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06/17/2005 Archived Entry: "Chicago Middleweight David Estrada Talks about Upcoming Fight and His Career!"

Chicago Middleweight David Estrada Talks about Upcoming Fight and His Career!

By Juan C. Ayllon

ToroAndDavidEstrada (55k image)

David Estrada (right) with Angel Hernandez (Juan C. Ayllon photo)

CHICAGO, June 17, 2005 – David “The Weezel” Estrada (7-3-0, 5 KO’s) is a tall and lanky middleweight boxer at 6’ 1”. Upon meeting him, one is immediately struck with his large toothy smile, his affable nature and his incredible ability to talk a mile a minute. If he wasn’t a boxer, it’s quite likely that he’d be in sales somewhere making a six-figure income, such is his likeability and his gift for gab. In fact, if he isn’t talking to you, he’s probably talking with someone else on his cell phone.

In the ring, Estrada has demonstrated a solid defense, a decent chin and a good ability to mix his punches smoothly and well. The criticism, as in his loss to undefeated Chicago middleweight prospect Michael Walker, is that sometimes he does not let his hands go nearly enough.

This past Tuesday, Estrada fought transplanted Floridian Brian Chairy (8-4-1, 1 KO) at the St. Petersburg Coliseum in St. Petersburg, Florida on national television via ESPN2’s Tuesday Night Fights and let his hands go. As a result, he stopped Chairy just inside of five rounds.

Keeping busy trying to ply his trade and gain national exposure, Estrada is already preparing for his next televised fight on July 8 against undefeated Elvin Ayala (11-0-0, 4 KO’s).

David Estrada took a few moments from a hectic Friday afternoon to visit with the Cyber Boxing Zone in this exclusive interview.

DAVID ESTRADA: Sorry I was running late in calling you back. I was on a motorcycle so I didn’t want to take a chance!

On his upcoming fight versus Ayala:

On July the 8th I will be fighting Elvin Ayala who is 11-0 with four kayos. He is the pride of New Haven, Connecticut. We’ll be going to fight him in his backyard on Telefutura’s Tele Boxeo.

This last fight I was an opponent I stopped their guy [Brian Chairy] in his hometown and I proved him wrong.

This guy’s a boxer; I don’t know how hard he can hit. I’m not underestimating him. He’s not 11-0 for nothing. I took this fight because I know I can beat him. If I let my hands go, I can win; if I get in my turtle shell, I’m not going to win any fights.

If you want to win, you’ve got to play; if you don’t play, you won’t win.

He’s a prospect, he sells a lot of tickets, I’m the co-main event.

The main event is Rogers Mtagwa vs. Joe Morales [for the USBA Featherweight title]. The co-main event will be Elvin Ayala vs. David Estrada!

Me and my coach, George Hernandez agree: we’ve got to beat these guys. He’s not 11-0 for nothing. We’ve got to fight these fights. They’ve faxed me the contract. Tonight, I’m going to initial it. It’s a done deal.

If I can win this fight, hopefully, it will open up doors. First things first, let me beat this guy; I’ve got to believe in myself. I’ve got a lot of distractions, but I’m trying to put that to the side and focus on boxing.

I’ve still got a lot of mistakes that I’m making but I’ve got to keep on fighting to learn. Each fight should be a learning experience. I’m trying to stay busy.

On his losses:

I consider myself an up and coming prospect, even though I’ve got three blemishes.

In the first loss, against Alberto Mercedes [9-5-1, 6 KO's at the time], I broke my hand in the second round and I fought the ending of the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth round with one hand. That was my right hand…my fourth and fifth metacarpal that I broke; they call it a boxer’s break. I believe he was 8-11 and something. That was my fifth fight against a guy with nine wins, five losses and one draw. That was a pretty big step up, but of course, I never drop out to anybody. He was a last minute sub for someone else. I didn’t know what to do [with a broken hand]...

My second loss was against Michael Walker [4-0-0, 4 KO's at the time], who was another guy that people didn’t want to fight. He was 5-0. I didn’t let my hands go—when I did let my hands go, I did some damage but you’ve got to let your hands go.

