28.11.06 – Interview by Geoff McKay: Rico Hoye, fresh off a 10th round TKO over journeyman Sam Hill, sat down with ESB to chat about the fight, his future, his new trainer, and the light heavyweight division in general. Hoye rose quickly into title contention, with wins over the likes of Prince Badi Ajamu, and Montell Griffin.
He hit a stumbling block however, when, in only his 19th pro fight, he faced Clinton wood for the vacant IBF light heavyweight title. Since the loss, Hoye has been on the comeback trail with back to back wins. Here is what he had to say.
ESB: Hello Rico.
RH: Hey, how you doing?
ESB: Good, how about you?
RH: I’m doing pretty good; I just finished with my training for the day.
ESB: Can you take us through the Sam Hill fight? Did that turn out as expected?
RH: It pretty much did. Around the sixth round I dropped him with a body shot. I pretty much thought I was going to be able to finish him off but he survived to the tenth round. I was more so pleased that I, you know, I hadn’t fought in nine, ten months so I got some rounds in and I got the stoppage so it was a good night for me I think.
ESB: How have things changed with Shadeed Suluki in your corner?
RH: More than anything, I think the most important aspect of it, is that he brought me back to my beginnings in boxing, you know. My father, my Grandfather, they were boxers and they were slick boxers, and that’s pretty much what Shadeed helped me with. Just getting back to what I know and that’s just boxing smart.
ESB: Interesting, you’re a third generation boxer.
RH: Oh, yeah, and my uncles, my whole family boxed. (Laughs)
ESB: In terms of your career, are you ready now to take on the tops guys, or would you like a couple more fights before you step up?
RH: Definitely I’m a fighter, so I would be like, lets fight the best out there, but I think from a team standpoint, we all agree that, you know, one more fight to make sure that the ring rust if off, and then we are ready to step back in there with anybody in the world.
One more fight and I’ll be ready to take on anybody in the world.
ESB: Any idea who your next opponent may be?
RH: Actually no, I haven’t heard anything as of yet. I’m pretty sure that were fighting on a Golden Boy card, so, you know, I got faith in them that they’ll find somebody for me and it will be the right opponent. I’m not concerned. I just concerned right now with staying in the gym and when they make their call I’m ready.
ESB: After the Clinton Woods fight that you mentioned that you learned boxing was a business, and if things weren’t right for you the best thing to do was move on. What did you mean by that?
RH: Pretty much, the situation was, well, it’s kind of long to explain but I’ll try to give you the short version. At the time my coach, my head trainer was a gentleman by the name of Danny Smith, and he took upon the task of training Fernando Vargas as well. All of his time and attention was going toward Vargas, and I wasn’t receiving any at all while we were in camp. Wherever Vargas wanted to go, I mean I didn’t have the money that he had, so, I mean, we had to make due with finding our own arrangements to go to training camp. He wanted to train on some island out here in California, Catalina, so, I mean, at the time I just wasn’t getting the attention that I knew that I needed going into a big fight. That’s what I was saying was, I knew from a boxing perspective, I wasn’t ready to take that fight. I didn’t get any sparring for that fight, no training for that fight, no bag work, no nothing. The only thing that I did every day was I made sure that I got up and I ran. We’d come to the gym and Danny Smith would say, “Fernando’s on his way to the gym so you guys are going to have to hurry up and get up out of here”. After the fight is really when I realized that you know, this is a business, and I’m telling everybody so it should be all about me. I should have just walked away and not taken that fight when I did. You live and you learn.
ESB: Sounds frustrating, being told to leave the gym in the middle of training.
RH: Oh, most definitely, it was a horrible situation, but like I say, I definitely learned from that experience, that if I’m going into a fight, and it’s a big fight, or a small fight, and it’s not right, just to walk away. I should have found somebody else to take upon that head trainer task when I started to realize that I wasn’t going to get the attention that I needed.
ESB: I understand you really want a chance to rematch Clinton Woods, and clean up that loss.
RH: Aw man, aw man, you have no idea, you have no idea the bitter taste I have in my mouth from that fight. I just know, style wise, he doesn’t match up to me. I just know if I was mentally ready going into that fight there would have been nothing that he could have done. It helped him, I believe, a little bit, to fight on his home turf. He had the referee to his advantage, the judges, I mean, everything was to his advantage going into that fight. If I could get any fight, that’s the fight I would want. I feel like Joe Louis when he fought Max Schmeling. I may win a world title but I’m not going to be champion until I clean my slate. I’m looking to be like Lennox. If I’m ever unfortunate enough to lose again, and right now Clinton Woods is my only loss, if I lose I want to fight the rematch. I’ve got to go, in my mind, undefeated, whoever I fight.
ESB: You have a big win over Prince Badi Ajamu. Would you give him another shot?
RH: Oh, I would definitely give Ajamu another opportunity. It definitely would have to make sense. Its like, when you’re climbing up the ladder. When you’re at a certain level, everybody is going to be gunning for you. Roy Jones was at the top, Tyson was at the top, when you’re at the top of the heap, everybody’s is gunning for you. It would definitely have to make sense. Right now, a lot of fighters that are up and comers, they need me. If they get me and they win, then they got a big time name on their record. From a business standpoint it would definitely have to make sense for me to fight Ajamu again, but I mean if he had of beaten Roy Jones it would have been a hell of an opportunity for him to clean the slate with me.
ESB: Having been in the ring with Ajamu, how would you evaluate Roy Jones’ performance?
RH: To be completely honest with you I didn’t think Prince had an opportunity in that fight at all. Style wise, Roy is a mover, he’s fast, and when I fought him (Ajamu) that’s what he had problems with. When I stood there and tried to bang with him toe to toe is when he caught me with a decent punch, but after that I won every round after that. I moved and I boxed him, I kept my jab in his face, I got my shots off and I got out of there, and I knew that’s was going to be Roy’s game plan, and Prince didn’t have a chance in that fight. He’s flat footed and slow.
ESB: Where do you think Antonio Tarver goes from here, after seeing his loss to Hopkins?
RH: Again, from a fighter, he’s in my division, I never saw anything in Antonio Tarver, you know, even from the amateurs. He was a decent enough amateur to make the Olympic team, but style wise he never impressed me. He’s not super fast, he’s not super slick, he’s just tall and long, and he has a defense and that left hand where, you know, if he catches you on the end of it he’s going to knock you out. But going into the fight with Roy, I didn’t every expect him to knock Roy out, nobody did. He got blessed that day, and that pretty much put him up there, but any other day I don’t think he could fight with anybody that would move, like Bernard did, and was a sharp puncher. Bernard’s a sharp puncher and he’s a smart fighter, and I don’t think intellectually Tarver can light a match next to those guys.
ESB: Anything you want to say in closing Rico?
RH: Thank you for supporting me, everyone who is on my side, and hopefully, God willing, I’ll make a big splash in 07, and for everybody out there that’s hating, you go on hating but your wasting your time.
ESB: Thanks Rico.