February 2006
Rinsing Off the Mouthpiece
By GorDoom
Poem of the Month
By Tom Smario
The 2005 CBZ Year-End Awards
By J.D. Vena
Women to Watch For in 2006
By Adam
Pollack
INTERVIEWS:
Lou DiBella: No Joe Palooka
By Dave Iamaele
Lamon Brewster, Unplugged
By Juan C.
Ayllon
Touching Gloves with...
Clyde Gray
By Dan
Hanley
PROFILES:
Iron Mike Tyson: Myth or Monster?
By
Jim Trunzo
Jess Sandoval: The Coach Says,
"Bundle Up"
By
Katherine Dunn
The Legend of the Cuban Baron,
Ramon Castillo
By Enrique Encinsoa
Paul Thorn
By Pete Ehrman
Battling Nelson: Always Battered,
Seldom Beaten
By Tracy Callis
Kid Chocolate,
the Cuban Bon Bon
By Monte Cox
BOOK REVIEWS AND EXCERPTS:
Shadow Boxers
Photographs by Jim
Lommasson
The Iceman Diaries
by John Scully
The Boxing Bookshelf
by Dave Iamele
|
WBO Heavyweight Champion Lamon
Brewster, Unplugged
Interview and photographs
by Juan C. Ayllon
Indianapolis, Ind. -- It's Friday after Thanksgiving, and World Boxing Organization
heavyweight champion Lamon Brewster is fielding reporters' phone calls with the ease and
aplomb of a man from humble means grown comfortably into his role as champ. A family man,
his priority remains providing for his wife and children, honoring the God he serves, and
inspiring the downtrodden, as he seeks to make the most of his fistic skills.
At 33-2 and with 29 knockouts, Brewster is the most exciting heavyweight champion in the
world today, as witnessed by electrifying back-to-back stoppage victories against worthy
challengers in hostile territory: versus transplanted Pole Andrew Golota at Chicago's
United Center last May, and against German Luan Krasniqi in Hamburg's Color Line Arena in
September. The latter occurred on what would have been Germany's revered national hero Max
Schmeling's 100th birthday.
With the sounds of an occasional child ambling by or the odd telephone ring in the
background, Lamon graciously spent a good 45 minutes granting the Cyber Boxing Zone this
exclusive and intimate look at what makes Lamon Brewster tick as a person and a fighter,
as well as reactions to a recent call for the ban of boxing by a Jesuit magazine and
more.
ON HIS NEXT OPPONENT:
BREWSTER: Well, it doesn't make sense to fight "down the mountain," since you're on
top of the mountain. So, being that there are other people on top of the mountain with me,
I would like to fight the other champions, so that I can prove that I am the undisputed
champion.
ON WHETHER HE WOULD FIGHT CHAUNCY WELLIVER, THE CYBER BOXING
ZONE'S RESIDENT HEAVYWEIGHT, WHO REFERS TO HIMSELF AS "THE FAT, DORKY WHITE GUY":
Well [Laughs] just in rephrasing that, I think that the biggest thing is I'm not
looking for any tune-ups or anything. Like I say, I'm looking for a meaningful fight. Even
if I could go out there and knock him out, there's a chance that I could get hit, or get
cut or something, which would potentially hurt my future in boxing. So, if he gets up to
the top, I'd be more than happy to oblige him.
ON HOW IT FEELS TO BE THE CHAMPION AND WHAT IT TAKES TO GET
THERE:
It feels great. I'm very honored because, as I said earlier, a lot of people have tried to
reach this point and did not. And, because God has allowed me to make it thus far, I'm
very grateful. And, as far as what it took for me to be champion, it took my faith in God,
and it took my determination in myself that I could do it in spite of other chips stacked
up against me. That's the way I feel about it.
ON WHAT GOES THROUGH HIS HEAD WHEN HE STEPS INTO THE
RING:
Just the determination that what I train to do, that I'm going to
execute it, and I will not be deterred by anything that my opponent tries to bring to the
table, that it's all about me, and that I'm fighting an illusion. An illusion in my mind
is that -- they say that you create whatever you see out of your own eyes. To me, it may
be blue; to you, it may be red. To me, somebody may be short; to you, somebody may be
tall. So, the illusion is the enemy that I'm fighting. The enemy is my fear, what I made
this person to be. If he's fast, that's because I've made him fast. If he's slow, that's
'cause I made him slow. So my mind's just fighting an illusion: I'm fighting my fear; it's
not necessarily an opponent. This fear is just whatever I conceive my opponent to be in my
mind.
