By Neil Dennis – Antwain Britt is a name that means nothing in boxing, at least right now. However, for those who are fans of mixed martial arts and Strikeforce in particular, his name means a lot. Known as “The Juggernaut”, he is known for his heavy hands and high KO percentage. His best known win, an eight second knockout of UFC’s Antonio “Samuray” Mendes, sent shock waves through the MMA world and cemented his reputation as a world-class striker. Now, Britt is poised for his boxing debut in Virginia Beach, Virginia on August 28th to make himself into something that is rare for any athlete: a legitimate force in two sports.
“I wouldn’t mind being the Bo Jackson of boxing and MMA, you know? That would be cool.” says Britt. Anything I do, I want to be the best at it. Rack up a few wins, maybe take it to the next level, and look for a title shot while working out some things with Strikeforce. Hey, I would love to be the heavyweight champ in boxing. That would be great..”
Britt was very athletic in his youth. A wrestler for Indian River High School, he took that to keep in shape for football, but fell in love with that sport, instead. He was quite successful during his time, and looks back at this time in his life as the perfect prerequisite for his future career.
“The things you learn in wrestling about muscle memory and muscle stamina helps,” Britt explains. “It takes years to get to that peak level. That’s why wrestlers who have crossed over into MMA have had success because of what wrestling instills. I’m glad I had the chance to do wrestling first because it’s really helped me out as far as my MMA career goes.”
As he went into adulthood unfortunately, Antwain Britt found himself to be rather aimless and overweight. He wasn’t happy with the course his life was taking and wanted to find some focus in his life. At the suggestion of a friend, he found himself walking through the doors of the Hybrid Training Center in Virginia Beach with a mind not only to get back in shape, but to try and become a force in mixed martial arts.
“When I walked in the door of Hybrid, I was 300 pounds,” Britt says with a chuckle. “I was a fat boy. I was just going through life not really having much direction. I just one day turned around and I was 300 pounds. I really got tired of that lifestyle because I had been used having that athletic build, being in good shape. When I let myself go, I really felt bad about it. A really good friend of mine actually referred me to Hybrid. I went in and talked to Buck [Grant], who’s the owner of Hybrid, and told him I really wanted to get in shape and get a chance to do the whole MMA thing. He kind of looked at me and said, ‘Okay, make sure you sign the waiver, buddy.’ Having a 300-pound out-of-shape guy telling him this, when I was probably tenth guy that day saying that but…about the three months in, I got down to about 260, and that’s when I had my first amateur fight.”
These days, Britt has been fighting at the much trimmer weight of 205 pounds and making a name in MMA’s light heavyweight division. Trained by Grant, who Britt affectionately calls “The Mad Scientist” for his ability to help him find the weaknesses in his opponents, Britt has developed into one of Strikeforce’s most brutal strikers. This wasn’t always the case, as witnessed during his amateur career, where he focused more on “ground and pound” techniques.
“I think it was my third amateur fight I dropped a guy with a left hook,” Britt recalls. “Buck said after, ‘Wow, we may need to explore the whole striking thing with Antwain a little bit more.’ From that point, I really paid attention to the Muay Thai classes and boxing classes and took a lot of focus on my striking.”
And those striking skills made all sorts of sports headlines when he took on UFC’s Antonio Mendes on May 9th, 2009. Britt had taken a pair of setbacks before this fight. As part of the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter in 2008, Britt was given the bittersweet distinction of winning his preliminary fight with Ryan Rimmo, but ended up breaking his hand forty-five seconds into the fight and being forced off the show. Although he won three more fights following this setback, Britt was now just coming off a loss to Jamal Patterson, who forced Britt to tap out via guillotine choke. Britt’s talent had been questioned, and he saw this fight as an opportunity to quiet his naysayers.
“I really wanted to prove something in that fight,” Britt explains. “With the whole Ultimate Fighter thing falling through, and with this guy being a UFC fighter, I wanted to make a statement that I am one of the elite light heavyweights in the world right now. At the time, Antonio was 16-4, 16-6 and had beat a lot of good guys. He dropped Thiago Silva with a head kick [though still lost]. So, I went in there wanting to make a statement, and you don’t make much better a statement than an eight second knockout.”
It got the attention of Gary Shaw and his people in Strikeforce, who soon signed Britt and set him up to fight rising prospect Scott “Lights Out” Lighty in the “Evolution” fight card for Showtime. Lighty came in undefeated in five fights and was being groomed for bigger things. However, when the two met in the octagon, it was no contest. Bloody and battered by the end of the first round, the fight doctor ended it on cuts, giving Britt the TKO win.
“[Lighty] didn’t want to continue,” beams Britt. “He was beaten up pretty bad. It was definitely a really lopsided first round. I’m really surprised that with some the shots I landed…they would’ve knocked out other guys. He’s a stud and tough guy, so I’m proud to say I got him out of there in the first round.”
This set up Britt for the big time, as he was scheduled to fight the highly-touted Raphael “Feijao” Cavalcante for the right to fight Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal.
Both Britt and Cavalcante were known for their striking abilities, so this was a highly anticipated bout on Showtime’s “Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery” card. Unfortunately, it was Cavalcante who came out on top, landing a solid combo that put Britt out. This set up Feijao instead of Britt for the world title fight with King Mo on last night’s “Strikeforce: Houston” card.
“That’s a fight where you got two big strikers,” Britt recounts. “That’s a fight where it could happen ten times and have a different outcome every time. Both guys are good on the ground. Again, I had him rocked a couple of times early and wasn’t able to capitalize. He threw a good combo and landed it. I can’t take anything away from Feijao.”
Even though Shaw’s people were impressed by the way he handled himself and want him back, Britt has chosen to open another window of opportunity on top of the one he already has. Featured in “The War at the Shore” fight card being promoted by X-Cel Worldwide (who are currently co-promoting last night’s Tomasz Adamek/Michael Grant fight card), Britt looks forward to proving himself in the squared circle. Currently training with former pro boxer and Hybrid instructor Pete Yates, Britt expects big things of his boxing debut.
“What can people expect? A first round knockout, I hope,” Britt chuckles. “We’ll see where this goes…it’s okay to do both [boxing and MMA], to love both. When the MMA stars were coming up, the powers that be in boxing got scared and tried to create a divide between MMA and boxing. In my opinion, it doesn’t have to be that way. Both of them are combat sports. Boxing is ‘the Sweet Science.’ Nothing is going to replace boxing. There’s room for everybody.”
And room for himself is what Britt is seeing in boxing’s once-premiere division: the heavyweights. Given the fact that Strikeforce is run by the much esteemed boxing promoter Gary Shaw, it is certainly something that Britt is giving serious consideration.
“You look at the heavyweight and cruiserweight divisions in boxing, and there isn’t a lot of talent there,” Britt concludes. “I think there’s an opening for someone like me to come in, make some waves, and really make a name for myself in boxing right now…being successful in the cage and successful in the ring would really give Strikeforce a great new marketing tool for the future.”