Exclusive Interview With Willie Monroe Junior

by James Slater – 22-year-old New Yorker Willie Monroe Junior – who fights the also undefeated Troy Ortis tomorrow night in Rochester, NY – is a young fighter who feels boxing is his destiny and that the sport is well and truly in his blood. His father, Willie Monroe Senior was a top class middle and super-middleweight in the 1990s, and his great uncle, Willie “The Worm” Monroe was one of Philadelphia’s toughest middleweights of the 1970s. But it is Willie Junior’s grandfather that gets the credit from the 6-0(2), 154/160-pound prospect as being the boxing mastermind of the Monroe family. Listing his grandfather as his “sole inspiration” when it comes to boxing, the deeply religious up-and-comer is proud of the fighting heritage of his family..

“My grandfather took me to the gym for the first time when I was six-years-old,” Munroe Junior, a southpaw, told me over the phone. “Boxing has always been in my blood, what with the Monroe family’s fighting lineage. All Monroe’s want to fight. My dad did his thing and my great uncle is well known of course. Now it’s Junior’s turn.”

Aside from his family, young Munroe looks up to another boxing junior, in the great Roy Jones – a fighter he says he patterns himself on a little.

“I don’t idolise any other man, but as far as boxing heroes go, Roy Jones is one of my favourites. I take a little bit from every great fighter I watch. I like the fast, skilful boxers, like Sugar Ray Leonard. I’m a stylish boxer/puncher myself, and though I only have two KO’s so far, records can be deceiving. Make no mistake about it, I can crack. I’m breaking heavyweight ribs in training!”

Monroe told me he’s sparred with good men such as Charles “The Natural” Murray (who he lives near to) and Robert Frazier, and that he has been handling himself very well. A fine amateur who won The New York Golden Gloves and also fought in the Nationals, Monroe tells me he finished with a 128-14(72) unpaid record. He feels he will make an ever better pro, though, and he has been signed by top promoter Lou DiBella.

“I’m definitely more suited to the pro ranks. I will be even better than I was as an amateur. The only reason I stuck around so long as an amateur was because I thought I might have a good shot at going to the [2008] Olympics, but it never happened for me. I’m moving up to 160-pounds in my next fight (October 2nd, 09) but I might drop back down to 154 – I can fight at either weight, so we’ll see. I could even go up to 168 if the right fights are offered to me there.”

As with the famous Mayweather clan, Monroe Junior has had a somewhat stormy relationship with his father, the two men having not always seen eye to eye.

“I’m trained by Dan Akers now, the same person who trained my dad. My dad isn’t having too much to do with my career right now, but he’s welcome to come on board if he wants. You know how hard father, son relationships can be in boxing. Sometimes it’s not been all that pleasant. We’re pretty close right now, we talk on the phone and I love my father, but it can be tough at times, you know.”

Willie says he has not yet met the light-middleweights, middleweights he’d like to fight, and that he has purposely stayed off T.V so he will not have been studied by potential foes before he does face them.

“I had a T.V offer a while back, but Team-Monroe decided to turn it down. All the fighters that are on T.V now that I will fight some day, I can watch them and see how they fight, but they can’t see me. If a good T.V offer comes we may take it, we’ll have to see. I do have a growing fan base coming to see me fight, though. And I have noticed certain guys’ trainers coming to my fights to check me out.”

Aside from boxing, the 22-year-old also has a big interest in music, and he has two day jobs to keep him busy.

“I want to be the first boxer to be ranked in the top-ten while having a top-ten record in the charts at the same time. My group, “Signature”, which formed in 2004, is an R ‘n B and Hip-Hop group. We are working with Universal records right now, and we’re working hard. I also have a full time day job and a part time job. I drive senior citizens around for a recreation centre and as a full time job I work as a customer service operator at a video store. I’m also in college, I started late in life, and I’m studying business now, working for a degree.”

As incredibly busy as he is, it is boxing that Monroe is most passionate about, though.

“I want to stay busy. I think the key to becoming a success in boxing is keeping active. In around eighteen months I’d like to be fighting for a small title, say the NABF, before moving on to bigger titles after that. I really am curious to see how far I can get. I’m the main fighter in the Monroe family now. It’s my turn.”