ON WHAT CUS D'AMATO ONCE SAID, THAT EVERY MAN GOES INTO THE RING
WITH FEAR, BUT THE SUCCESSFUL ONES LEARN TO CONTROL IT:
Well, one of my
favorite movies was a movie called Dune, and he said it best: "Fear is the mind
killer." And so, you can use fear for good, you can use it for bad. I mean, I remember the
times in my amateur career where I was so nervous that I literally got sick. It was that I
was so tense that I beat myself by using up nervous energy. But then, after fighting so
much as an amateur, you learn that if you use that fear to keep you sharp, you use that
fear so you're not too relaxed, you use that fear so that your reflexes are like a cat.
Well then, that's a good fear. So, if you use it for good, you'll be much better of a
fighter.
[In Dune,] a witch had put his hand into this box and told him if he moved his
hand, he would die instantly. This is some years from now, a futuristic movie. What
happened when he had his hand in this box, they told him he would start feeling pain. She
started making him feel like his hand was burning and that it was on fire. And, then what
he said was that fear was the mind killer.
So, basically, you're telling yourself that this is happening. Well, then, it's definitely
happening. But, if you playing it down in your mind and you control yourself, then it
won't be as great, as pain or what not as possible.
If you're in the ring and you get hit with a shot -- if you stop and reminisce on it --
well yeah, it was a great shot and then here comes another. Boom! This fight is over.
Well, if you get hit with that shot, no matter how hard it is, and you just say to
yourself, Okay, I'm only looking for the next one. I don't have time to think about
pain. I'll hurt tomorrow, but today I've got to win. So, that's kind of my thoughts on
it.
ON TRAINING AND PREPARATION FOR HIS LAST BOUT VS. LUAN KRASNIQI,
AS FAR AS DEVELOPING STAMINA AND WORK RATE:
Basically, I studied a lot of
tapes on him, and I studied to break his style down, because he doesn't have an American
style. You can't just go in the ring, no matter how good you are, in my opinion, and
think, I'm good, without studying your opponents, what their strengths and
weaknesses are and then making a game plan. So I just trained my whole camp with a game
plan to destroy him, which is what I was successful in doing.
To tell you the truth, people don't realize it -- and maybe they'll never realize it fully
-- but stamina comes from getting in shape, but more so, it comes from determination. Once
you're in shape, your conditioning is only going to take you so far. But your mind, if
you're tired and you're telling yourself that -- well, then, you're tired. If you want to
be tired, then you're tired. If you don't want to be tired, then you're not tired.
The key is building your mind up to be strong enough to say, I'm not tired. Because
the body is a vessel, a vehicle, and the body's going to do whatever the mind tells it to
do.
I mean, if somebody's chasing you with a gun, and you know your life is on the line,
you're not going to quit running 'cause you're tired, because your mind isn't going to
allow that. Now, if somebody doesn't have a gun and you're just running, well then, at
some point, you're going to stop, because, why? You're tired! So, it's mind over matter.
If he don't mind, it don't matter!
ON WHAT HE DOES TO TRAIN HIS MIND
I study a lot of
martial arts and I meditate a lot, just trying to clear my mind. They say when you pray to
God, you're asking God, but when you meditate, he's answering you. I don't necessarily say
it comes in a form of words. I just feel it's something that you have to find out for
yourself. I can't answer it.
ON HOW IT FELT WHEN HE BEAT WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO TO WIN THE WBO
HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE:
I guess for me it was more of a shocking thing, and I
use the word shock because all my life, since I was a kid, when I decided I want to
be a champion, I always asked God to let me be a world champion.
So, it wasn't about fighting him. I mean, I didn't think much of him anyway. But, for me
to actually become a world champion, which is something I've always prayed to God
for!
Imagine, you're always praying, hoping and wishing for something for many years of your
life and one day it happens. It's just...[a sense of] awe. It's just something you could
not explain. For a long time, I was in shock, even when I had my first title defense. I
still it hadn't sank in that, hey, I'm the heavyweight champion of the world.
ON HIS TOP FIVE MOMENTS IN BOXING:
I think my
first professional fight was one of my top moments in boxing, because of all the questions
of, can I do it? and I just went through a divorce, I just lost the only guy on
earth I really considered a big brother, I just lost in the semifinals of the Olympic
Trials, so for me, winning that first fight, it was just like, wow.