My third loss was against Aundalen Sloan [then 4-10-2, 2 KO's]. That fight was total robbery; in fact, he said that fight, you’ll get a rematch. I lost that by split decision. Everyone knows that was “home cooking.” Bottom line, on paper, it says an “L.” I almost got him. But almost doesn’t count.

Hopefully, [with] my losses, I’ll get rematches.

The last guy I fought [Brian Chairy] was in his home state and he was 8-3-1 in Saint Petersburg at the Saint Petersburg Coliseum.

A lot of guys don’t want to leave their state or whatever because they feel by staying home, they’ll get the decision, the “home cooking,” just like Aundelen did.

You know when Roy Jones fought Montell Griffith the first time, he didn’t lose; he blew him out in the rematch. However, it doesn’t matter. It went down in the book as a loss.

I’m not a sore loser. Michael Walker beat me. Aundelen Sloan didn’t beat me. But it’s on the books.

I’m very fortunate to be getting all the TV coverage that I’ve gotten. There’s a lot of people who don’t get that much TV exposure; I fought twice on Telefutura’s Tele Boxeo—I’m one and one on Telefutura—and I’ve fought twice on ESPN; I’m 2 and O on ESPN.

Hopefully, I get exposed and I get a call.

On his strengths:

I’ve got the height, I’ve got the reach, I’ve got the power, I’ve got the skills, I’ve just got to put it all together. I’ve got a great defense; like Winky Wright’s. 80 percent of boxing is mental. I’m a good fighter. I’ve just got to overcome some distractions.

On gaining valuable training in sparring:

I’ve trained with Fernando Vargas. Obviously they like me; they told me they’d like to use me again. I got a call from Kermit Cintron’s camp. I was training with them in Redding, PA; I actually got him ready for his last fight versus Antonio Margarito. He had a lot of distractions—I spoke with him afterwards. He’ll be back.

They wanted me to fight on their card, even in July, but I don’t think I’ll be able to make it with my big fight coming up.

You need to get your butt kicked once in a while; how are you going to learn otherwise. The old school way is to train with better guys.

You don’t want to be eating right hands all the time, don’t get me wrong. You want something different, that’s what you need. You need different styles to learn from each person: you want to spar with brawlers, tall people, short people, and fast people.

On dealing with adversity:

Every fighter deals with adversity; you’ve got to learn to put it to the side. I have personal problems I choose not to discuss. Whether it’s financial, whether it’s personal, whether people are talking wrong about you—that you’ve never fought anybody. I try not to listen to that; I try to turn into negatives, but turn them into positives.

If you told me five years ago that I would have been boxing professional, I would have told you no.

It takes a lot of guts, a lot of moxxy to fight in front of thousands of people.

This isn’t basketball. You can’t depend on anyone. Boxing is an individual sport. It’s hard. It’s mental also. Of course, you need some skills; don’t get me wrong.

As far as problems, it’s just personal stuff; I will prevail. That’s life. That’s life. Everyone goes through it. You’ve just got to cope with it.

On his current training:

I took two days off. I was already training today. [In Tuesday’s fight against Chairy] I didn’t take a beating, I didn’t get cut, [and] the guy didn’t really hit me. I was more tired from the plane trip. I didn’t sleep good; it took six hours to get home because it took two hours to get from Chicago to Atlanta. We had to wait, we took a cheap airline…

I’m still a little tired. I started my roadwork; I started my conditioning today. Monday I’ll be back in the gym working on what I need to work on, being tall, moving my head, working on my jab, making the person move.

On his interactions with ESPN2 commentator and famed trainer Teddy Atlas:

Teddy Atlas made a couple comments and I talked with him after the fight and he said I’ve got all the physical attributes to be a world champion. When you hear that from a legendary coach/trainer—‘You’ve got what it takes,’--it motivates you. [He said,] ‘You don’t have to go in there at his level and brawl with him and make it a fight in a phone booth.’ I told him, 'Youre right!'

[Atlas continued] ‘Make an imaginary line, and once they cross that imaginary line—which is at the end of your punch, make them pay—boom, boom!-–and get out.’ Make them miss and make them pay. Keep these people at the end of my punch, use my reach, use my height.

