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10/20/2005 Archived Entry: "Former Chicago Golden Gloves Star Donavan George Looks to the Stars and Beyond!"
Former Chicago Golden Gloves Star Donavan George Looks to the Stars and Beyond!
By Juan C. Ayllon
Donavan George (left) lands a potent jab on Wayne Hajicek earlier this year (Juan C. Ayllon photo)
CHICAGO – In a town renowned for its “Second City” status, especially when it comes to boxing, super middleweight boxer Donavan George is looking to break out of the mold and spearhead a surge of young Chicago boxers toward world title honors.
Undefeated at 6-0-1 with 5 knockouts, this lanky and good-looking kid is the first American boxer signed by Cestus Boxing, a boxing management team founded by CEO Mike Michael. Michael built up his finances and contacts while working for Panix Promotions. Based in the United Kingdom and owned by the former outstanding heavyweight champion, Lennox Lewis, and Panos Eliades, it promoted all of Lewis’ fights until the first Hassim Rahman bout. After that match, Michael moved to the U.S. and created Cestus Management. Michael feels that George can go all the way to the top.
In a candid interview, Donavan George and Mike Michael discussed George’s career at length.
On how George is doing:
DONAVAN GEORGE: Doing good. How about yourself?
(Michaels laughs).
On how he felt about his last win over Allan Medina in Las Vegas:
DG: That’s just what we wanted, that’s just how we planned it to end and, you know, later on in the fight, that’s just what we wanted. It was a real good fight for me, basically. Everything went well. I ended it with a bomb on his jaw. I couldn’t have planned it more perfect than that.
MIKE MICHAEL: It was sensational work, sensational!
On whether or not he intends on avenging his only draw against an aggressive Marcus Hicks in his third fight:
DG: You know, if it comes down to it, absolutely. You know, I think there were a lot of things that could have went different in that fight. But that’s up to my management team, 100 percent. I don’t think that’s going to prove anything. I know I’m a better fighter now by the route that we both took [Editor’s note: Marcus Hicks, who was 2-2-0, 1 KO at the time is now 5-3-1 with 2 KO’s]. And, if it comes to that down the road and I have to fight him and beat him, then I will.
MM: Well, let me just give you something of some import on there, Juan: if you look through it and you admit that you did, the kid is not even in Don’s league. So, that’s past history. By the time that boy could reach the level where Don’s reaching, okay, we’re going to be on planet Pluto. So, I can’t even predict the fight ever happening. You know what I mean?
DG: “The planet Pluto”—I like that one, Mike!
On Donavan George’s growth and adaptability as a fighter, noting that local middleweight David Estrada once said that George was nothing special when he started out, but improved greatly over time and became more impressive, as well as his tactics in his bout against Ed Humes, a professional opponent who never the less kayoed another young amateur star, Rudy Cisneros in his pro debut with a sneaky left hook to the temple when Cisneros ducked low; versus Hume, George covered the right side of his head when he ducked low once and immediately blocked a hook from Hume:
DG: Well, we knew that that’s how he knocked Rudy out. He came out and that was his only chance to beat Rudy. And Rudy’s a tough fighter, as you know. And, he knew that the only way he could get him was to catch him early when he’s cold, and he caught Rudy. And [when I fought Humes] we were looking for that big left hook. The bell was ringing, so I took my time and I ended it in the first round—I don’t know if you were at that fight. I hit him with a pretty big shot in the jaw and I knew he was done right there.
But, we were looking for that hook. Me and my dad, we were patient, so I covered up the first few, see what you have in front of you, figure it out and go to work. So, that’s what we did. We followed the game plan.
On his strengths as a fighter:
DG: I think determination, my punching power and, mostly, my will to win and, you know, never back down, never take a step back.
On things he’d like to improve on:
DG: Sure! I’d like to grow about three inches.
MM: (laughing).
DG: And, um, well yeah, the only thing I need is keep on getting experience. You know, better sparring partners and I’ll take whatever I can learn from anyone I can get it. So, any coach that has advice, you know we’ll listen. If we don’t like it, we’ll (bleep) can it. If we like it, we’ll take it in and work on it.
On whether he’s still training in Chicago:
DG: Yeah, I’m still out of Brooks Park and Windy City [Gyms].