Then the second event in my life would be I fought a guy one time and I hit him with a jab
so hard that I knocked him out! They came over and searched; he told me, "Come over," and
he inspected my gloves right in the middle of the ring because he swore I had something in
them. I mean that was something!
Another moment would have probably been when I fought Clifford Ettiene, which I lost. I
found out something about myself in that fight. Another moment would have been fighting
Klitschko and winning the heavyweight title of the world.
ON HIS TOP THREE MOMENTS IN LIFE:
Really, I would
say everyday looking at my son, because I never imagined myself having a son. I always
thought I would have girls for some reason. But, I have a son, and every time I look at
him, it's like something that I could never, ever express, in terms of gratefulness and
happiness. Another thing would probably be just when I'm on a plane looking out the window
and just seeing a beautiful sky, man, just incredible! Another thing would be when I'm
reading the Bible sometimes, man, and I'm all alone, and I just feel like when I just read
and reading, I just feel like I really get a great understanding of what it is that God
would have for me, not everybody else, but just for me to do, how he would want me to be.
So, those are the three things that stick out most in my mind.
ON RECONCILING THE FOLLOWING: PRIOR TO FACING GOLOTA, COMPARING
HIMSELF TO AN F-16 FIGHTER AND GOLOTA TO A B-52 BOMBER, SAYING ESSENTIALLY THAT IF HE JUST
STOOD STILL AND LET GOLOTA BOMB AWAY, HE MIGHT GET BOMBED OUT, BUT BY USING QUICKNESS HE
WOULD TAKE IT TO GOLOTA; SAYING THAT AGAINST ETTIENNE, HE TRIED TO SLUG WITH HIM AND
FORGOT HIS BOXING SKILLS AND TORE HIS KNEE CARTILAGE; AND RECENTLY SAYING THAT NO ONE
COULD STAND TOE-TO-TOE WITH LAMON AND SURVIVE:
When I fought Ettienne, he didn't stand toe-to-toe with me. If you really study the fight,
what he had was a good system that he used, and I wish he wouldn't have gotten away from
it, 'cause I think that's what was the downfall of his career: he used to throw shots and
then he would get into that Joe Frazier crouch so low that the punches would just slide
off of him. He stopped doing that. So, I think that was the thing that I was trying to
make across when I said about Golota standing in front of me, because in my career, I've
never had a man just stand toe-to-toe with me and blow-for-blow, and just throw shots with
me. No one's ever done that.
ON HIS BATTLE WITH KALI MEEHAN:
No. Kali didn't
stand toe-to-toe with me. Kali boxed, stepped back, he moved left, he moved right; he
tried to suck me in. You know, he didn't stand toe-to-toe with me at all.
ON IF HE WERE TO FIGHT SOMEONE LIKE HASIM RAHMAN, OLIVER MCCALL,
OR SAM PETER, WOULD HE STAND TOE-TO-TOE OR USE BOXING SKILLS INSTEAD:
I
don't know. I would have to study tapes on them and find out what their true strengths and
weaknesses are. You know, you don't fight fire with fire, and you never give a man what he
expects, or you're already defeated before you step in the ring.
ON HIS SPARRING SESSIONS WITH JAMES TONEY, AND TONEY'S CLAIMS
THAT HE GOT THE BEST OF BREWSTER, AND HOW BREWSTER WOULD HE APPROACH A FIGHT WITH
TONEY:
[Laughs] Well, I'll say this much: He definitely had his days, but I had my days!
He just failed to mention that I had my days, too. You know? [Laughs]
If I had to fight him, I feel as though it would be very successful in my behalf. I won't
go into detail about it, because I haven't fought him and there's a chance that we may.
So, I don't want to spill the beans on that! I don't want my enemies or my opponents to
ever hear what I have for them in terms of strategy. So, I won't reveal that.
ON HOW HE FEELS ABOUT JAMES TONEY PERSONALLY, AS WELL AS HOW
EVERYONE HAS A ROLE TO PLAY IN LIFE:
Oh, man, I love James Toney! I think
he's a great person, once you get to know him, and I think he's great for boxing. The
thing that makes James Toney -- as well as other fighters -- unique is that they all have
their own personalities, man. We're all individuals. If everyone was like me, wouldn't
boxing be boring? But then, if everybody was like James, wouldn't boxing be crazy?
So, I think it balances out. I think everyone has a role in life to play, period. You
know, everybody's not Martha Stewart. But, everybody, at the same time, is not the
homeless man on the street. That's what balance is all about. So, I would never say to
anybody, even the worst foul-mouthed person on earth that they're wrong. I mean, hey man,
we all got roles to play. So you play your roles.
