New Great White Hope: Travis Kauffman Interview

By Robert Brizel, Real Combat Media Correspondent

 

In an exclusive interview with Real Combat Media, Reading, Pennsylvania heavyweight contender Travis Kauffman (23-1, 17 knockouts) declared he is the new ‘The Great White Hope’ and will win the heavyweight championship of the world in the foreseeable future.

 

RCM: “Travis, you call yourself the next great white hope. Comparisons to the two previous best known heavyweight great white hopes, James Jeffries and Gerry Cooney, are obvious. Jack Johnson fought James Jeffries. Larry Holmes fought Gerry Cooney. Then there was Rocky Marciano and Tommy ‘The Duke’ Morrison. How do you stand up to these fighters of the past?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “As a fighter, I’m more versatile than they were. When people think of a white fighter, they think of Rocky Marciano. Was he the great white hope? Other people have thought that.”

 

RCM: “Travis, you stand 6’3″ tall. Gerry Cooney was 6’6″. Is your style similar?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “Time is everything (in reflection). Gerry Cooney is a real gentleman. He had one punch-a big left hook. He had height advantage in his time. You never heard of a 6’6″ guy in the seventies in boxing till Cooney came along. I am a white guy who can box southpaw or orthodox, and dance like Muhammad Ali. My hand speed is tremendous. My style is way different than Gerry Cooney’s.”

 

RCM: “How do you stack up against James Jeffries, the first great white hope?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “Jack Johnson beat him. I know the story. Johnson’s style was so different then. I learned from Johnson. I had my hands up old school, with the left hand up farther than the right in the Grano fight, to simulate the old school style. It’s good to  throw a left hook and bring the straight right behind it. You are kind of hiding your right hand because your left is so far in front. The left hook is a kind of slap, the right has more power because you’re hiding it. From old footage I’ve seen, the old school style is so much different. ”

 

RCM: “Your footwork is reminiscent of Muhammad Ali.”

 

Travis Kauffman: “I don’t want to compare myself to Ali or a slick flashy type of fighter like Roy Jones Jr.’s style, but I can compare myself to others. Early in my career, world heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman used me to spar for European fighter Oleg Maskaev, because I can simulate so many different styles.”

 

RCM: “Travis, what makes you so sure you are the great white hope?”

 

Travis Kaufman: “I think that’s what makes me the great white hope, because nobody has seen another white heavyweight fight like I fight! Not Jim Jeffries, not Gerry Cooney, not Rocky Marciano, not Tommy Morrison, fights the way I fight!”

 

RCM: “Travis, When will you be in action next?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “I will probably be in action next on February 15 or 23rd in Mississippi. A Tune up. And then possibly March 16 on my father Marshall Kaufman’s card in Pennsylvania.”

 

RCM: Do you have any big fights planned later in 2013?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “My promoter Greg Cohen has been talking about a Showtime ShowBox card he’s trying to get me on. I’m ready to fight wherever and whenever. Tomorrow, it doesn’t matter, China, Hong Kong, anywhere! I just want to fight!”

 

RCM: “Travis, you had periods of inactivity in recent years. What happened?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “I have not been busy the last few years due to my hand surgery. and due to promotional problems with Empire Sports and Entertainment. I only had one fight with Empire in a year. Now and am signed with Greg Cohen promotions (in December 2012) and things are rolling.”

 

RCM: “Greg Cohen was President of Empire. Greg resigned on March 29, 2011.”

 

Travis Kauffman: “I decided to get out of my contract with Empire Sports for personal reasons. I liked Greg when he was with Empire, I listened, which was why I got back together with Greg when he left Empire Sports and founded Greg Cohen Promotions.”

 

RCM: “Travis, what was the nature of your hand injuries?”

 

Travis Kauffman: ” I had injuries on both hands. My right and my left hand. On the left hand, surgeons repaired my middle knuckle. The capsule over the knuckle was shattered. I had no knuckle. They took the old one and sewed it back together, and they put my tendon back in place. I was sparring one day, the capsule ruptured, my tendon was sliding over and causing a lot of pain and liquid was building up.”

