Interview Greg Haugen – Part II
By Boxing Reporter and Writer Chris Cercola
Freddy and I fought lightweight, but I actually walked around at 155 pounds. Try losing 20 pounds for a fight, you know, I had to take time to do that. I found myself so much stronger than most of the guys I fought because I came down 20 pounds. It was tough but I thought I had the advantage by being stronger than them, and as long as I did it right, being smart about it, I could be strong and still be hydrated enough to fight, so it wasn’t easy dropping the 20 pounds, but it gave me the advantage of being stronger than all the guys I fought.
Edwin Curet was a well-schooled fighter, been around for a long time. He was a tough guy, he made a lot of people look bad. He liked to hold, he was the dirtiest fighter, I thought at the time, and he was a nice, well-schooled fighter. I was supposed to fight him previously before that, but he got hurt or something and woke up the day of the fight and he was sick, and the day before the fight and was sick. The first gate I was originally scheduled to fight him, I ended up fighting a guy by the name of Ken Willis, south paw that was somebody’s sparring partner, just the kind a guy that made me look bad so I thought Edwin was just pulling a fast one on me. I beat Willis, and we had re-scheduled. Me and Edwin ended up fighting and I ended up beating him in a 12 round decision… It felt great, right now, that NABF belt and the USBA belts are equivalent to instead of some of the world title belts they got out there right now. You got these guys from other countries, England and shit, and none of them really ever done anything, so I think that those titles are sufficient and just as good as some of the world titles out there, so I know it got me rated in the top twelve.
It got me the Jimmy Paul fight, because I was talking to Emmanuel Steward after the fight, he went to my wedding. I got married two days later, and he told me, “You know, the fact is we didn’t know who you were, we saw you were twelfth in the ratings, and we picked you because it wasn’t a mandatory fight.” We fought on the Duane Thomas and John Mugabi card, it was the main event you know, this is when ‘The Beast’ was knocking everybody out, so I was basically the semi-main event and the Emanuel told me, “We picked you because you are number twelve, and we hadn’t heard of you, and we watched a tape of you, and you look like a slow white guy, who goes right there in front of you to hit, so we chose you and it was a big mistake”, so that made me feel pretty good, to get the acknowledgement of a world-class trainer like that… I might look slow, I wasn’t the fastest guy, but my thing was timing, and I was a big counterpunch, and you know, I’m gonna make you miss, and I’m gonna make you pay.
I don’t have the longest arms, and I can’t fight that great from the outside. If you got the reach on me, then that’s a huge advantage. But my fight was basically wearing him down you know plodding and progressing you know just wearing him down with condition and pressure, pressure kills… Fifteen rounds is the way it should be, that’s true championship territory, the difference between twelve rounds and fifteen is a lot. If you look when Hagler fought Leonard, you know, there’s no way Leonard could of went 15 rounds, you know, so that difference is nine minutes, that’s a long time if you’re tired in the 12th round, and you still got nine more minutes. That’s the way it should be. I firmly believe that the championship territory this 12 rounds crap, that people get hurt in the first 13, 14, 15 rounds, is a bunch of bull you know that’s the way it should be, American titles should be 12 rounds, but world titles should be 15.
I took the Pazienza fight when Camacho and Rosario were the other two champions, they didn’t want no part of going to Providence, but I Firmly thought I could knock Vinny out, I underestimated his toughness. I know I won the fight, there’s no question I won the fight. Fighting in his hometown, and to not get the decision you know, it left a bad taste in my mouth after beating him up for 15 rounds, and then walking out without my title you know… It pissed me off, and I really just got to the point where Vinny had been training, doing all this cardio, doing all his conditioning stuff, and it made me realize that I really needed to step my game up. I needed to go a little harder training, and it opened my eyes to some things as far as you know, do more to be a better fighter in the second fight. I went home, you know, I was pissed off and I wanted to get my belt back, and I just trained even harder and I had a conditioning doctor who worked with Larry Holmes. This guy was good Doc Coleman, out in Vegas. I just stepped my game up, if I wanted to compete with the better guys up there, I needed to be in better shape…
Second fight, I just pounded him it was pretty much like the first fight but it wasn’t in his hometown. We had an agreement where I come to Providence and fight you, and if there was any controversy or the fights close, I get a rematch then you fight me in Vegas, but you know he didn’t have the balls to do that. Like the reporters say,” Well, at least it’s not Providence”, what’s the difference, a hundred miles and 10,000 dagos. You know, I’m an hour away from where he grew up in Atlantic City! As far as I was concerned, it was still a hometown crowd and I just have to go out there and leave no doubt about it. I did have a lot more people on my side in the second fight than I did in the first fight because it wasn’t in his hometown. The second fight was like a copy of the first fight but I just threw more jabs and controlled the fight with my jab, and I was in way better shape, and I never gave him a chance. He knew that I owned him in the second fight, basically, when you fight as long as we have, you know when a guy has your number. You know when you’ve been deep, he knew he got beat the first fight, and he knew he got beat in the second fight, so you know there wasn’t much he could say but you know, I had his number, and he was the darling of the East Coast, and I was a nobody from the West Coast so…
He’ll never admit that… He’ll never admit that he lost! Anytime you been fighting as long as we have, you know when you lost a fight. Vinny pretty much knew, there was 42 press guys from all over the country, from Sports Illustrated, everybody, 40 of them have me winning. You know what two didn’t have me winning? The two from Providence… So you know I won that fight. There was no friendship during the fights I respect the hell out of him now, but we’re not friends, we don’t hang out, he lives on the East Coast, I live on the West Coast, and we see each other every once in a while, there’s a lot of mutual respect there, and we went 40 rounds together in two 15 rounders, and a 10 rounder, and there’s a lot of respect. He was with the Duva`s, and he was getting all the publicity, and he was the golden boy, this that and the other, after the first fight, I knew that I had won the fight. Pretty much with each fight, I was getting more confident.
They were saying Jimmy Paul was supposed to be the best champion out of the three, he had the best jab… I took his jab away after two rounds, you know, after beating him I beat Edwin Colette then I started believing I belong you know… That’s alot you know, you get to that point in a fight and it’s 75, 80% mental. It’s more mental than it is physical because everybody knows how to fight, it’s just doing the little things you know, little advantage here little advantage here little advantage here, and soon all those advantages add up. It becomes one big advantage, and you need every little advantage you could get, it’s a tough rough game…
Stay tuned for part III. You do not want to miss it!
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