07.01.04 – By Elliot Worsell: All good things come to those who wait, and for the newly crowned British super middleweight champion Tony Dodson 16-3-1 (10 KO’s); a truer word could not be spoken. 23-year-old Liverpudlian Dodson, who defeated Kilmarnock’s Alan Foster in 11 punishing rounds last November for his recently acquired title, has had to go through his fair share of ups and downs en route to claiming the most coveted prize in British boxing.
Dodson’s colourful ring career reads like a John Travolta movie roll call.
Upset loss to modest Eastern European Varuzhan Davtyan (avenged last September), career-changing performance against respected US warhorse Brian Barbosa, disappointing back-to-back defeats to Albert Rybacki and Pierre Moreno under unfortunate circumstances, and last time out the peak of the trough, the aforementioned title triumph … Dodson has experienced more ups and downs than Peter Stringfellow on a night out, and is all the better for it. Rather than questioning himself following disappointing defeats, Dodson has proved his mettle and steely attitude by coming back stronger each time from the predicaments.
Now though, for the first time in the talented scouser’s career, he is a man in demand. For years the invisible man of the 168 lb domestic division, now, with a prestigious Lonsdale belt wrapped round his waist, he’s on everyone’s radar, most notably, Nottingham prospect and English champion Carl ‘The Cobra’ Froch.
I caught up with the proud champion to discuss all matters ranging from Froch, Sky TV, British titles and amateur set-ups to his mum doing his washing and a bloodied and battered Sylvester Stallone being the inspiration for him to take on the noble art as a bleary eyed 6 year old.
EW. Tony, what’s the latest on the Carl Froch title defence?
TD. To tell you the truth I haven’t heard a thing off my people. I’ve received a letter off the BBBC saying he’s the mandatory challenger and I’ve got to defend against him by March, but that’s as far as it’s gone. Now of course, I’ll defend against anybody who I get told to defend against when I get told by my people. Until I find out off them I don’t know who I’m fighting. As soon as they let me know I can let you know, I don’t think it’s as close as everybody thinks though. If it was going to happen as soon as Froch’s making out, I would have known by now. After all, I’m the champion and I should know before him.
And at the end of the day I’m not going to hang around waiting for the two silly camps to work things out. I’m only 23; I’ve got the time on my side, so there’s no rush.
EW. Is the Sky/BBC TV factor a stumbling block? Would you be prepared to fight on the BBC?
TD. I don’t really believe it will be. The problem will be Barry Hearn and obviously the BBC coming to an agreement between them, and that might take a while. But I really, really believe, I don’t know how much Barry Hearn’s gonna put up or whatever, but I believe the BBC have a hell of a lot of money and they are putting it behind Carl. Which in the long run is probably better for me as I’ll make more money. And if the BBC do win the right to promote the fight I’ll have no problem whatsoever fighting on the BBC. I’ll fight him in Nottingham if he wants. I’ll fight him in his lions den and it will make it all the more better for me. I see it just like what Michael Gomez did to Alex Arthur. I’ve been all around the world the same as Carl and he’ll tell you himself that it doesn’t matter where it is, or whoever your fighting, you just blank it all out.
It’s weird though cos’ I went out at Goodison Park the other week with my British title, and there was 40,000 people there. Now, usually when I go and fight in front of the crowd I fight in front of, like 2 or 3 thousand, I totally blank them out and don’t feel a thing. But when I went on the pitch at Goodison I suddenly got nervous. I was more nervous walking onto a football pitch than when I get in the ring and fight.
EW. How do you rate Froch?
TD. He’s an excellent prospect. I’m not gonna take nothing away from him, just because he’s been slagging me off or saying I’m an easy fight or whatever, let him do that, it makes it all the better for me when I beat him. I do accept however that he is the best boxer in the division, prospect wise, and he’s experienced and talented, he deserves credit for what he’s done.
EW. What do you believe you have to do to beat a guy like Froch?
TD. I’m not gonna say I’ll do this or do that, I’ll do whatever it takes to win when I get in the ring. With a fighter like Carl Froch there’s no strategy, there’s no obvious way to beat him, you just do what needs to be done. That’s why sometimes when I box and haven’t shined, I’ve still been able to pull it out and do what’s needed to get the win.
Every fighter has weaknesses, and you see Froch in one fight and he’ll look untouchable, but then the next fight he gets caught a few times. He’s probably like me in that respect; every time he gets in the ring he’s different. I haven’t seen any specific weaknesses yet, but I’m sure when I am in the ring with him, I’ll start to find out about them.