RCM: “And the right hand?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “The right hand has been a problem since the amateurs. I had a calcium deposit on my first and second metacarpals, and I had a fracture on my pinky metacarpal right before the Tony Grano fight in 2009, and it never healed. The doctor shaved my calcium deposit down, removed bone fragments, and fused my metacarpals together to the joint.”

 

RCM: “You lost time because of the surgery and promotional contract issues. Now that everything is good, where does that leave the great white hope now?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “It’s been tough the last few years for me. Now it’s either now or never.”

 

RCM: “You tried to train with Buddy McGirt, but returned to train with your dad, Marshall Kauffman. What happened?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “My father is training me. I had gone to New Jersey to work with the great Buddy McGirt. My style just doesn’t click with Buddy’s. I only worked with him for about a month, and I knew it wouldn’t work for me. I’m 6’3″ and Buddy was training me like I was 5’11”. Buddy was a great inside fighter, one of the best, and he was a small guy. I take nothing away from Buddy, he’s very knowledgeable he’s been around the game for along time. He’s a great person. As far as styles go, we didn’t click. ”

 

RCM: “Talk about the style differences between you and Buddy McGirt.”

 

Travis Kauffman: “As far as styles go I like to move a lot. Buddy is a great inside fighter. On the inside fight I like to fight tall, I don’t want to switch up my style. I wanted Buddy to add to my style, so it didn’t work. Buddy would be awesome for small fighters. A small heavyweight like James Toney would be great for McGirt’s (teaching) style.”

 

RCM: Are you going to Philadelphia to train with Nazzim Richardson?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “Right now I’m back with my dad in Reading, Pennsylvania, but I’ll probably go back to training with Nazzim Richardson in Philly.” (Reader’s note: Nazzim Richardson is the trainer of  Bernard Hopkins, Shane Mosley, and Steve Cunningham.”

 

RCM: “What happened after you lost to Tony Grano?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “After that my career went downhill. I had signed with Al Haymon. He suddenly turned his back on me and wouldn’t answer my telephone calls. I thought I was done in boxing. How can you turn my back on me over one fight? Now I don’t care because I’m back on track.

 

RCM: “Travis, how did you change as a person?”

 

 

Travis Kauffman: “I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching for the last 3 1/2 years. During the last six months I’ve changed as a person. ”

 

 

RCM: “Reading is not a place to find quality sparring partners. Yet somehow you

became the highest rated amateur heavyweight there. How is it today in Reading?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “There are no heavyweights in Reading. I have to go to Philadlephia to spar. The sparring work I get in Reading is very minimal. I got where I got due to my talent. I think my dad (Marshall Kauffman) is one of the best trainers in the world. He can take someone from scratch and make them a championship caliber fighter. My dad’s done it with Kermit Cintron. He trained be to be the top amateur heavyweight boxer in the United States. As an amateur I beat 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist Victor Zuyev of Belarus in 2005. I turned pro in 2006.”

 

RCM: “You decided t go pro and not try out for the 2008 Olympics. Why?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “My style was geared more for the pros. People told me I could stick around for the 2008 Olympics. I was getting a monthly stipend of $500 a month at the times. There are times when I wished I stayed amateur. I had 64 amateur fights (52-12). I was undefeated internationally. I felt it was time to turn pro because family is my number one priority. My father raised me and my brother  as a single father. My first child was on the way, a baby boy. I provided for my family. Today I am raising five children. My children are my number one priority.”

 

RCM: “How was your weight for your fight with Charles Davis in August 2012?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “I lost 40 pounds for the Davis fight to reach 240 pounds.”

 

RCM: “You weighed less in the past.”

 

Travis Kauffman: “From 2008 to 2009,  I fought from 221 to 227 pounds. I would like to be around 232, the lowest 228 pounds. I’m happiest at 228 to 235 pounds.”

