11.03.04 – By Keith Terceira – KeithTerceira@aol.com – Heavyweight Dominick Guinn returns to Hot Springs, Arkansas on March 22, to hold an open workout at the Hot Springs Boy and Girls Club. Guinn’s first encounter with the squared circle was not wearing the leather, but instead it was imitating wrestling star Jake “The Snake” Roberts. His amateur boxing club opened doors to that allowed Dominick to see most of the world and set him on the road to the heavyweight championship. The top ten ranked Guinn (24-0, 17ko) battles Monte Barrett (29-3, 16ko) On March 27 at the Alltel Arena in Little Rock.
Keith: Dominick, how was training today?
Guinn: I did ten rounds today and I did everything I was supposed to do, it was a great workout today.
Keith: How many different guys are you sparring with Dominick?
Guinn: Two guys.
Keith: Can you let us in on whom?
Guinn: Yeh, Keith, I can tell you! Greg Pickrom and Tim Knight.
Keith: Good fighters with similar styles to Monte! Greg has a little more pop in his punches though doesn’t he?
Guinn: Yes, Greg Pickrom has a real good similar style to Barrett. I was just telling him today that he has a real good left hook and right hand. Ron Shields is telling me that Greg is doing a lot of the things that Monte will do and some that Monte won’t
Keith: When did you begin to be more detailed and scientific with your style?
Guinn: In my amateur career I had to start fast , because all I had was three or four rounds. So I had to start fast and I had a big jab. That won me a lot of my amateur fights, when I turned pro, Ronnie and them settled me down and told me it wasn’t any reason to be in a rush. They told me to just place your punches, you got ten rounds. Really, I’ve grown into the pro style, adapted to it. I like it, every time I get into the ring I’m in no rush at all. Sometime, Ronnie (Shields) wants me to speed up, now. Speed up more because like I said I got so comfortable taking my time.
Keith: Have you worked on combating the southpaw style if Monte switches on you? You have fought some southpaws already though with great success?
Guinn: Yes we worked on that chance in camp! You’re right every southpaw I ever fought I knocked them out! (laugh)
Keith: Are you advising Barrett not to switch to Southpaw?
Guinn: (laughing) I’m ready for anything! If he does switch up I think he is going to switch right back to the right hand! (laugh)
Keith: I have some questions for you Dominick from your fans all over the world. Let me begin with
A question from Wesley James in Barnsley, England. Wesley wants to know, “Who inspires you in boxing both Past and Present?”
Guinn: Past is Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard. Present is a lot of the lightweight guys 135 and under. Juan Diaz, I like the guys that get in there and throw a lot of punches because you don’t get to see that in the heavyweight division. When I’m watching fights I don’t even watch the heavyweight fights.
Keith: So how do you feel about Manny Pacquiao?
Guinn: I love him, I didn’t know him but when he faced Barrera, I had heard Barrera’s name a lot!
I figured this guy’s dead. Pacquiao came out there like, “who’s Barrera”. That was another one that pushed me into the lower weights. When I see those guys go in there and throw those punches like that it makes me just ready to fight and get in there with them.
Keith: Would you prefer to fight Gomez say over Joe Mesi, or are your styles to similar?
Guinn: Yeh, our styles may be similar but I’m going to fight whoever I have to fight to become the Heavyweight Champion of the World. I don’t care. If he’s in front of me and that’s who HBO wants me to fight, that’s who I’m fighting.
Keith: I have a question here from Joe Nunnally in Wisconsin. Joe is wondering if you were unhappy about the announced Byrd/Golota fight. Did you feel passed up?
Guinn: Yes, I feel that I was passed up but everything happens for a reason and hopefully the fight will still be there after this fight. No sense in complaining I’ll let management, and the promoters deal with all that.
Keith: Dominick, I interviewed Joe Mesi a couple of nights ago and he is of the opinion that 1. You are the better fighter between yourself and Juan Gomez. 2. That it is inevitable that you two will fight but that it’s a couple of more fights down the road as you both are working to build a reputation and rise in the ranking. Any comment on that Baby Joe’s comments?
Guinn: He is exactly right, I look at it the same way. But if whenever HBO is ready for us to fight I will fight. About a year and a half ago Main Events contacted his people and tried to make the fight and his people turned us do. He is a good fighter but having beaten him in the amateurs and I think that’s one reason he is not in a rush. I understand where he is coming from now there is no reason to fight now because it’s not a really big fight. I’m in no rush either. I would rather wait, instead of making 2or 3 hundred thousand , and making 3or 4 million instead. I’m in no rush. Joe is right though and I want to applaud him on that.
