorge Diaz fighting June 14, in West Orange, N.J.
June 14th ESPN Boxing Show will be telecasting championship boxing from Richard J. Codey Arena in West Orange N.J. The Main Event will feature Jundy Maroan vs. Juan Carlos Payano in a WBC Championship fight.
The co–main event features rising super bantamweight Jorge “King” Diaz 17(10)-1-0 of New Brunswick, N.J. battling Miami based Yenifel Vicente 24 (16)-1-2 for the WBC FECARBOX title in a scheduled 8 rounds. FECARBOX refers to Federacion Centroamericana de Boxeo Profesional–a Central American sanctioning body of the World Boxing Council.
Ronnie Shields: “Erislandy Lara deserves to fight for the universally recognized Junior Middleweight Championship”
On Saturday, June 8th, at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, top rated Junior Middleweight Erislandy Lara became the 154 pound interim WBA title holder when he retired the aggressive minded Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo in the tenth stanza of a scheduled twelve round contest.
After getting off of the canvas twice within the bout, the thirty year old southpaw displayed great physical and mental toughness by fighting through adversity and stopping his granite chinned opponent late in the fight.
The Cuban native’s world renowned trainer, Ronnie Shields, believes his fighter proved a great deal during his entertaining scrap against one of the hardest hitters in the talent enriched Light Middleweight division.
Mikey Garcia / Juanma Lopez Conf Call Transcript
FRED STERNBURG: Welcome everyone. We have got two very hot fighters from a very hot division getting ready to take each other on in world championship fight on Saturday, June 15, at the American Airlines Center® in Dallas. It will be televised live on HBO® at 10:45 p.m. ET/PT. The HBO Boxing After Dark telecast will open with a ten-round bout between Top-10 contenders Terence Crawford and Alejandro Sanabria Jr. for the vacant NABO lightweight title. If it is two things Mikey Garcia and Juanma Lopez know, it is how to win and how to win by knockout.
BOB ARUM: We are delighted to bring to Dallas a card as outstanding as this card. A great featherweight championship fight between two very popular fighters – the undefeated defending champion Mikey Garcia from Oxnard, California, and the “Pride of Puerto Rico” and former two-division world champion Juanma Lopez.
Hopkins/Murat Quotes and Photos
BERNARD HOPKINS, IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion
“I just found out a month ago, the doctor will be here before the [fight week] press conference hopefully to explain this, but I must confess that I am not human. I am an alien. No, seriously. I realize that Pluto is no longer a planet now, so I’m from Mars. I’ve definitely retired the ‘Executioner.’ You will not hear me mention the Executioner.
“Now, I’m in this world but I’m not of this world. There is no aging process for me.
“The breaking news is that I am an alien.
“I reflect a little bit in my mind about not only defending my title, but also defending my historic career.
Charles Brewer Interview: “The Hatchet” Lists His Five All-Time Favourite Fights!
Former IBF super-middleweight ruler Charles Brewer gave us plenty of thrills during his 16-year pro career (think his classic with Joe Calzaghe for one great fight) and “The Hatchet” is fondly remembered by fans for his all-action style. But what are the gutsy Philly warrior’s own personal favourites when it comes to watching other guys do their stuff?
It’s always great talking boxing with Brewer, who walked away with a 40-11(28) ledger back in 2005, and in a recent talk with the 43-year-old, Brewer gave me his top-five favourite fights of all-time:
Exclusive Interview with cruiserweight Olanrewaju Durodola
“I would like to fight anyone in the top ten world rankings: Dmytro Kucher, Ola Afolabi, BJ Flores, Thabiso Mchunu, and there are others. I am willing to fight any and all of these guys.”— Olanrewaju Durodola
Nigerian-born cruiserweight Olanrewaju Durodola (15-1, 14 KOs) defeated Victor Barragan on April 20 in Saint Joseph, Missouri to capture the vacant WBC Continental Americas cruiserweight title. I was recently afforded a chance to catch up with the Kansas City resident to speak about his boxing career and future aspirations. Durodola, who goes by the ring moniker “God’s Power”, also discussed how his former profession in law enforcement and his Olympic boxing experience helped him develop as a boxer. Here is a complete transcript from the interview:
GEOFFREY CIANI: Hello Olandrewau. How is everything going today?