If everybody was just a good citizen, we'd have so many people out of jobs -all the CIA,
DEA, all the police forces, all the sheriffs -- I mean, we'd have a lot of homeless
standing on the corners! I mean, they ought to thank God that there is some crime; it
gives them jobs. Thank God that we need politicians. Thank God that people's toilets do
break and electricity is needed, because, hey man, we all got roles to play!
ON WHETHER HE WAS SURPRISED ON THE BREVITY OF HIS BOUT AGAINST
ANDREW GOLOTA:
No, I didn't care. I was just ready to fight for 12 rounds
hard. I never go into the ring with my mind set that there's some specific round that I'm
going to knock a person out. It's just, Did I come to bring war, not peace? So, if
you're who I'm fighting, from the first round until the last bell, you got to watch your
chin because I'm trying to check it!
ON WHERE HE RANKS HIMSELF AMONGST THE MULTIPLE HEAVYWEIGHT
CHAMPIONS TODAY:
In my mind, being honest, I feel that I am the heavyweight
of all heavyweights, only because of my track record. You look at the people I've fought,
you look at my current activity, I think it speaks for itself. Nobody giving me a title! I
haven't fought any real ugly, boring fights. People want excitement? That's what they get.
They want knockouts? That's what they get, and so I bring that.
It's not even important, but I'll just say this much: I feel just comparing myself,
because I'm a realistic person; if anybody can tell me why I should not say I'm number
one, well then, let's just have a debate about it. I've been the most active, I've had the
best fights, so if anybody can explain to me the reason why, I'll just like to
know.
ON PEOPLE WHO SAY THAT HIS LOSSES TO ETIENNE AND SHUFFORD DISCREDIT HIM:
Show me one fighter in the history of boxing, with
the exception of Rocky Marciano, who never lost a fight. Roy Jones lost a fight. Sugar Ray
Leonard, Muhammad Ali -- the greatest of all times! You got ignorance in this world, and
some people are just very ignorant. Show me one fighter who's not undefeated except Floyd
Mayweather. But, he's not finished fighting yet! He may suffer a loss. I mean, hey man,
show me! I mean even one heavyweight, with the exception of Marciano, everybody. I mean,
Marvin Hagler, my idol; James Toney; Julio Cesar Chavez, one of the greatest fighters of
all time, he was defeated. Show me one fighter who was not!
I mean, if people want to harbor on a loss? I mean, that just goes to show their own
ignorance, and they're not true fans of boxing, 'cause it's a sweet science. The science
is, "Okay, Lamon Brewster lost, but what happened? Did Lamon Brewster continue to lose?
No, Lamon Brewster got better and became heavyweight champion of the world." But your
ignorance only allows you to see that I lost.
That just goes to show that we're all individuals, man, and everybody's got their own
makeups in life about what they think, see and feel. No matter what, you can look at a cup
on Sunday at 4 o'clock and we'll write it down on paper and it'll still be a different
answer.
ON THE PHENOMENON OF FIGHTERS FIRING TRAINERS, MOST NOTABLY OSCAR
DE LA HOYA AND EVANDER HOLYFIELD, AND RECENT STATEMENTS BY BREWSTER'S TRAINER, JESSE REID,
THAT LAMON WAS LETTING HE AND HIS TEAM GO:
Well, I won't even get into it.
But, I'll just say I have my own personal reasons why -- first of all, I did not fire my
team; I only let Jesse Reid go. My team is not fired; they're my team of four guys that
I've been knowing since I was a kid, so they're not fired.
And, as far as Jesse Reid, I'm not saying, "Oh, he's fired." I'm just saying I'm not using
his services anymore. See, the difference between being fired and not using your service
anymore is because I haven't told Jesse, "You're fired." And Jesse worked with me for two
fights. So, it's not like I'm firing you. It's just that I don't choose to pay you for
your services anymore. I'm going to use someone else's services. So, I don't want you to
look at it like you're being fired. You know, who's to say down the road, if things don't
work out, I won't be back? But, if you go around bad-mouthing me, I won't come back.
