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12/06/2005 Archived Entry: "“Mighty” Mike Arnaoutis Talks on Friday’s Fight vs. Moreno and Peaking in 2006!"
“Mighty” Mike Arnaoutis Talks on Friday’s Fight vs. Moreno and Peaking in 2006!
By Juan C. Ayllon
Aranaoutis works on abdominals (Photo credit: Cestus Management)
Hailing from Athens, Greece, Mike Arnaoutis is an exciting, up and coming undefeated fighter in the junior welterweight division who, with a record of 14-0-2, 6 knockouts, and a disputed draw with hot prospect Juan Urango, currently holds the NABO Junior Welterweight Title. His exclusive management, Cestus Management, has its sites set on the likes of Henry Bruseles, Oscar Diaz and Miguel Cotto as they seek to make a title run in 2006.
This Friday, December 9th, Arnaoutis will defend his title against one Jose Luis Moreno, who at 12-0 with 10 knockouts is no slouch. Their bout will take place at the Kissimmee Civic Center, in Kissimmee, Florida.
With the help of Cestus Management’s exclusive advisor Mike Michael—who acted as interpreter, as Arnaoutis doesn’t speak English—Arnaoutis spoke with the Cyber Boxing Zone about preparations, his upcoming bout and plans down the road.
JUAN C. AYLLON: How are you feeling this week about preparations and your upcoming fight?
MIKE ARNAOUTIS: I feel good, but I’m a little bit tired because I had a good workout. I’m not close to the point where I want to be, but I’m close. I’m in shape and I’m ready to take care of business on Friday.
JA: Tell us about your training camp, how it went, what you did to prepare—including a typical day of training—and whom you sparred with.
MA: Basically, a typical day is wake up in the morning with my strength and conditioning coach. Depending on what phase of the morning training we’re in, I’ll do five miles. I’ll do stretching before that, some calisthenics, I’ll run, do some sprints, come back, stretch again. Then, he’ll put me through a series of abdominal routines and a type of physical fitness exercises. My coach’s name is Bobby Anderson.
Photo Credit: Cestus Management
From there, I’ll go home, have breakfast, sleep, and wake-up. I’ll take my vitamins, my proteins, have a little bit of lunch, I’ll take another nap after that, and then I’ll wake up, have another snack and basically be ready to come to the gym. Which is warm-up, do some shadow boxing, work on the weak points—what we’re fixing—as always. We’ll get ready to spar, again, depending on what stage of training that we’re at. We’ll either do mitts, I’ll spar, do heavy bags, floor-to-ceiling fast balls, speed balls, skip; again, I’ll do my calisthenics and do some groundwork, which is a form of different abdominal exercises with some other physical fitness activities. And then, I’ll stretch, wrap it up, go home, have my dinner, I’ll sit and relax, chill-out—like listening to music, watching TV—take some protein, supplements, and then I’ll hit the sack and start all over again. I train Mondays through Saturday and take Sundays off just for rest purposes.
MIKE MICHAEL: We’ve had some top amateurs; we’ve had Jose Medina, who’s been on Sho-Box, who’s been on ESPN—who we’ve been working relatively closely with—who’s relatively close to Moreno’s style. So, we’ve had some good work!
JA: Describe your style and favorite punches for those unfamiliar with you as a fighter:
MA: I believe I’m a technical fighter with precision. I put combinations together, and my favorite punch is the left uppercut.
JA: What are your thoughts about Jose Leo Moreno, who has 10 knockouts out of 12 wins and no losses, and whom you will be fighting for the WBO NABO Light Welterweight Title this Friday?
MM: (laughing) I like that one, what he just said!
MA: Basically, I don’t know too much about him. I know he’s a pressure fighter, I know he’s going to try to jump all over me; that’s the only thing he can do. But, what I will tell you is he’s going to have 13 fights, he’s going to be 12 wins [and] one loss.
JA: Looking at www.boxrec.com, I see that you are already scheduled to face former WBC Lightweight Champion Stevie Johnston on January 27th. At 37-3-1 and 17 knockouts, Johnston’s only losses are to Jose Luis Castillo (Loss by Majority Decision in June 2000) and Juan Lazcano (Loss by TKO in 11 in September 2003). This is a big step up in class. However, it is noted that he was inactive for just over two years before beating James Crayton (34-21-2) and Vladimir Knodokovski (12-8-2) in October and this past Saturday, respectively. Are his relative inactivity and his recent level of opposition motivators in taking Johnston at this time?
MA: It’s no problem for me. I’m going to step up in the ring like he’s going to step up in the ring. I step up in the ring to win; I don’t step up in the ring to lose, whether he’s got three fights or 23 fights, whether he’s won two belts or 300 belts. I will go into the ring to win, because that’s what I do, and I will beat him.
MM: We haven’t signed to fight Stevie Johnston; it’s just been posted up. It was just an offer that I had and I said I’d think about it. And, basically, we can’t see it; we’ll fight Henry Bruseles, we’ll fight Oscar Diaz.
I would have liked to fight Stevie Johnston if we could have fought him in his prime for the championship. I don’t think we’re proving anything by fighting Stevie Johnston.
To fight a former two-time champion is an honorable thing, don’t get me wrong. [However,] I’d like to fight a two-time champion in his prime.
JA: Tell us about your fights against Juan Urango, Jesse Feliciano, Juaquin Gallardo, Robert Santa Cruz and Marteze Logan.