I don’t even judge people from watching videos to be honest. Because, for example Froch may not make the same mistakes he made against Alan Page in his last fight, so it would be stupid to just rely on a video to set up a game plan. For my last fight with Alan Foster, I got a video of him, put it on for a second and then didn’t watch it, same as I did with Jon Penn, same as I done with Barbosa. You can’t work out how to beat a fighter just by watching videos.
EW. When would you ideally like to fight next?
TD. To tell you the truth I’ve waited a long, long time to get where I am now. I’ve paid my dues, had 20 fights now, and even though I’m only 23 I want to earn a bit of money out of the belts. Ideally I’d like to get a voluntary defence in first against whoever I choose to fight, and then fight Carl Froch when it’s worth more money to the pair of us. To be honest it would have been nice if Carl had brought something to the table, like a commonwealth belt or a European belt, then there would be more incentive and money for the both of us. There’s no denying it, the fight’s gonna happen, the only question is when and where. I’m not gonna avoid him, I can’t wait to get in the ring with him!
EW. Even though you are now British champion, do you hope at some time to overturn the defeats to foreigners Moreno and Rybacki?
TD. They were on the table, and I wanted those fights before I boxed for the British title. I’ve got 3 defeats on my record, I’ve avenged one of them, and would love to avenge the other two. Moreno, he only beat me on a cut. I pounded him for every round, was seven points clear when the fight was stopped. Rybacki, I pounded him, he only beat me on a body shot. He hit me with a body shot that winded me, it never hurt me though. I was 4 points clear going into the last round and he just hit me with one of those shots that I wasn’t expecting, and it winded me. I got my breath back, and my pride and inexperience took over, and I tried to slug it out with him. Instead of just bouncing away and using my boxing ability, I got involved. You see in most of my fights I love a scrap, and he just caught me off guards. Even his manager Krzysztof, the fella that works for Barry Hearn, said to me it shouldn’t have been stopped and that I should have been given the benefit of the doubt as I was the champion and well ahead on the cards. There was ten seconds on the clock before the end of the round and I wished they’d have given me the benefit of the doubt, but it’s just one of those things, and it goes to show I’ve had some tough early fights in my career. The guy was 12 fights unbeaten, 7 knockouts, he was a decent fighter, and I pounded him for 7, 8 rounds before getting tired due to old stamina problems I had. As I showed against Foster, I don’t have those stamina problems anymore and am more confident going into the late rounds of fights.
EW. How does it feel to be British champion?
TD. Really, it doesn’t bother me; it’s just like another day at the office. I don’t feel any different now than when I won my first national title in 1993. Every fight is just a fight to me, nothing more, nothing less. I treat all my fights the same, whether it’s a title fight or just a normal no title fight. I just give them all 110%.
I don’t feel any added pressure now I’ve won the British title. I feel like I want to go and earn some dough now. After all these years of hard work I’m finally getting some reward. I’ve been boxing since I was 6 years old, first went in the gym in 1986, when ‘Rocky 4’ came out in the cinema. My Dad took me to the pictures to see it and that was it, I was hooked.
EW. How did you view your British title winning fight with Alan Foster?
TD. I did what I needed to do to win. In the early rounds I could feel he was physically strong and I knew he was just trying to hit me with the bingo shot. I wasn’t going to allow him to, and give him room to get the leads off to catch me. He could hit a lot harder than his record suggests, and although he didn’t hurt me at all throughout the whole fight, I could feel he had some power. I just didn’t want to make any mistakes, because anyone over 12 stone catches you on the chin in the right place, I don’t care who you are, you’ll go out. I’m not a bigheaded person who says ‘you can’t hurt me, you can’t punch, you’ve only got 2 knockouts on your record’; I’m not like that. I’m a realist and know if someone hits me right, I’ll go. Anybody will, and anybody who says otherwise is lying.
So I came back after the 9th round, John Rice lost his rag with me, slapped me and told me to get my act together. I told him I know what I’m doing, and went out for the 10th, put a bit of pressure on him, and just before the 11th John said ‘Tony, He’s absolutely gone’. So I went out in the 11th and let one meaningful cluster of punches go, the first real meaningful combination I threw in the fight, the first time I put real authority behind my shots, and he went. It was a good little finish in the end.
EW. Are you frustrated at not being given deserved exposure last time out by Sky TV?
TD. No I wasn’t to tell you the truth. The ten rounds before you’ve seen the finish in the 11th, weren’t that good to watch. As I say, I done what I had to do on my big night, and the main thing was winning and getting the belt. With Sky showing just little highlights people got to see an excellent finish and would be thinking ‘oh this kids good’, but they didn’t have to watch the 10 boring rounds that went before it!
