TalkingBoxing Interviews
Brock Stays Busy Tomorrow, Super-Fight in November
FRI June 24, JULIUS STECKER - Calvin Brock was written off by many back in 2000 after returning from the 2000 Olympics a defeated fighter. Some pundits considered him too slow, while others said he didn’t have enough power. What a few years of hard work and along with 20 knockouts can do for a fighter's place in the sport.
Brock, 25-0, has since gone on to silence his critics, and earned his spot among the top ten heavyweight fighters in the world today. This past April 23rd on ESPN's first PPV fight card, Brock defeated and dismantled the tough, respected and highly ranked Jameel McCline via a 10-round unanimous decision.
Earlier this year Brock destroyed former highly touted prospect Clifford Ettinene via a 3rd round TKO on ESPN2. Brock looks to continue to prove his critics wrong and continue the winning trend when he takes on Kenny Craven, 26-15, in an under-card fight on the Arturo Gatti-Floyd Mayweather HBO PPV event at Boardwalk Casino in Atlantic City, NJ this Saturday Night.
“Training is going well, I am just getting ready for this fight. I am trying to stay busy,” explained Brock. “I am going to be fighting in November as well on the ESPN PPV card, and I will be looking for that to be a title shot or a title eliminator bout.”
Brock positioned himself among the elite heavyweights with his last victory and while the division is no longer a hot bed for elite fighters, Brock will attempt to lay claim to a title shortly. According to Brock, his goals under the Main Events Promotional stable include becoming THE Heavyweight Champion of the World.
“I want to be Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World. I want to be like Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield, and I want to bring this division back to elite status,” stated Brock, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina.
His performance against McCline really quieted a lot of nay-sayers, as he came in a decided underdog against "Big Time" McCline, who was coming off a close split decision loss to IBF heavyweight champion Chris Byrd. The McCline-Byrd fight could have gone either way after 12-rounds, so Brock's clear-cut decision proves plenty.
Brock not only did he win the fight convincingly, he pulled himself off the canvas to do it and that's what old timers would call, ‘The Mark of a True Champion.’ Now that he is considered a top heavyweight, he wants to fight all the elite fighters.
“Of course I want to fight both of the Klitschko brothers [Wladimir and Vitali], and there are also other guys out there that people don’t know a lot about like Nicolay Valuev,” said Brock. “But I really don’t care, because I will fight them all.”
Brock has proved he has what it takes to beat a top guy and after a Craven knockout win this Saturday, he will look for a super-fight in November against a top-tier guy.
For fight fans who haven’t seen much good action in the heavyweight division, Brock is a welcome addition to the fray and hopefully he can provide some much needed excitement to a not so electrifying division.
Brock closed with this, “My fans can expect me to be at a better caliber then what I was at against Jameel McCline. And they can expect me to use my strength and speed, and they expect me to be undisputed champion of the world.”
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