ON HIS RESPONSE TO AN ARTICLE RECENTLY PUBLISHED IN A JESUIT
MAGAZINE CLAIMING BOXING IS A FORM OF PRACTICED MURDER BECAUSE BOXERS ALLEGEDLY GO IN TO
HURT AND POSSIBLY KILL THEIR OPPONENTS, AND THEREFORE CALLED FOR ITS BAN. [EDITOR'S NOTE:
THERE WERE OTHER ARGUMENTS SAYING THE OPPOSITE, MOST NOTABLY FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF
CHRISTIANITY TODAY. HOWEVER, BREWSTER'S RESPONSE TO THE JESUIT MAGAZINE ARTICLE AS
FOLLOWS]:
I think they're the biggest hypocrites in the world, because Christianity was built on
murder. I mean, even the very place, was it the pope who said that? [I tell Lamon that,
no, it was a Jesuit magazine.] Okay, because I'll tell you like this: Name me one country
in this world, one city, that wasn't taken with blood. Okay? Every war that's been fought
-- even wars that's being fought today -- why are they fighting over in Iraq and Iran? I
mean, it's about oil, but it started with religious beliefs!
I mean, God says in the Bible, "I come to bring war, not peace." The Israelites, when God
brought them out of Israel and took them to the land of Canaan, what did God say? He said,
"Here's the land of milk and honey. Now go into the land of Canaan and smite the
Canaanites. He didn't say, "Go into the land and, oh, it's yours, and you pick a spot, and
you pick a spot." He said smite. Smite means kill. And all throughout the Bible, these
Jesuits, as they call themselves, God himself has used others to murder others. And, I'm
not murdering anybody! All I'm doing is trying to provide some food on the table for my
family. But, all the sudden, I'm wrong?
You're wrong! 'Cause the Bible, first off, says, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." So, you
shouldn't even open your mouth! Because, instead of me boxing, since I don't have a
degree, I could be breaking into your house! I could be robbing you, you know, I could be
doing anything ignorant. But, no, instead what I try to do is, as I see it, the most
positive thing in the world: capture the world heavyweight title and go and speak to as
many kids as I can, including your kids, and your kids and your kids, and tell them about
how important education is! You know, because I think it's very important to use my status
to try to give to all communities.
They say it takes a village to raise your kids. Well, our villages haven't been doing too
good raising our kids if you've got 12-year-olds running around with guns. They might not
look up to their parents, but they'll look up to the heavyweight champion of the world. I
tell you the difference: If we were in a coliseum, and they pushed me into this coliseum,
and locked the doors and told me I had to fight or they were going to kill me [that would
be bad]. But when you get a man and another man who get in there with protected gloves,
with another man in the ring just to make sure there's no foul play, hopefully, and at the
end of the day, you both can go home and say, 'here, honey, I've got some money we can put
in a bank so we can pay our gas, we can drive our cars, we can afford to put the kids
through a nice school and put the food on the table. I mean, everybody's not a doctor;
everybody's not a scholar! I mean, it's easier to do bad than to do good.
So, instead of saying, "They won't pay me now; they won't give me a job at the
unemployment office," or "I'll put in these applications and the food's running out; we
don't have no life and we're getting evicted, so what can I do? It'll take too long even
if I got a job to go and get some money. Well, I'm going to go rob somebody; I'm going to
go steal."
These people just don't see that. You know why? They're eating everyday. They've got the
scholarships. God blessed them with knowledge and wisdom to be able to go out and get a
job. Well, everybody don't fall into the same shoes that they do. But, they too ignorant
to understand that!
ON HOW HIS FAITH MESHES WITH THE DANGEROUS AND VIOLENT SPORT THAT
HE'S TAKEN ON AS A CAREER:
Well, there's two ways that I would sum it up.
First off, when God gives you a gift, He doesn't say, "What gift do you want?" He doesn't
lay something down before you and say, "Okay, you want to be a teacher? Okay, you want to
be a dentist? Okay, you want to be a singer?" No! He says, "I give you a gift, and this is
what I give you. I give you your road, and I give you my road. Now, I'm not going to say
my road is easy; I'm not going to say how long it is; I'm not going to say anything. All
I'm going to say is this is my road and if you walk this path with Me, I'm not going to
tell you what's in store for you. But, me being God that I am, I love you! I'm going to
provide for you." And that's what he does.
I had two roads in life. Man, when I found out that I could box -- and I've been boxing
all my life -- when it really dawned on me that this is my gift, I tried to sing, I tried
filling out those college applications, and probably could have gone to college. But, you
know, man, how frustrating it was for a guy like me who supports four kids, mother got a
part-time job, wasn't a father he could have been? I didn't make the grades to get the
full-ride scholarship, so you know how hard and frustrating it was for me to try to go to
college!
