10.12.05 – By Per Ake Persson: Former WBU cruiser champ Don Diego Poeder, 24-2, is on the comeback trail after a few years off and takes on tough Belgian Ismael Abdoul December 25 in Izegem for the BeNeLux title. The now 33-year old Poeder, from the Netherlands, seemed to be on his way to the really big fights when he suffered back to back knockout losses to Robert Daniels and Sajad Abdul Aziz in 98-99 and faded from the scene.. In 2004 he quietly came back and has gone 3-0 since.
Q: How are preparations going for the fight Dec 25 and how do you see it?
A: Well, the key to the fight is conditioning, I´ve worked hard in the gym, sparred ten rounds a few times. I know Abdoul is pretty good, takes a good shot and I expect the fight to go into the later rounds.
Q: You are also the official challenger for the EU title held by Pole Krzyzstof Wlodarczyk …
A: Yes indeed, but I am not going to talk about that now, I concentrate 100% on the fight I have on hand.
Q: Looking back, what happened to you in the fights you lost?
A: Against Robert Daniels (ko by 10 May 5, 98) I simply got caught, I was winning the fight and he caught me – simple as that. It was one of those things that could have happend to anyone. The loss to Aziz ( ko by 3, Jan 29, 99) was different. I was mentally not prepared, I had moved to Los Angeles, I was homesick and nothing worked out for me there. It was a bad knockout loss and I retired afterwards.
Q: I heard you´ve done some acting …
A: It´s correct I´ve done some acting on stage in various plays but I concentrate on writing. I was writing even before I retired but shortly afterwards I won a writer´s contest, I actually won 34 000 EUR and that helped finance the first movie script I completed. Since then I have had other scripts done and worked a bit with movies. Right now I´m putting together a TV special that I also will direct.
Q: What is it about?
A: It´s about a guy who is under a lot of pressure. He´s been abused as a kid, he does not want to become like his father but at the same time he is very much like him.
Q: Back in the 90´s when you were around the first time Dutch boxing were pretty hot. Today, for various reasons, it´s not …
A: That´s right, and that´s why my next fight is in Belgium because there was no one here to organize a fight for me. I also accepted the fight because Abdoul is # 14 in the EBU ratings (note: at lightheavy) and I´m # 17 I believe. If I beat Ismael I´ll expect to climb the ratings. I know the EBU champ, Aleksander Gourov is very tough, but that´s expected at that
level.
Q: What did you do as an amateur?
A: I went 30-8 with 22 early endings. I won the Dutch titles in 92 and 93 at heavyweight.
Q: How come you decided to come back after all these years?
A: I wanted to see if I still had it and said to myself why not and I felt great. Also I just became a father and that made me feel even better.
Q: I´ve seen your homepage (dondiegopoeder.com) that you also train businessmen …
A: Yes, I have a partner and we train not just businessmen but people in general, help them getting started with a new life and it also promotes boxing and last but not least myself.
Q: Which is your best fight yet?
A: The one against Terry Ray back in 97, I won the WBU title on the tenth round stoppage, it was on national TV and was rated as one of the best fights that year. You know, in the US people rate the fight itself more than the title at stake.
Q: What happend after that?
A: I defended the title once, I was living in New York and really liked it. You know when you are out of the gym in a town like that there is so much to see and do but I moved to Los Angeles to train there and that was the mistake of my life. I just couldn´t adjust to the lifestyle there, I got homesick and in general felt bad. I talked to my manager, Stan Hoffman, who really did a great job with my career and is currently doing a great job for my compatriot, Raymond Joval, but he felt I should stay and and I did. But I still didn´t like LA and that led to the loss against Aziz. But now I´m back and we´ll see how far I can go.