MA: With Juan Urango, I respect him as fighter and a human being because we locked horns there and it was the “best man wins.” I know I won the fight and I think everybody else knows that I won that fight. I’m not going to keep going back over that old ground. But, because I actually got to know Juan Urango after the fight, I respect him as a person and like him as a man.
With Feliciano, I didn’t know too much about him. I just went in there and wanted a title so bad because I got robbed against Urango that I just went in there and took care of business.
Gallardo, I knew that he was a real tough guy. But once Gallardo felt my shots, he just folded, because that’s how it is. Some say I don’t have power, but my power’s underrated.
With Santa Cruz, he did his best to beat me at my worst, but I still came out victorious.
With Marteze Logan, he’s a cagey old veteran. Everybody underrates the guy, but he can hold his own with the best, as he proved with the likes of a win he had by beating a guy that’s 23-0.
JA: Do you plan on getting a rematch with Juan Urango, who drew with you when you fought him?
MA: We’ve offered him a rematch on a number of occasions. Everybody says it was a draw, everybody knows I won—the TV, the crowd, everybody, even his own supporters know that. There were a number of occasions we asked him for a rematch. They flatly refused to fight again. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. But, I’d love to fight him again. I know I’d beat him.
JA: Assuming all goes well with your next two fights—although admittedly the Johnston fight is questionable—whom would you want to face next and why?
MA: Basically, I don’t like looking past the fights, because my management takes care of that. So, whoever they put in front of me, I’ll fight. And, I have no problem with that.I can’t really answer you that question and I just want to concentrate on the Moreno fight. And, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
MM: Well, basically, I’m the same way, Juan: I never really look further than one fight. That’s why I couldn’t make a decision if I wanted to fight Steve Johnston or not. Okay, right? It wasn’t the appropriate time for me to start scheduling another fight, okay, and closing another fight before I’ve beaten this fighter. I’ve never been one to count my chickens before they hatch, you know?
So, I wouldn’t be a good manager if I did that to Mike and put him under that kind of gun. We’ll take it one step at a time [and] we’ll beat Moreno. Okay, once we’ve beaten Moreno, then we’ll make an announcement after the fight who we intend to fight on the 27th of January.
JA: I understand that you were born in Athens, Greece. Tell us briefly your story, where you grew up and how you came to where you are today.
MA: Basically, I’m from Athens. I grew up wanting to be a fighter. There was no pro boxing there. I’ve been fighting since the age of 12. I wanted to break out.
MM: Then he meets me. We turn him pro. I’d like to carry out that little story there, because by the time I translate it, he’s only going to say the same thing to you, Juan, you know what I mean? We took him to the Lennox Lewis Center, and from there, we basically made a decision to move to America, and then we all moved over here. And, the rest is history after that!
JA: Just how many times have you appeared on “Showtime: The Next Generation”? Five times? How did you become affiliated with them?
MM: We’ve been on Showtime four times. And we became affiliated with them because our tremendous showing with Juan Urango. You have to understand that we went into that fight as the underdog and we proved that the underdog was not an underdog. He was a real fighter. And from there, because of his charisma, his flair, his electric way of fighting, okay, a star was born after the Urango fight, period.
JA: What are your long-term plans?
Photo Credit: Cestus Management
MA: My long term goal is by the end of 2006, I want to fight for the world title. That will make my long term goal and my lifetime ambition intact, and I will be defending my title.
JA: What do you intend on doing after boxing?
MA: I can’t answer that question because I can’t think what I want to do after boxing because I want to win the world title.
JA: On a more personal note, are you married, or is there a ‘significant other’ in your life?
MA: Yeah, I just got engaged to my childhood sweetheart. We’ve been dating for eight years and now she lives here permanently with me in the United States and she’ll be here for the whole ride now. Her name is Helen.
MM: She’s a lovely, beautiful girl, very homely person, very clever young lady, and she’s a pleasure to know.
JA: Any last thoughts?
MA: I would like to say thank you very much taking the time to interview me, I would like to thank my fans, I won’t let them down, and every time I fight, it’s going to be entertaining for them and they’re in for a marvelous evening on Friday.
MM: Well, basically, our target is Miguel Cotto. We’ll fight him and beat Cotto because styles make fights and Mike has the style to beat that guy. People are going to laugh at us, people are going to laugh at this quote. If they laugh, laugh at me, but it doesn’t matter, because the one that laughs the loudest, laughs the loudest.
That’s what we want, and I think we’ll get it. We’re positioning ourselves now for that fight. It’s going to be a great fight. I believe the TV—we already know they like Mike and we already know they like Cotto. So, I think there can be a real big, major situation, and I think that Cotto is going to have to fight him at some stage without question, if he stays at 140.
If he doesn’t stay at 140, then we’ll fight whoever’s there and we’ll beat them, as well. Whether it’s Urango, you name the list there, we’ll beat them!
I would like to close with and say this, that we feel a tremendous loyalty to our fans. Mike has emerged in a very quick time, in a big, big industry, okay, right? And we never could have done that without our fans. It doesn’t matter how good a fighter Mike is, it doesn’t matter how hard he trains, okay, if people don’t show up to watch him, or they don’t turn on that TV to watch him. Then, we’re nothing, basically. We owe a lot of that success to our fans, who helped us and supported us to get where we’ve got and we’re not going to forget that.
