Chris Steel: “The way I’m feeling now I think a shutout is very possible”

Exclusive Interview by Geoffrey Ciani – 20 year old junior welterweight prospect Chris Steel (2-0, 0 KOs) is looking to impress his hometown fans and improve to 3-0 when he returns to the ring against Danny Dontchev Friday night at the Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Lanark,Scotland. Steel made his pro debut last November when he scored six round unanimous decision victory against Daniel Thorpe and he followed that up with another decision victory against Philip Boyle back in February. Steel is looking to continue his winning ways to build off these victories and establish the foundation for what he hopes will be a successful career in the professional ranks. I was recently afforded the opportunity to chat with the young boxer about his upcoming fight and here is what he had to say:

How was training and preparation for your upcoming fight against Danny Dontchev this Friday night?

Training has been good. The only change for this fight has been less weight training and more time running on the road. Roadwork is the petrol in the tank so I spent a lot of time on the road and doing sprints along with some changes in my diet. I’m sitting right on my weight just now where I want to be, no pressure and I won’t be struggling to make the weight in the next few days.

Now this fight was recently changed from a 6 round fight to an 8 round fight and this will be the first time in your young career that you’ve been scheduled to go 8 rounds. How do you feel about this?

When my manager phoned me last night to ask me about doing an eight rounder I jumped at the chance. This is going to be a great learning opportunity for me and I’ll get valuable experience under my belt going longer and harder rounds with a tough opponent. When I get my chance at Scottish and Regional titles in the near future they will be over a 10 round distance so this fits into my plan.

In addition to it now being an 8 round fight, your fight will also now be the main event on the card. Does this give you any added pressure?

Yeah that was a great bonus, headlining a card in only my third pro fight is a tremendous honour. It definitely adds pressure but it’s pressure that I’m welcoming because if you told me when I started boxing at 12 years old that I would be boxing in the main event as a pro then I wouldn’t have believed you. So boxing in front of everyone in my hometown and putting on a great show is amazing to me and it can only get bigger from here. The BBC will be their as well to film WBO World Champion Ricky Burns receiving his Sports Personality Award so it’s going to be a big night for everyone.

What do you think is the most important thing you need to do in order to be successful against Dontchev?

Over the last two or three weeks I’ve been watching a lot of videos of Dontchev on the internet and I know him pretty well. I know his bad habits and his dangerous punches. Sometimes he tends to lead in with his head or fight a bit scrappy so I’m prepared for this. The key is to just keep this a boxing match and not let it turn into a brawl. I’ve got the superior boxing ability so just using my skills and keeping my game together over 8 rounds. Eight rounds is a long fight so I know he will get through at some point so if I need to stand toe-to-toe at some point then that’s no problem either. Just getting off to a good start and building up a big points lead.

You beat Philip Boyle by 6 round decision in your last fight back in February. How would you evaluate your performance in that one?

This is one of my hardest fights to date, Phil was a very tough fight. He was definitely tougher than I was expecting after watching him on videos. He hits a lot harder than I expected and the guy’s stamina is endless. He came forward for every second of every round of that fight and I had to fight hard for six rounds to win that decision. It’s funny, they say you can’t judge a book by its cover and to look at Phil’s record he has been very unlucky against a lot of undefeated prospects. I came from 11 stone 1 pound in that fight down to 10 stone 2 pounds in the space of about 2 or 3 days with no fluids. I felt weak that night and I had to go into the trenches to pull out the win but it showed me that I’ve got that will to win and I belong in this game.

What areas of your game are you most interested in improving this time around to build off of the Boyle victory?

Well the main improvement for this fight was coming in strong. My diet has been changed for this fight and I’ve been drinking a lot more fluids throughout the day to keep me going so I’m feeling great, and as I said I’m sitting right on my weight 2 days before the fight so I’m feeling great and I’m ready to go. Another thing I’ve been working on in the gym is not to get drawn into a fight as easily but I love to entertain and to be fan friendly. I just need to find that happy medium between being fan friendly and using my head in the ring.

When you look at the junior welterweight division right now, which of the three champions (Timothy Bradley, Amir Khan, and Zab Judah) do you consider to be the best and why?

Well I have always had a soft spot for Zab Judah, I’ve always loved to watch him fight. He is great entertainment and I believe out of the three of them he has the best skill-set and is the most naturally gifted. People say Zab’s main downfall is his focus but he seems to be refocused and he’s being trained by the great Pernell Whitaker and you could see flashes of Pernell in Zab’s last fight so I would love to see Zab dominate that division. Although my heart says Zab, he’s getting on in time and I think the younger hungrier fighters will beat him when they fight. When people talk about who would win between Bradley and Khan I have absolutely no idea. I was never an Amir Khan fan until he fought Maidana. He really won me over that night and he took some massive shots but I think Bradley is a different type of animal. The guy’s conditioning is phenomenal and he takes no prisoners for 12 rounds. That’s a match that has to be made because in this sport just now a lot of attention is put on the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight and although that is a great fight, there are also a lot of other great fights out there on the horizon that I want to see.

How many more times would you like to fight in 2011?

Well my manager says I may have a fight in the couple of weeks after this fight. There are a lot of shows happening around June in Scotland so I will stay fit and in the gym. I will be celebrating my 21st birthday on the 19th of June but I can see myself fighting in July. God knows to be honest I will keep myself 100% fit and when my manager gets the calls I will be ready to grab my bag and go and fight. I think another 2 or 3 fights this year is realistic. 6-0 in my first year as a pro would be phenomenal.

Do you have an official prediction for your upcoming fight?

The way I’m feeling now I think a shutout is very possible, 8 rounds to 0 I just feel very sharp. Again though I will stick to the boxing and if the knockout comes it comes, If I have him in trouble then I won’t hesitate to finish the job.

For my final question, is there anything you would like to say to all the fans from East Side Boxing?

Just again thanks for the amazing support from the website. A topic got posted on the message board about the upcoming show and I had a read at the messages of support. It was overwhelming the amount of members who popped in to wish good luck and give me their best wishes so just thank you for the continued support because without the boxing fans I wouldn’t be able to do this job. Also if I could give a big thanks to my sponsor The Commercial Hotel in Wishaw for helping me out with the costs of my training supplies and fees. They help me out a lot.

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To follow Chris on Facebook please visit the following link:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chris-Stainless-Steel/163957326985067

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