Keith: You’re having the open workout back in Hot Springs and donating tickets for the fight to the kids at the Boys and Girls Club. What was it like growing up in Hot Springs?
Guinn: It was hard but it wasn’t that hard. The projects I grew up in I had to fight everyday because there was a whole bunch of kids. My sister had to come back me up, I would come running home and my mom would send her out there. My sister is like five years older than me and my sister whooped everybody back in the day. It wasn’t really hard, it was a cheerful childhood. I didn’t really want for anything growing up because even though my mom and dad were divorced my parents were there. It was tough on my mom at times because that’s who we had to depend on. I can’t say I had a rough childhood and everything happened for a reason.
Keith: Who helped you out down at the Boys and Girls Club?
Guinn: This is what happened, once we moved out of the projects we moved to a nationhood that had the boys club a mile and a half away. At that time I was stuck on wrestling, I thought I was Jake the Snake and when I went to the club there was a ring. I thought it was a wrestling ring, at the time, I didn’t know it was a boxing ring. I used to get in there all the time and wrestle all the time and put people in the figure four. That was Jake the Snakes move. I thought I was bad anyway, so this particular day the boxing coach came and his name was Willie McCoy. So I told him I wanted to try that (boxing). He looked at me and said alright you look like you weigh 98 pound, so he put me in with this one kid Tye, I will never forget his name. This guy beat my butt. For three rounds, I have never been beat before like that in my life. I got mad at the coach and took my gloves off and cussed him out. I left the boys club. I was gone a couple of weeks, a month and a guy that stayed down the street from me says “Heh man, you ought to box” because him and I used to fight all the time. I got to getting better and beating him up, you see when I first got to the neighborhood. He told me he was on the Boxing Team and that they go out of town every weekend. I was like “for real”, that was what I wanted to do being a kid you know travel, I was looking at the globe all the time and stuff. I was infatuated with traveling. So I went back to the boxing team and I’ve been traveling ever since.
I’ve traveled all over the world.
Keith: This is your first fight back in Arkansas as a professional, any word on the ticket sales for Alltel Arena?
Guinn: It’s through the roof, half of Little Rock and All of Hot Springs will be there. My sister has already sold like 10,000 ringside tickets. (Laughter) It’s going to be a crazy night.
Keith: What are your plans for more fights in your Home State?
Guinn: Myself , Jermaine Taylor, and Lou DiBella were talking and planning that we’re going to bring back to where, I’m going to be heavyweight champion and Jermaine is going to be middleweight champ and we are going to have our title defenses in Little Rock.
Keith: Dominick, Andrew Dowling from New Orleans wants to know, “The road to the top goes thru the Klitschko’s. He reminds us that you have stated in other interviews that you believe they are the toughest in the division. How do you feel about a future match up with either brother?
Guinn: I know for a fact on my road to the heavyweight title, that I am going to have to face one of them guys. I will feel more confident going in the ring with them because I like to fight bigger guys. It makes me go to another level when I fight a larger opponent. The warrior comes out in me. When one of those fights happens I am sure I’m going to bet on myself!(laughter) It doesn’t matter which.
Keith: Neither one of the brother’s are much bigger than Duncan Dokiwari, Duncan is on the card with you isn’t he?
Guinn: Let me tell you a crazy thing about Duncan, my pro debut we trained in Vegas. When I first turned pro I was like 212-215 at the most. There were two rings in the gym, and we were hitting the mitts, getting ready to spar. So this guy came in, and he was big as hell, and cut up, and Ronnie pointed over at the guy and said, “That guy right there, that’s who you are going to have to fight some day”. I’m like, SHOOT! I don’t ever want to fight him, I’m going to have to fight him? SHOOT! It was Duncan. Three years later, there I was having to fight him.
Keith: Steven McGhee, from Glasgow Scotland is wanting to know what you think about Audley Harrison.
Guinn: Audley is great, he’s good, but I think what hurts him is being from England where he doesn’t get the exposure that I have, or the Klitschko’s, who live here now. Once he gets over here and has more fights on TV, he is another guy that’s out there to watch.
Keith: Well thank you Dominick, I will be seeing you at Hot Springs then again for the fight the 27th in Little Rock. I wish you luck.
Guinn: Thank you for giving me the time, and I want to thank all the people that had questions, it was a refreshing way to do an interview, That is what I’m in this sport for, to enjoy myself and to entertain the fans. I want to thank the fans for watching me and watching boxing in general. I hope the fans have many more questions after this fight. Even if they have criticism, I want them to voice it, because it makes me train harder. I listen to it and it makes me go harder. I want to ask all my fellow Arkansans to come out for a great show.