Regarding the criticism leveled on Chicago by some fighters that the City of Chicago lacks for good training:
DG: It’s there if you go out, and get it and find it. That’s why we travel, you know, we go from like three to four different gyms. You know, that’s correct: if you stay at the same gym, you’re not going to get any work. So, me and my dad, we travel everywhere around Chicago to all the parks, set up sparring sessions with whoever we can, you know, anytime of the day, we go out and get it done.
MM: Let me just add to that. Well, Don will most definitely be going to training camps, Juan, as well. You know what I mean? Because certain times, we’ll have a tremendous setup where we’ve got training camps where we put the fighters as they progress at certain stages. You know what I mean? He’s not just going to be just staying in Chicago. That’s why we’ve got him fighting out of Chicago, now: it’s because we want to get the exposure around the country so everyone knows who he is. You know what I mean?
On Donavan’s relationship with his father:
DG: Well, he’s my father, trainer, and best friend. You know, that’s the best way I could describe it. So, I mean, we’re real close, you know, inside and outside of the ring. You know, I take his word to the grave: anything he says, you know, I’ll do immediately. So, I’m one of those lucky ones that have the good people behind me. You know, between my father and with Mike and Cestus, I’ve got great people backing me. It gives me anything and all the support I need.
On how he came to Cestus Boxing:
MM: Well, basically, I’ve got a Greek media guy in Chicago that does some media for me. And he said to me, ‘You need to look at this Irish-Greek kid.’
So, I said, ‘Okay.’ So, he sent me over some details and then I caught Pete, his dad, and he said, ‘You want to come and take a look at the kid?’ And I came and took a look at him and I was very, very, very impressed and I realized that this kid has real, real talent, Juan, okay? And basically, he needs a support system that is going to expose that talent to everybody. And that’s what Cestus Management does: it’s the maker of champions.
So, what we did is put the deal together. I believe Don can go straight to the top. A lot of people in Chicago disbelieve that, but they can kiss my (bleep), you know what I mean? Excuse my language, why I said that, you know because I really believe that the kid has the tools: I see desire, I see a will to win, I see technical ability, and I see championship pedigree all over him. And I can say that because I used to work for Lennox Lewis for 10 years. You know what I mean?
I know fighters. I’ve been all over the world scouting fighters for Lennox Lewis’ company when we were going into the Eastern Bloc and so forth and finding Abdullaev, and Tokchev (?), and Vassiliy Jirov—I was one of the chief guys that found those guys for Lennox Lewis’ company, ‘cause they were with Lennox before, okay? And you know, I know talent when I see it.
Chicago boxing, at the moment, is going through a phase. I think it’s going to change very shortly. You can’t just fight, when you’re in pro boxing, in one town; you’ve got to go on the road. You’ve got to get people to see you, you’ve got to build a fan base, you’ve got to build popularity, and this kid’s got it: he’s got the charisma, he’s got the style, and he’s got the looks. In my opinion, he’s got ‘Champion’ written all over him, stamp of approval, you know what I mean?
So, we’re ready to put some major resources behind this kid, as a company. And, I know I can take this kid as far as he can go, and that means he can go to the title! And, that’s my profound belief.
On some sort of timeline for Donavan’s career:
MM: What we’re going to do now is this: we’re going to take him and make him a main event fighter in the next 15 to 18 months. Basically, we’ll catapult him into the position due to his age: of being eligible to fight for the WBC World Youth Title. And we think that’s a suitable championship for him to have, make a couple defenses, get a world ranking, and while he’s doing those defenses—because again of his age—he will most definitely become a Show Box fighter.
On whether they have specific fighters they want to fight:
MM: Well, not really, because Don, at the moment, we’re taking him back to school; he’s basically going to go fight around the country—Vegas, Atlantic City, California—I haven’t got a specific fighter on my agenda at the moment until I go championship hunting. You know what I mean? Basically, once he gets to the youth title, whoever gets in front of him is going to get annihilated, you know what I mean? And, I feel that [in] 24 months, Don will be world-ranked and will be up there in the top five, and then we’re going to take another real close look at which direction we’re going in.