And, as he said, I’ve got a great defense, but [he said] ‘You don’t have to block every punch; move your head.’ He’s like, ‘Move your head.’

Teddy Atlas likes me; I like him; he’s good people. He remembered me from when I fought Shay Mobley. We went out to dinner and he was there. I ran into him again at some fights at the Rosemont. He remembers me. What do you know, I ran into him last Tuesday!

So he sees some good attributes in me. A lot of people do, but I’ve got to believe in me. Of course, you’ve got to be in physical shape.

On feeling nervous about a fight:

Of course, I’m nervous; everyone’s nervous. If you’re not nervous, you’re not fighting.If you’re fighting and you say you’re not nervous, you're so full of sh-- that your eyes are brown!

Every fighter deals with nerves. I’m more nervous outside of the ring than when I’m inside. I’m thinking how does he hit, how is he going to come at me, is this guy powerful, is he a puncher.?

On fighting a southpaw:

Hey, my last fight, I trained hard my last fight. I didn’t know he was a southpaw. I went in there on natural instinct. That’s a dangerous fight. I didn’t train with a southpaw. I was like, Sh--. I hate fighting southpaws. This was my second southpaw I fought in my career and I was victorious against both of them. Lefties make you look bad. You’ve been trained to hit right-handed punchers. It’s like in baseball, they say that left handers have the advantage. I don‘t know if that’s bullsh—. But that’s what they say.

My last fight—you have to be ready—I didn’t like the way I looked. I give myself a C-plus or a C minus. I’m my worst critic. A lot of it had to do with the fact that I didn’t train for a southpaw.

On how he got into boxing:

[Heavyweight contender] Fres Oquendo is the one who got me into amateur boxing. I met him playing basketball in a tournament.

I was fighting in underground fights, just like the movie, The Fight Club. It was just like it. It was boxing that was not sanctioned. They tried to match you up by weight, but it was never that way. If you were 160 pounds and there was no around your weight and the nearest person to your weight was 178 pounds, that is who you would be fighting. They matched me up with this one short Puerto Rican guy, I just wanted to see what I had. He was about 173 pounds, I was 160 and I knocked him at about a minute and a half. I met Fres about a month later.

A friend introduced me to Fres. They told me he was a professional fighter. I heard about him. He told me to come to Hamlin Park. I took his advice. I was just doing it for fun. [Standout amateur trainer] Bill Heglin saw me and said if you’re serious, I’ll work with you.

I was coming every day and I was improving. I fought in some exhibition park district fights, I started winning and got myself better. Then I boxed in the Golden Gloves. I’m a four time golden glove finalist. I always made it to the top and always made second. Almost doesn’t count.

Bill Heglin was my amateur coach. A lot of good amateur standouts came out of that gym, like Fres Oquendo, David Diaz, Luis Perez, Jerry Lazar—a lot of good fighters came from there, and of course, me. Also, Francisco Tafoya came from there.

He teaches you basics, he teaches you to throw straight punches.

In fact, if I could, I’d have him train me now. However, he works strictly with amateurs. That’s his thing and I respect that.

[My trainer] George Hernandez is a good trainer; he knows the game, he’s been around boxing for over 32 years. You know, Rudy Cisneros, Michael Bennett, Eddie White, he’s dealt with a lot of good people.

And, hey, what do you know? I’m here today, fighting professional with a good record of seven wins, three losses and five knockouts.

But don’t be too enthused about the losses. They were early in my career.

On his willingness to take fights:

I’ll fight anybody if the fight is right meaning it’s the right person; if they come tomorrow and it’s [World Middleweight Champion] Bernard Hopkins, I’m not going to fight that fight; [by fighting anybody, I mean anybody] that’s pretty much at my level that I know that I can beat.

This guy I’m fighting is 11-0. You’ve got to take some chances. I’ve got to beat these kind of people. Hopefully, it’ll open up some doors.

Closing Comments:

I want to think you, Juan Ayllon, and the Cyber Boxing Zone for the publicity. Hopefully, I’ll be victorious and be coming back to Chicago with the win on July the 8th!

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