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12/06/2005 Archived Entry: "D-Train: Back on Track December 10th!"
D-Train: Back on Track December 10th!
Utica Observer-Dispatch
December 2005
By Dave Iamele
The D-Train may have been sidetracked for a while, but he’s firmly back on track now. Utica’s Derrick Brown and his manager, Chip Pugliese, stopped in to my North Utica home the day before Thanksgiving to talk with me about Derrick’s return to the ring after more than a three-year absence.
"I’ve got to tell ‘ya, two happier guys I’ve rarely seen. Pugliese was practically bursting with joy because finally Derrick is back in the area and more focused than ever on his boxing career.Derrick was on his way to The Turning Stone for a photo shoot, and then he was off for a stay with legendary heavyweight champion Larry Holmes. Why wouldn’t he be happy? I’m telling you, these two guys were so cheerful they made an old cigar-smoking grouch like me feel down-right giddy. But, seriously, it didn’t take too long to realize that the “new” Derrick Brown had changed more than just the loss of some baby fat. Valuable experience gained by sparring with Lennox Lewis, Hasim Rahman, Joe Mesi, and other heavy-handed heavyweights as well as being around boxing brainiacs like Emmanuel Stewart and Larry Holmes have instilled a greater self-confidence and poise in the 28-year-old Brown."
“How much does it help to spar with people like Lenox Lewis and Hasim Rahman,” I asked Derrick. “It helps because those guys have experience. The best teacher in the whole game is experience. If you’re boxing a Camacho or Holyfield, when you’re done you’ve gained from their experience and expertise. You can’t box against stiffs and get to be the best. By my boxing with the best, I’ve learned. I’ve been a sponge for knowledge.”
I asked Derrick to tell me how he got involved in boxing. “Not only watching the old Rocky movies, they’re very inspirational, you know, but what really got me into boxing was one day I got into a fight at school, and at the time Kelvin Hayden was a pro boxer from Utica, and he said to me, ‘come down to the gym; I want to introduce you to someone.’ I went to the gym a couple of times to train and, he [Chip] was like ‘you’re gonna come back, right?’ So I kept coming back, and we took a liking to each other, and he’s been like a father to me. Even during the times I’ve been crazy in my life, he’s clipped my wings and brought me back down and told me what it was about. When I got introduced to Chip, it all skyrocketed from there. You know, 4th of July--fireworks all day!” Brown explained.
A few years back, “outside the ring” issues threatened to derail the D-Train, and, in fact, were largely responsible for Brown’s absence from both the Utica area and the boxing ring. What had Derrick been doing with his time outside the ring?
“Well, I’ve been working hard trying to provide for my family. My daughter has given me a new insight on life. When she was born, she was premature. When I saw that she started out weighing only one pound and ten ounces, and now she’s up to about eighteen pounds. She’s a fighter! Every time I look into her eyes, I know that this is what it’s all about. I know if I go down the right road, I can provide for her. Even though I had a pretty nice road, I want to give her a better one. So you know what? Come December 10th the only thing that’s gonna stop me from beating Kennedy is death,” said Brown.
With his personal issues resolved, Brown now is fully focused on his still-young boxing career, and the two people most responsible for Derrick’s redoubled determination are his right-hand man and father figure, Chip, and his baby daughter, who he describes as a miracle. Chip never gave up on Derrick and stayed in contact with him while he was away, always encouraging him to come back to the area and resume his career. His baby girl was born prematurely and had to fight hard for her young life. It is evident that being a father has helped Brown by giving him a more mature, grounded, and focused outlook.
I think boxing fans that have seen Derrick Brown fight at The Turning Stone in the past are going to be surprised on December 10th when they see him in the ring. Not only is he physically more impressive, but I think his greater maturity and increased self-confidence will enable him to be a more relaxed and effective fighter.