On how Donavan trains with weights and running:
DG: Well, yeah, I lift lighter weights, but more repetitions. But that’s maybe once or twice a week. I mean, I try to shy away from the weights. Right now, I’m just concentrating on learning in the gym and doing a lot of running. I never ran like this in my life! So, I don’t get tired in there any more; I’ve just got to keep going all day!
Like, weight wise, well you know, I just do shoulder press, bench press, arm curls—you know, basically all the circuit machines. I mean, I don’t go sit on the bench and try to pump out 300.
And, with the running, every single morning, I run, and then we do sprints, too. So, we’ve got a lot to do! My whole day is a workout, basically: three times a day, but that’s all I do all day. I don’t have a job, so all I do is workout. You know, I love working out, so it works out perfect!
On whom he’s sparring with these days:
DG: Before my last fight, I was working with Anwar Oshana, Freddie Cuevas—all the local pros—Rudy Cisneros, we do a lot of rounds together; you know, pros and amateurs at Windy City, it’s like a little rotation—we spar with everybody down there; Torro Hernandez, I was just working with the other day; I feel real good against them. We work good together. I sparred with Oscar Bravo a lot, too. He’s pretty tough.
So, every guy down there even though I work with, and, you know, I hold my own against everybody. You know, down there, nobody’s trying to kill anybody. I don’t go into a sparring session trying to hurt somebody; I go in there trying to learn and work on stuff that I need to learn on. Come fight night, I’m ready to drop the bombs on somebody. That’s it.
On whether he’s been sparring with Vitaliy Kopytko, a former Olympic Silver Medalist; David “The Weezel” Estrada; or Miguel Hernandez:
DG: No, I have not even had a chance to spar with him [Kopytko] yet. Yeah, I would definitely like that. We were actually going to work something out, but, I already had a fight scheduled, so it was too soon before the fight. I would definitely like to get some work with him.
Oh Weezel? You know, Weezel’s a tough guy to get ahold of; he’s always doing something. I mean, Weezel is probably the guy I’ve sparred the most rounds with in my entire life. We’ve probably got thousands of rounds together.
My first day of boxing ever, I sparred with Weezel, and he put it on me pretty bad. I’ve been getting him back ever since then.
Weezel’s one of my best friends in boxing, too. You know, he’s a great guy.
On his agreement with Estrada to never fight in a match:
DG: Yeah, we said we’ll never fight unless it’s for a million bucks. You put a million bucks out there, we’ll go to work on each other. If somebody wants to put up the million, we’ll take the fight!
And, Miguel [Hernandez], too! I’ve sparred hundreds of rounds with Miguel and he’s the nicest guy in the world; he’s a good guy to work with, too.
On the supportive nature of Chicago fighters with one another:
MM: I think he’s got quite a few good guys down there that, what I saw, Juan, are more than willing to help when there’s a fight coming up. And, that’s nice. You know what I mean?
DG: There’s kind of a clique of guys—all the Chicago pros—and whenever somebody’s got a fight, they all help and get him ready for it. ‘Cause we’re all rooting for somebody to become a champ from Chicago, you know? We need a Chicago champion. I know I’m the guy. But, if somebody before me does it, that’s fine with me. But, if we have to wait ‘till I become champ, that’s fine. But, everybody, you know, is very supportive.
MM: That’s also why he’s got ‘Chicago’ written on the back of his trunks, man, because every time he wins, he’s winning for the people of Chicago.
On what he’d like to say to fans:
DG: To fans in general: You know, I’m here to put on a good show. I promise that all my fights are going to be competitive and I’m not going to be fighting no tomato cans. It’s going to be a war. You know, blood, guts and glory. That’s just the way I like it. You know, I’m going to become a star, that’s the bottom line. I’m going to do my best and I’m going to give 110 percent to be the next poster boy of boxing and the next champ of the world.
To Chicago fight fans:
DG: I love you and I appreciate all the support!
MM: Can I just add something to that, Juan? I would like ot say that this young man is a real big measure of a man. He’s not just a fighter who’s aggressive and goes in and blows out. He’s a good man, as well. He’s a good kid. I think his fanatical belief and love for his hometown, Chicago and that really does leave a real great taste in my mouth. You know what I mean? Somebody that loves a city the way he loves it. I think he’s going to be an asset to the town and I think that he’s going to put Chicago on the map. I really believe that.
