25.01.06 – Inteerview by Per Ake Persson: EBU heavy champ Paolo Vidoz defends the title January 28 against Cengiz Koc in Berlin. I caught the champ at home in Gorizia just before he departed for Germany.
Q: You are fighting Cengiz Koc Jan 28, how do you see the fight?
A: I beat him the amateurs but the pros is a totally different game and I expect a very tough fight..
Q: How´s your training been going?
A: It´s been the usual disaster (laughs). I have my own gym in my home. My friend and trainer Sumbu Kalambay have been with for the last two weeks. It´s been a normal training camp and I´m in good shape.
Q: You have changed promoter right in the middle of all the training?
A: It´s been very tiresome and problematic. For the last two or three months I have been to my lawyer´s office just about every day. I have however been advised by my lawyer not to comment on the matter to media.
Q: According to well spread rumors you don´t overdo it in the gym, some even say you are a bit lazy, what´s your comment to this?
A: If I win this fight the miracle is completed (laughs)! It´s difficult to prepare well in Italy, for instance sparring, I have one pro and one amateur to work out with. There are no other sparring available. They are doing a documentary about me now. I´m probably the only champ to train in my home.
Q: I understand you went to Afghanistan late last year as part of a help project, how did that come about?
A: In 1998 I participated in an amateur tournament in Pakistan. There was a guy there from Afghanistan who wasn´t allowed to participate due to his big beard. Now seven years later I had the chance to bring some boxing equipment , gloves, shoes, headgears, etc, and I gave it to help set up a national team there. I want to fight in Kabul. I would like to do the rematch with Valuev at the national stadium there (laughs)! It was a good experience to go there and to be able to help some people.
Q: Where you a late starter or did you stay in the amateurs for a very long time?
A: Let me see, I think I began boxing in 1987 or so. My dream was always to win Olympic Gold but I had to settle for the bronze in 2000. I also participated in the 96 Olympics
Q: You have ex-World middle champ Sumbo Kalamabay as trainer, what does he mean to you?
A: He is very important and he is also my good friend. He and my wife are the most important people for me. My wife is also my manager.
Q: You first turned pro with Lou Di Bella in the US but then returned home, what happend?
A: The agreement was that if I lost a fight the contract could be terminated. I had a bad night, lost a fight and the contract was terminated. Now I´m back in Gorizia, you know this is the region where Primo Carnera came from. I´m now doing work for the Primo Carnera Foundation with Primo´s son and work with underprivileged children. I have one dream left and this is to win the World heavyweight title.
Q: That brings us to Nikolai Valuev I guess, you lost to him the first time, what happend?
A: Valuev? I took the fight on 16 days notice, I was supposed to fight Steffen Nielsen, the Dane, but that fight was cancelled on very short notice when he fell ill, my management at the time then got me Valuev. I broke my jaw in the third round and had problems with my hands. After the fight I had a four hour operation and they fixed my jaw with two titanium plates and that´s how I got my new nickname, “Titanium Jaw”.
Q: Let´s say you beat Koc, what will be the next step in your career?
A: I will try to take the EBU title as long way as is possible but first I must beat Koc and I have a very hard fight ahead of me. I know that the official challenger is Luan Krasniqi but that keeps changing.
Q: You are closing in on 36, what about life after boxing?
A: I got xxx for fighting Valuev and xxx for the Hoffmann fight. What can I say, at this rate I will have to keep fighting until I´m 65 (laughs) in order to be able to pay my bills.
(note: Paolo mentioned some numbers here but I decided to leave them out)