“Why come back now?” I asked. “There was a time in my life that I had a little hic-cup in Utica, and these guys were saying that I’m undisciplined! They don’t live my life; they don’t see what I see. It made me upset, and it put a flame to my butt. I woke up one night and I was fighting, that was like a signal to me. I look at my daughter and I see a fighter, and that’s what gives me fuel for the fire. So let’s lock and load and do it again! My target is Mr. Kennedy and he’s going down! But, the spark was one day in Binghamton, I woke up early and my daughter was up, and I turned on the TV and Jersey Joe Walcott v. Rocky Marciano was on. To see them fight, I said to myself, ‘ you shouldn’t be sitting here, you’re supposed to have a nice house, a nice car and all this stuff, and working your regular 9-to-5 job just ain’t gonna cut it unless you’re a doctor or a lawyer making some real money.’ But, let’s be real here; 30 or 45 minutes out of you life and you could be making’ millions. It’s just you and the man across the ring from you, and he’s standing in your way. I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let that slip away from me and not be part of that parade! Because I’m gonna bring a parade back to this town; it’s gonna happen. Man, that was eight or nine weeks ago, and I’ve been in the gym ever since,” Brown explained enthusiastically.
I told Derrick that I had made a negative comment a couple years back to my former OD boxing partner, Aaron Christiana, concerning the size of Derrick’s “posse” at the time. I asked Derrick if they’d be part of his return.
Chip cut in, “I didn’t like it either. They interfered. You were right.”
Derrick interjects, “That’s what I call the peanut gallery. When you’re hurt, when you’re wounded, when you’re down, there ain’t no one around to help you out. It’s not about friendship no more, it’s about business. We can be friends later. This isn’t the MC Hammer show. He had 40 guys around him; now look where he’s at. I’m not going to be there. So … friends? I love them to death, but not in this camp. If they were my friends, they wouldn’t be saying ‘let’s go to this bar,’ they would tell me NOT to do things like that. But, I’m my own man and I’ve made my own mistakes, and those negative things, I don’t have them anymore. Those types of people aren’t my friends anymore, they’re my associates.”
For a young boxer from Utica, New York, with less than 15 pro bouts, Derrick Brown has done alright for himself. He spent about three years in South Africa. He has sparred with some of this generation’s best heavyweights, and he’s spending this Thanksgiving with Larry Holmes. Not too shabby. “Tell me a little bit about being in South Africa,” I asked. “Wooo! You know what? South Africa is like London or New York City. It’s busy all day, all night. I’ve seen so much over there, even just the boxing aspect of it, working with guys like Phillip N’Dou and Corrie Sanders. Sanders dropped Klitschko and gave Rahman a hell of a rumble. So I’ve been in there with guys who know how to thump, and they’ve shown me things. Now it’s just putting it all together like a big cake. I’ve got all the ingredients, and if I put them all together with the proper management, there’s no place for me to go but to the top regardless of all the underestimaters,” states a confident Brown.
Fighting Ricardo Kennedy in his first fight back demonstrates that both Pugliese and Brown are confident. While Kennedy is no world beater, all 14 of his victories have come by KO, and that makes him dangerous. “I’ve been training like an animal. You have to push yourself to the limit. For this fight, I’ve trimmed down--I’ve got myself right. So, you know what? Let’s get it going again. I’m definitely confident. I’ve been in there with the best. Even Lenox Lewis said to me, ‘Derrick, you’re a good boxer, just keep doing what you’re doing.’ Harold Knight and Emmanuel Steward both said I was fleet-footed, but at the same time when I want to, I can sit down and throw. I will throw!” stated Brown.
Now that Pugliese has Derrick back in the area, he plans to keep him active. You could say he’s putting the D-Train on the fast track. He envisions about three more fights, with Derrick scheduled for six and then eight-rounders before moving up to ten rounds and fighting a “name” guy. Wow! The “D” in D-Train must stand for determination!
Chip explains, “I just want him to get the feel of it again. That’s why this fight is a four-rounder. It’s not that he’s not in condition. I could put him in a ten-round fight right now, but being smart you let him get the feel back, then I’ll put him in for eight rounds, ten rounds. I want to see what he’s really got. We’re not here for a win on a silver platter. Now he’s doing it right. I’ve never seen him in such good condition. Now he’s a man. His body has changed: he’s gone from looking soft to adding definition. He grew up, you know, not only body-wise, but mind-wise. Now I know he’s back on track.”