OLANREWAJU DURODOLA: Oh! Everything is going fine, thank you.
CIANI: Great! Now you’re coming off of a fourth round stoppage against Victor Barragan last month. How would you evaluate your performance?
Exclusive Interview with junior welterweight contender Cleotis Pendarvis
“This dude Dierry Jean don’t even know what he got himself into, man. When they signed that contract, they signed that contract because they thought that this was going to be an easy contest. This is not a contest. This is a fight!”—Cleotis Pendarvis
This Friday night on SHOBOX: The New Generation, a clash between junior welterweight contenders Cleotis Pendarvis (17-3, 6 KOs) and Dierry Jean (24-0, 16 KOs) will take place in order to determine the new IBF mandatory challenger. Last night I was afforded the opportunity to speak with Pendarvis, and the 26 year old Los Angeles southpaw shared his views on his upcoming opportunity. He also discussed a number of other topics, which included his boxing philosophy, working with Sugar Shane Mosley as his chief sparring partner for Friday’s match, future aspirations, Floyd Mayweather’s dominant victory over Robert Guerrero, the showdown between Lucas Matthysse and Lamont Peterson, and more. Here is a complete transcript from that interview:
GEOFFREY CIANI: Hello boxing fans. This is Geoff Ciani from East Side Boxing, and I am here today with junior welterweight contender Cleotis Pendarvis. How’s everything going today, Cleotis?
CLEOTIS PENDARVIS: Oh, it’s going on man. It’s going fine. It’s going well. You know I’m just toning it down. Camp went well. I’m basically ready.
CIANI: Great! Now your big fight coming up this weekend against Dierry Jean is an IBF eliminator bout that will be televised on Showtime. You said camp went well and that you’re basically ready. Can you tell us a little bit more about your training and preparations?
Audio:
PENDARVIS: You know just in and out on a daily basis putting the miles in, the sparring in. One of the chief sparring partners was Shane Mosley and I brought in some young talent, which is around the same age as myself, very strong and powerful guys just to prepare me for the best Dierry Jean come May 10. I put in the work and did everything that I felt like I needed to do, and now camp is toning down. I’m ready to fly out and go out there and put on a performance for the world.
James Toney and John Arthur: Discussing All Things Boxing
Current IBU heavyweight champion and future hall of famer James Toney (74-7-3, 45 KOs) and his father, trainer and manager John Arthur took time out to exclusively speak to ESB today ahead of Toney’s heavyweight showdown with unbeaten Australian Lucas ‘Big Daddy’ Browne (15-0, 14 KOs) in Melbourne, Australia this Sunday.
Toney and Arthur discussed all subjects, including his time in Melbourne and fight preparation, recent ring inactivity, managing of weight, time in the UFC and future plans.
Arthur explains the bout with Browne came after the proposed bout with Tomasz Adamek fell through, that was scheduled for last September. “We were supposed to fight Adamek in September” where after that “I started to reach out to everybody and it seemed like every door that got called in the United States was closed. I reached out to some people and they put me in touch with some promoters in Australia and they said they wanted to make this happen and this is where we have ended up at… This kid (Browne) has wanted to fight James and James has never ducked and dodged anybody his whole career so I said let’s take it.”
Canelo Alvarez – Exclusive One-on-One Interview
After the final press conference concluded, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez took the time to partake in brief one-on-one interviews. I had the unique privilege to sit down with the Mexican superstar to get his perspective on the upcoming fight in San Antonio, TX.
Here’s a transcript of the questions and answers that were discussed with Saul Alvarez.
Steve Lopez: “Canelo, how are you feeling with just a few more days left for the fight?”
Saul Alvarez: “I’m ready, I’m ready. I prepared myself very well. Ready for anything. Obviously, we all come with the mentality of winning and that’s what I’m here for.
Steve Lopez: “How are you as far as weight? The weigh-in is tomorrow. How do you feel?”
Saul Alvarez: “Really well. The most I do is 20-30 minutes to lose whatever extra weight I gain from eating. I eat just enough to maintain the weight. Everything is great.”