 

 

RCM: Travis, what is your ultimate goal?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “It’s been a roller coaster of a career these last few years. I want to provide for my family. My ultimate goal is to become the heavyweight champion of the world.”

 

RCM: “Your nickname is GW Hope. Define it.”

 

Travis Kauffman: “GW Hope stands for ‘the great white hope’. A friend of my mine gave that name. ”

 

RCM: “Are you a white American heavyweight?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “I’m a white American heavyweight. I was born and raised in a predominantly black and Puerto Rican Hispanic area in Reading, Pennsylvania. I’m proud of who I am, and the struggles I’ve overcome. I’ve been jumped and robbed at gunpoint in childhood. I’m proud to have made it through the tribulations in my life. I’m the great white hope in the (Reading) hood. It made me what I am.”

 

RCM: “Does the nickname ‘the great white hope’ cause you any problems?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “I knew when I put GW hope on BoxRec and on my boxing trunks, I was going to be a target. Somebody always wants to fight me because of my name, I hear a lot of negativity because of my nickname. ”

 

RCM: “What do you say to people who try to make your nickname into something racial?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “People know me. I’m not a racist. I have a half black brother. I  have a half Hispanic brother and sister. My stepmother, who raised me since I was six months old, is black. ”

 

RCM: “Do you believe you are the best heavyweight in America?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “I believe in myself. I do believe I’m better than every American heavyweight out there! I’m very versatile. I look to move, to dance, to have fun. I fight both ways, orthodox and southpaw.”

 

RCM: “Tell readers how your unique seven round decision victory over Charles Davis in your last bout in August 2012 came about. You are the only heavyweight in professional boxing history to have won a seven round decision.”

 

Travis Kauffman: “I fought Davis in an outside ring. I won every round. It started to rain after the seventh round, so I won a seven round decision. They stopped it (due to) the rain. The bout went to the scorecards. Davis did not win one round. He was happy. He was a good survivor. I went in and tried to knock him out, trying to hit a home run because I was out of the ring for a year. I didn’t want to go the distance and hurt my hand. The first time I hit him, he kept running, blocking, tying me up. He pulled every trick in the book to survive, so I just outboxed him.”

 

 

 

 

Travis Kauffman: “I am right up there with all of them. I believe so. I have a lot to prove. Before I fought Tony Grano, everybody said I was the next great heavyweight, this and that.  And then as soon as you lose, people say you’re done. ”

 

I have trained with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and Buddy McGirt. I strongly believe my father is a better trainer than all of the trainers out there.  But for me, it is a question of location. Where I’m at in Reading, Pennsylvania, there’s no sparring. Philadelphia is better.”

 

RCM: “Where does Reading, Pennsylvania go wrong with its athletes?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “Reading is a place that drains you. There’s a lot of talent in Reading. Talent in everything, every athlete, great basketball players, football players, musicians, artists. Reading sucks you in, so you cannot get up and leave.”

 

RCM: “Anything you would like to add about being the new great white hope?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “I’m not a racist. That’s not the moniker I want to live by. I’m far from it. I  represent the great white hope, because I’m not just a white guy, I’m proud to be a white American. The so-called heavyweight champions, Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin are white but they’re not white American.”

 

RCM: “Travis, how do you rate yourself with America’s top heavyweights today? Names which come to mind include Jonathon Banks, Deontay Wilder, Bryan Jennings, Joe Hanks, Tomas Adamek, Eddie Chambers, and Steve Cunningham.”

 

RCM: “When do you first know you would become the new great white hope?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “When I was 13 years old, I had a dream that I was Tommy ‘The Duke’ Morrison (who many people had hoped would be the great white hope), the last white American to be in position to become the great white hope but never did.”

 

RCM: “What do you boxing fans to know about you as the new great white hope?”

 

Travis Kauffman: “I do want people to know I’m the great white hope! I’m a rough neck. I’m proud of who I am, me being a white guy, the great white hope. The white American hope. I believe one day I will be the heavyweight champion of the world!”

 

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