Brown breaks in, “I’m gonna show you and the rest that I’m ready. I need the underestimaters; they provide me with energy. There’s one thing I know now, you got to be willing to die, and that’s where I’m at with this. Serious! When I was in South Africa, a boxer told me that one day everything would all come together. That day is now!”
I asked Brown to explain his relationship with Chip. “He’s been a blessing to me. The best thing you can do is build a relationship with your manager, because you know what? If we didn’t have this relationship, he wouldn’t care about me. Now I ask him what to do like [I would] a dad. I respect him. Everything I’ve seen--the South-Africa trip, sparring with Rahman and Lewis--he set it all up for me. Then when I stayed behind, he was like, ‘what are you doing, you idiot?!’” says Brown, laughing.
Chip interjects, “what could I do? He’s there. I had to go with the program. I didn’t want him to stay there because it put his career on hold.”
I asked Derrick if the time off put him in a different place now mentally. “I’m ready to put my life on the line on that one! Before I had the hic-cup, like I said: the ex-wife, people telling me things..tickling my ear, not listening to my manager sometimes. I was training but not training, you know what I’m saying?”
At this point Brown grabs an old photo of himself. “This is what happens when you’re not training.” Brown throws the picture down and slaps himself in the abdomen. “This is what happens when you’re training! You get six-packs! I’m not leaving no stone unturned…nothing!”
Another topic that Derrick speaks about with a wisdom and insight that belie his young age is his hometown of Utica and its community. Derrick says he is back in the area for good now, and he’s going to be staging his assault for heavyweight glory from right here in Central New York. “I’m back!” exclaimed Brown. “This is a great community. I’m back now and I’m gonna be out there. Young people got to know that you can be a pro basketball player, you can be a pro football player, you can be a professional boxer. There are pros and cons, and these kids need to know that you don’t have to be on the con side.”
The conversation steered toward former Pugliese fighter and Derrick’s former stable mate Jason Bouse. “Jason had great hands, great power. He was probably one of the best 147-lb. fighters in this area,” Chip stated. Both stick up for their absent friend and wish he would return to the fold and get himself and his career back on track.
Chip says the sudden death of Bouse’s brother affected him greatly. “He’s an excellent fighter; just personal things did him in. I hope the day comes when he does get it back together,” Chip said sincerely. Derrick had a message for his former stable mate: “Jason, come back man. Maybe he’s going through a healing process. Some people have to hit bottom. Come on back man.”
In addition to D-Train’s bout, the December 10 card at The ‘Stone features some good match-ups. Fellow Utican Jamar Patterson is scheduled for his first professional six-round bout, and Rochester’ Russell Jordan returns in a scheduled eight-rounder against Maximo Cuevas. This will be Russell’s last bout before heading to Los Angeles to begin preparing for his role on the boxing reality show, “The Contender.”
The main event features undefeated Philly southpaw Lajuan Simon vs. ESPN regular Richard “The Alien” Grant for Simon’s USBA 168-pound belt. The co-feature is a women’s featherweight bout featuring Brooklyn’s Cindy Serrano vs. Rhonda Luna of California. The ladies usually are a big hit at The ‘Stone, and these two are evenly matched. In fact, this could be the most competitive bout of the evening as both gals are undefeated. Somebody’s “O” has got to go, as they say!
So, I hope Central New Yorkers will take a break from holiday shopping action and check out some interesting pugilistic action on December 10th at The Turning Stone. Will Derrick Brown be successful in his first bout back? Will Jamar keep his unbeaten streak going in his first six-rounder? Get yourself a ticket and see for yourself. I can’t wait!
Happy holidays to all, and, God willing, I’ll be talking with you again in ’06.
Portions of this article appeared in the Utica Observer-Dispatch, originally published December 1, 2005