And, even if I did have the smarts to do what I wanted to do, when I had the talent that
said, "Okay, if you take the chance. No, there's no college education, but you can still
read books on your spare time." And, so, I stepped out on faith. I prayed to God. I said,
"God, you know, this is a gift you gave me." And, I can tell you everyday, even right now
as we're speaking, there's never one day that I've ever woke up and said, "Oh, I want to
hit somebody," or "Oh, I want somebody to hit me." Never ever! But I recognize, you know
what? God has given me this gift.
Now, I could go work at McDonald's, 'cause that's probably all I qualify for, or I can go
into this ring and I could take care of my family and I can get me a six- or seven-figure
house, make some money and go travel the whole world. Or, I can hope that one of these
factories where I live will call me back and maybe give me a job.
I've got to be stupid out of my mind not to take this road that God gave me, that He
didn't say would be easy, long or hardÑHe just said that this is the gift. In summing that
up, that's just the way I feel about it. I don't do what I do because I want to; I do what
I do 'cause I have to. This is the way I'll survive.
I mean, why do people become plumbers? Do you think they want to be plumbers? Do you think
people want to pick up trash? No, they pick up trash because that's what they do; that's
where the chips fell for them. And, I mean, I thank God for letting me become heavyweight
champion of the world, as opposed to plunging somebody's toilet, or even fixing somebody's
teeth and smelling their breath. I don't even want to do that!
ON WHAT HELPS KEEP HIM MOTIVATED DAY IN AND DAY
OUT:
You know, [the threat of falling back on] the government assistance, the food stamps, all
that and wanting something better for my children, it makes me fight with unbelievable
resilience, so to speak!
ON HIS TIMELINE AT 31 YEARS OF AGE AND WHETHER HE WANTS TO FIGHT
ANOTHER FIVE YEARS:
No, I don't want to fight for another five years. First
of all, I would like to have a unification [of the various organizations' heavyweight
titles], I would like to have some meaningful fights, and I would like to retire.
As I say, there is no day I get up thinking, I want to hit somebody or I want to
be hit. I get up everyday saying, "God, please let my motor skills still be intact so
that I can be able to talk to my kids," 'cause I have a son who's an heir to the thrown.
He's Lamon Brewster Jr., and I want to make sure that, unlike my father, I'm with him
every step of the way of his life and that he knows what morals and values are; that he is
motivated by me every single day to try to be the best that he can be, and try to push his
education, which is so important! And, I don't feel that that can occur if I'm steady out
there trying to be a professional fighter, because then I'm putting my life at risk.
Which, the worst-case scenario is that my life can be taken, but at least if it's taken,
my family will be taken care of. But, all the same, I want to retire and be able to speak
to my kids.
ON WHAT HE WANTS TO DO AFTER BOXING:
I have a lot
of investment things I want to do with real estate; I was thinking of opening up this
medical clinic where we help people who've had a stroke, a heart attack, and diabetes. So,
I've really been into that. And I really like talking to kids, so I would like to go and
continue to speak to kids because it's like man, people don't really understand.
It's like you forget your childhood. But you forget that the people that forced you were
people older than you. So, if I can take some time out of my life, and with me being the
former heavyweight champion of the world, to one kid out of a million, maybe, I might make
a difference. And, if I can do that, well, then, I can be so happy for the rest of my
life.
ON HIS FINAL THOUGHTS:
I always like to say in
ending that anybody who hears this is that you can be anything in this world you want to
be, if you apply yourself to it, if you believe in yourself. For me, it was having faith
in God because God said, "If you stand, I'll fight for you." So, my thing was having faith
in God and having faith in myself, because when I was growing up, everybody was bigger
than me, stronger than me, faster than me. But the things that I've found that make
success aren't necessarily your talents. It's your faith and it's your will.
So, I always tell people, "If your mother, if your father, if your friends, if anybody has
anything negative to say about you, don't listen. If anything, as we're talking about
nervous energy, allow that negativity to be fuel in your fire, and that will push you."
Every time people told me that I couldn't, I proved them wrong. It wasn't that I wanted to
succeed so that people could say, "Oh, yeah, we knew you could make it." I wanted to
succeed so that people who told me that I couldn't do it, so that I could prove them
wrong. 'Cause I didn't ever want nobody look me in my face and be like, "Yeah, I told you,
you were going to get knocked out."
That's what I have to say.
Contact Juan C. Ayllon at
editors@cyberboxingzone.com.
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