20.02.04 – By Fiona Manning: Aussie 130 pound superstar, USBA champion Robbie Peden sees his first title defense against Nate Campbell on March 14 as more than the IBF eliminator. “This is my world championship title fight,” he said today. “I have to win this fight. I am not thinking beyond this fight. I am training like this is a world title fight because I have to beat Campbell to get to the other fights I want. Then I can think about Chavez, Morales and Hernandez. Until I beat Nate Campbell, I cannot think about anything else.” Actually, Peden who is training on Treasure Island in the middle of Miami’s cool winter waters, is thinking about nothing but fighting a lot these days. While his sparring partners ogle girls on TV’s “The Man Show” Peden is thinking about battles of all kinds.
Scheduled to head to California next week to prepare for his battle with Campbell, it’s perhaps fitting that his particular war takes place on native American sovereign soil at Pechanga Entertainment Center and Casino in Temecula.
Peden, who is half Aboriginal, has been watching Australia’s unfolding cops vs Aborigines catastrophe which occurred in Sydney last weekend.
“I am upset that a young kid died,” said Peden of the 17 year old boy who was chased by Sydney police, fell of his bicycle and was impaled on a fence, sparking a nine hour street stand-off in the suburb of Redfern.
“These sorts of things have been going on in Australia since I was a kid and it’s not getting any better,” he said.
“It’s just been swept under the rug a little bit more. People just don’t talk about it but it happens every day. Australia is a very racist country. People don’t want to admit it, but it is. It’s a problem that still has not been addressed. More people need to know what’s going on.”
As a kid, though Peden looks white; “The fact is that I am black and I was called every derogatory name under the sun when I was at school – all the names, even the ‘N’ word.”
“I was constantly getting into fights with the white kids,” he said. “I was always getting into trouble. My dad is white and my mother is Aboriginal. When they got married, my parents had a lot of problems. A lot of problems.”
Peden has always been a role model for the Aboriginal people, representing his country in the Commonwealth and Olympic Games, then coming to the US to successfully build his 22-2, 12 KO ledger.
The last two years have been frustrating since Peden did the big boxing “no-no” and proved that you can dump your manager and still secure fights.
There were fights that fell through, fights that were pushed and then there were the fights that did eventually make it and proved that Peden still packs neutron in his fists.
Scoring a fight with Campbell comes at a great moment in the rich 130 pound pool.
Within a two week span, there is the Peden/Campbell fight and of course Morales vs Chavez.
Peden is thinking a lot about that fight too. “I honestly don’t know who wins that fight,” he said. “I don’t know what Morales has to bring to the table at 130. I think if Chavez can stay on his chest, he can win. But you know what? This is a good fight.”
So is his bout with Campbell. Peden has called in the heavy artillery in preparing for this bout. There’s colorful 160 pound “spoiler” Sam Soliman who has come from Australia to work with Peden’s trainer Roger Bloodworth, one of the most highly regarded tacticians on the planet.
154 pounder Ryan Davis, 130 pound contender David Santos (whom Peden sparred in preparation for Santos’ world title challenge against Carlos Hernandez) and 135 pounder Edna Cherry.
On the day Peden spoke to Eastside Boxing, he had just completed 12 cracking rounds; three each with Soliman and Davis and six with Santos.
“I think Campbell is very strong,” said Peden who is not one given to trash talk. “I thought he had the fight with Casamayor but Casamayor took over in the later rounds. Campbell backed away.
“That’s where Casamayor’s experience showed. Campbell didn’t have the extensive amateur career and he hadn’t fought to Casamayor’s level before but I know he’s ready for this fight.”
Peden feels Campbell is “a strong puncher with a decent jab, he has skills. It’s a very interesting fight.”
Still, he is quietly confident and feeling very good having spent as much time as he has in the gym. “I was getting ready for fights that didn’t happen but I never left the gym,” he said. “Roger and I just kept working.
“I was offered many fights I decided not to take because the money was so bd. There is as much risk in taking a club fight as there is in a big fight, so I chose to stay busy but take fights I didn’t think would take me anywhere.”
Nate Campbell was the fight he hoped he would get and Robbie Peden knows will take him exactly where he needs to go.
He’s a rare fighter in that he has befriended most fighters in his division; Casamayor is an old friend and former sparring partner and he knows Chavez and Hernandez too. In fact when Hernandez’ son Christian was born last December, Peden was one of the first to call Carlos and his wife to offer congratulations.
Peden doesn’t know Campbell well – “We’ve nodded to each other at a couple of fights” – but acknowledges that “This is a very interesting division.
“They’re all good guys. I like to watch them fight. I like their styles, I like them as people and I’m right up there with them. I am happy to be in the mix with guys like this.”