EW. Where do you hope to take your career from now? What are your ambitions as a fighter?
TD. Win the British title outright. When I first turned pro, obviously my ambition was the same as everyone else’s, to be world champion, but the least I said to everyone was that I would be British champion. That was the least I’d hope to achieve in the game, and I’ve achieved that now. From here I want to win the title outright and maybe box for a world title.
Don’t get me wrong though, if an opportunity for another title shot comes along, no matter what the title is, if it can make me money and make me a living, I’ll go for it. I’ve still got a hell of a lot of learning to do. I only had 38 fights as an amateur, and I won 7 national titles and a junior Olympic gold medal! I don’t think anybody could ever equal that given the amount of fights I had. Me, David Barnes, Ricky Hatton, and Mathew Burke all went to Russia to box in 1995 and these guys all had upwards of a hundred amateur fights.
EW. You are 23 years of age, 3 years younger than your next possible opponent (Froch); do you still view yourself as a prospect?
TD. Most definitely, I’m not even going to come to my physical peak until I’m Froch’s age. I’m a big strong super middleweight now, imagine what I’m gonna be like when I’m 26,27! I think I’ll be like the Johnny Nelson’s of this world; I won’t come into my peak until I hit my late 20’s. Like me, he had a lot of early setbacks, but he’s one of the best cruiserweights in the world now. It’s all a learning curve, and setbacks are all part of the learning.
EW. What have you learnt from the 3 defeats you have suffered? Have they made you a stronger fighter in the long run?
TD. They’ve made me open my eyes to what to do and what not to do in terms of training and in the ring. I’ve learnt the hard way; I haven’t really been a protected fighter have I? I haven’t been wrapped in cotton wool like some of these prospects; I’ve taken any fight that’s been offered. I had to fight Elvis Michailenko in my 8th fight, and he didn’t even weigh in for it. I weighed 12 stone 2lbs on the weigh in day and he didn’t weigh in. Have you seen the size of that guy? He’s massive, a big light heavyweight. I had to give all that away and being 21 years of age I hadn’t even began physically maturing at that point. He put me down first round. He butted me too! He hit me with the right hand, and as I was falling he cracked me with his head. So I didn’t feel the shot when I got up, I felt the headbutt. I jumped up fuming, saying to the referee ‘he f****** butted me’, and to be honest, I’m glad he did that, because it wound me up and I thought, he isn’t getting away with that, so I went at him in the next few rounds. So basically I was standing there toe to toe with a guy who is a natural 13 stone guy.
EW. You had a very successful amateur career, yet decided to turn pro very early, what was the reason for this decision?
TD. Because I never got sent the entry form for the world championships. I had won the junior Olympics, I’d won 7 national titles, I’d boxed for England loads of times, and that was the biggest tournament for me to enter. No one had won a gold medal for years and I think I was the best bet at the time to do so, but they forgot to send my entry form and it really, really p****d me off.
I just believe the England set-up is the biggest downfall of amateur boxing, honest to god, it’s a joke. It’s an absolute joke, and I’d tell Ian Irwin that to his face. They have you down there in Crystal Palace training 8, 9 times a day, and that’s not good to anyone. That’s pathetic. And the way they have you trying to throw these textbook style hooks and straight punches it doesn’t benefit no one. With fighters you have to look at their style and their natural way of boxing and try and improve what they already have. They don’t do that though, they stick to the book and try and get everyone doing the same things. That’s why the Americans have always done so well because the amateurs train with the pros and adjust better. I’ve trained with the pros since I was 11.
EW. In hindsight was it the right choice to turn pro so early?
TD. Yeah, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve been doing as a pro. I reckon I should have maybe waited for the Olympics, but I still made the decision to turn pro and I’m very happy with the way my career is going at the moment. Apart from the defeats, where I was going through a lot of personal problems outside the ring and tried to blank them out by fighting. Even though I was saying I was alright, looking back, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to be involved in the fights I was taking part in.
EW. How much of an important role do your family play in your boxing career?
TD. Oh Unbelievable. It’s all down to my girlfriend Danielle and my Dad, who is just unbelievable; he’s the reason why I am where I am today. Without my father I don’t want to think where I’d be or what I’d be doing. He comes to the gym everyday with me, is always there to support and give me advice. In boxing fathers can either be a blessing or they can work against you, and I can honestly say my Dad’s a huge asset. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be where I am today, and I’ve got him to thank for that. My mum is great too; she does all the washing for me!
I’d like to thank Tony Dodson for agreeing to the interview and wish him continued success in the future.