02.02.06 – By Per Ake Persson: Finnish middle “Idi” Amin Asikainen, 16-0, is along with jr welter Juho Tolppola one of the headliners for P 3 Boxing, a promotional outfit which heads a recent resurrection of professional boxing in Finland with TV backing and sponsors in the back ground. I caught up Asikainen through his manager and trainer Pekka Maeki – if the name Maeki rings a bell, yes, this is the son of the ex-EBU jr welter champ.
Q: You´re next fighting May 5 in Helsinki, I assume you will fight someone that will move you forward in the ratings – do you have a favourite opponent, someone you really would like to fight? Do you feel are ready to move up in class or do you need more experience?
A: I’m ready for moving up in class, and I’d like to fight with the best in Europe inside two years. I know that my manager is seeking opponent for me, one that really will move me up in the ratings. And I’m prepared for that.
Q: Is your best weight at middleweight or do you feel you can make jr middle or is perhaps a move up in weight close?
A: I think that middleweight is my natural weight-class and it suits me perfectly.
Q: Describe your style for those who haven´t seen you!
A: I like to keep my opponent at bay using my jab, studying them and look to score with counters. I can also change my style, depending on who I’m in against.
Q: How is it with sparring in Finland at the moment?
A: We have sparrinpartners from different countries (Estonia, Latvia etc) in our final preparation (last 5 weeks). But before that I spar with finnish top amateurs.
Q: What did you as an amateur?
A: I won 4 national gold medals in welterweight and in light-middle. I had almost 200 bouts as an amateur with 150 wins. I also participated three times in the World Championships (Budapest-97, Houston-99 and Belfast 2001).
Q: Are you training fulltime or do you have a job on the side?
A: I have a job with sports, so I can train twice a day (thank’s to the city of Kirkkonummi) so you can say that I’m training full-time.
Q: Which was your best fight up until now?
A: I think that the best experience I had was in the fight against Kai Kauramäki, because it was for ten rounds and for the vacant Finnish title. It was only my 4th fight as a professional.
Q: What do you feel you need to improve on?
A: There is a lot of things I have to improve because you are never complete as a boxer. If I have to mention something it is maybe improve my power.
Q: I know it´s been quite a struggle for you and other Finnish fighters to keep going with fights far and few inbetween – did you ever think about pack it in and retire?
A: No, I have never thought about retirement. In fact, we (Tolppola and me) have always managed to get fights here in Finland. Now the situation is very good because Finnish television, MTV3 and Welldone Agency & Promotion are behind us.
Q: Which is your main goal as a boxer? Life after your boxing career, how do you see that?
A: I really work hard to reach the European title, so that is my first goal. After that, everything is possible. And when it comes to life after sports, I really haven’t got time to think about it, but I think that I’ll start something my own business.