By James Slater: 21-year-old light-middleweight Liam Vaughan made the brave decision to move out to L.A recently, leaving behind his native Liverpool. Spotted by trainer extraordinaire Freddie Roach, Vaughan, known as “Punch,” now trains at The Wild Card Gym and lives in Freddie’s apartment.
Eagerly looking forward to his U.S debut on Thursday, the young talent who compiled a 28-4 amateur record, admits he is “not much of a talker,” but says he is a born fighter.
Here is what Liam had to say earlier today just before heading off to train:
James Slater: Thanks for talking with ESB, Liam. You have your U.S debut on Thursday: are you excited, nervous or both?
Liam Vaughan: I can’t wait. It will be great. I’m not much of a talker, I prefer to let my boxing do the talking, you know?
J.S: Do you know much about the guy you’re facing in your four-rounder in Hollywood, California?
L.M: Cleven Ishe. I don’t know too much, I’ve seen one of his fights on tape. He’s not bad, he’s 3-7. He’s not bad but I’ll beat him. It’s my job to beat him.
J.S: How did you come to be trained by the great Freddie Roach?
L.V: I was out here on vacation and when I went home, my trainer, Georgie Vaughan, he retired – so I came back out here. I was in camp with [Julio Cesar] Chavez Junior, sparring with him, and Freddie saw me. I stay in Freddie’s apartment now; he looks after me.
J.S: He obviously liked what he saw in you?
L.V: Yeah, obviously.
J.S: Is he your full-time trainer now; will he be in your corner on Thursday?
L.V: No, he’s in Las Vegas with Amir Khan. Marvin Somodio of The Philippines, will be in my corner – he’ll also be in Khan’s corner on Saturday. Freddie told him to stay with me for my fight.
J.S: Do you have a U.S promoter yet?
L.V: No, I have a manager, Steve Bash of Bash Boxing. I hope to sign with Top Rank or Golden Boy soon. I’m not sure if I’ll fight exclusively in the U.S, I think so.
J.S: You’ve sparred some good names aside from Chavez Junior, can you name who you’ve been working with at Wild Card?
L.V: Alfonso Gomez, we sparred last week, Peter Quillin, Vanes Martirosyan. It’s been great sparring.
J.S: And you hold your own with those guys?
L.V: Yeah, we don’t go wild in the gym. I’m happy with the way my camp has gone. I’m just ready to get in there now.
J.S: For those fans who have not seen you yet, describe your fighting style, Liam
L.V: I’m a come forward fighter; people like to watch my fights. I’m boxing more now as well. I can do both: box and fight.
J.S: You’re 4-1 as a pro, what went wrong in the points loss to Robert Dixon (2-0) in Dec. 2011?
L.V: He was a top amateur, and he was 26 and I’m only 21 – he won the world championships and the Europeans. He won a lot of honours. It was a bad night at the office, but I can’t afford any more. The fight was in his home town. Frank Warren wanted a rematch, but I moved out here and we went down different paths. It was a learning experience. I’ve come back way stronger.
J.S: Will you campaign as a light-middleweight or as a middle?
L.M: My next fight will be at light-middleweight and then I’ll probably move down to welterweight. There’s no messing about over here, they have the same-day weigh-ins, not like in the U.K, where they have the weigh-in the day before the fight.
J.S: Do you have a timeframe in mind, for how many times you’d like to fight each year?
L.V: I’ve been promised five fights a year, and I’m happy with that. I’d like to fight as much as I can, and Steve [Bash] wants to get me out as often as he can.
J.S: Well, thanks for taking the time to talk. I can tell you just want to get on with the fight now! We look forward to following your career.
L.V: Okay, thanks a lot mate.
(thanks to Rachel Charles for help in obtaining this interview)