10.19.04 – By Coach Tim Walker – tpwalker@hotmail.com – I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Daniel “The Haitian Sensation” Edouard as he visited our PAL center located in Royal Palm Beach, FL. Daniel grew in our PAL gym and I know him to be a great guy. This interview is fresh on the heals of him winning the USBA Middle Weight Title over Willie Gibbs.
Walker: Danny how is everything going for you these days?
Edouard: Everything is lovely. I am sort of still getting adjusted to being the USBA champ. Trying to get acclimated to just everything but with the hurricane and school and everything I really haven’t had a chance to think about the championship. I’m more worried about school and hurricane Francis and Ivan.
Walker: Let’s talk about that, what are you involved in right now? Explain a typical day in the life of the USBA middleweight champion.
Edouard: I’m up at 6:45am, I’m the door by 7:30am and class starts at 8:00am. I’m in school from 8 until 11:30am and when I’m training I’m at the from about 11:30 til about 2pm and then after that I’m home getting my rest, do my running and my workout is at 6pm. Usually after that I have my church duties, or I’m at home studying or getting ready for the next day.
Walker: You attend what college?
Edouard: Palm Beach Atlantic University.
Walker: And the name of the boxing gym where you train?
Edouard: Leuter’s Boxing.
Walker: Let’s talk about your last fight. You were the underdog in this fight, at least to those people who didn’t really know you as a boxer. But there were those who didn’t consider you an underdog. Going into this fight with Willie Gibbs and Bernard Hopkins was making a big deal about Gibbs being related to him and how he was going to take care of business and he was the next big thing in the middleweight division. Do you feel vindicated?
Edouard: To me it was never a big fight for me. To be honest I didn’t really want the fight to start off with. First of all business wise I felt is was a bad move and I felt. I went ahead and took the fight anyway cause this is my job. But um, everyone pretty much critiques me from my past fights with Beaupierre but during those fights I was going through a major issue with a style change with my coach, a change with my style and those really conflicted with those two fights. People are always saying in the boxing game that people only remember your last fight. So people only remember the Beaupierre fights and that’s what they were going by. I am a boxer technician in the ring but in those Beaupierre fights I was more of an animal coming in the ring trying to kill somebody and that is not my game. I’m not a knock out artist. Um usually I just box and a knock out comes. But in those fights I wasn’t thinking like that I was just trying to knock out first and do everything afterwards. Pretty much in this Willie Gibbs fight I had my motivation back, my mindset was back, I got back on track with life and I’ve got balance in my life outside the gym and that pretty much made the whole world for this fight. I really didn’t see Gibbs I didn’t see his promoter. To me that just caused more of a roar within myself because his promoter was talking so much nonsense and when I got up to the fight they treated me like straight garbage. They treated me like I was nothing. I was thinking that since I was the opponent at least treat me right to make me you know, feel good, you know if you’re supposed to be bringing me to the wolves let me feel good.
Walker: Elaborate on that a little. You said they made you feel like you were garbage what do you mean?
Edouard: For example, the minute we got off the airplane the co-main event was there too. They had to pick me and the co-main event at the same time. And the co-main event had to weight two hours for me to get in before he got picked up. That’s one. We get there and it’s five of us and they come to pick us up in a dodge intrepid. So there’s five people with luggage with five people’s worth of luggage and the luggage wouldn’t fit in the trunk so I had big duffle bags. I brought one big bag I brought all my gym equipment all my boxing equipment in, I was gone for three days so I brought enough equipment to last me for three or four days. So I had a big bag and he had the nerve to ask me to put the bags on our laps for the ride. There was already four people sitting in the back seat and you want me to put a big bag on my lap too. To me that was just insulting for him to ask us that. I told him, you know, get us a taxi. He said no I’m not getting you a taxi. So he made my coach drive and we’re all cooped up in the back seat. So we get to the hotel and we’re supposed to have 4 hotel rooms and he only gives us one I usually like to be to myself before a fight. I think if I’m there to fight I should at least be respected that much. Give me my own room. Staff had to stay in the room with me and that upset me. I wanted to you know have my own room to focus. I the main event fighter on ESPN don’t treat me like I’m garbage.
Walker: So a lot of the things that they promised you they didn’t give?
Edouard: Yeah. There were supposed to be restaurants around the hotel. None! I mean…
Walker: (cutting in) It sounds like there was some of that let’s frustrate the underdog technique to throw you off you… (Edouard cutting in)
Edouard: Exactly! They continued to do that throughout the day. Pretty much after the weigh-in, he couldn’t make weight, I made weight, he had to lose weight. Then I’m eating and they, Gibbs’ camp, made a big fuss over my beard saying that it could cut Gibbs eye. My beard! Gibbs’ camp made the commissioner come all the way over to where I’m eating my dinner and he said, “Daniel Edoaurd we have a problem. You are going to have to cut your beard if you want to fight.” I was like, what are you talking about? What does my beard have to do with me fighting? He was like, “Well you have to do it.” So my camp was like well he has to cut his. We pretty came to a conclusion to cut it down.
This interview gets much spicier. Look for part 2 soon.
photo © PeltzBoxing.com