Real Combat Media Interview with MAD Integrity Fight Sports Promoter Joey Orduna
By George A. Dampeer, Real Combat Media DE/Washington D.C Boxing Correspondent
Real Combat Media had a chance to catch up with Florida Promoter, Joey Orduna. Orduna’s Promotion company, Mad Integrity Fight Sports Promotes up and coming fighters from Florida. Mad integrity fight sports host “Bombs away 4” in Lakeland, FL at the Florida Orange Event Center on October 10th, So you could imagine just how busy Joey is around this time. Along with the fighters featured in the “Bombs away” event, Joey also discussed his time and growth through the sport from fighter to trainer and eventually promoter. Here’s what he had to say with Real Combat Media.
Real Combat Media: How long have you been involved in boxing and how did it lead you to promote?
Joey Orduna: I have been a boxing fan since 2 yrs old. Watching fights at the foot of my father’s chair. Got involved with the Tampa local boxing scene in 2008 at Fight Factory where I trained alongside many of the local talent and some of the bigger names like Miguel Cotto and Youriokas Gamboa. Met Emanuel Stewart and Angelo Dundee during this time.Started to promote in 2013 when I saw a lot of the better local talent like Silky Wilky Campfort not get fights in favor of some of the lesser fighters in the area. I figured it would be a good move for me considering I have such a passion for the sport.
Real Combat Media: Manny Stewart huh? To date he is probably still one of the best trainers the sport has ever had. Did you discuss anything with him when you met?
Joey Orduna: Yeah he was training Cotto at the time. He would get so excited when we would have conversation at some of his back in the day fighters like Hilmer Kenty, Milton McCrory, Mike McCallum, Michael Moorer, Lenox Lewis and of course Tommy Hearns. Very cerebral man.
Real Combat Media: You mentioned Silky Wilky Campfort, who recently won a very entertaining 2nd KO victory on PBC. How does the PBC platform helped or hurt promoters like yourself?
Joey Orduna: Yeah I am very proud of my brother Silky Wilky’s performance last weekend. Definitely has the goods to challenge and beat anyone at 154. I like the PBC agenda. has not effected me negatively at all. I think spotlighting the better fighters to a larger audience can only help us in the smaller arenas
Real Combat Media: Speaking of fighters, Radivoje Kalajdzic (19-0,12KOs) will be headlining the Bombs away 4, tell us a little about him and who he will be fighting.
Joey Orduna: He’s a St.Petersburg based fighter out of Bosnia, He went to school here in the states, So he does have a following here.He has camp set up in the (Tampa) Bay area, he recently signed with Dibella and this will be his first fight with Dibella entertainment. He’s very athletic; uses his jab. I’ve seen him fight probably around five times and he seems to have very good power. is somewhat of a journeyman but he has big wins over big name fighters. KO wins!
Real Combat Media: Ruben “Chino” Ozuna is also featured on the Bombs away card.What should we know about him?
Joey Orduna: Yes, Ruben is in the co-main event. He’s a Mexican kid from nearby Wauchula, Florida; 4-1 with one knockout. He is a very high-end fighter who spars with Keith Thurman a lot, Edner Cherry whose fighting for the IBF title Saturday on Showtime. So he gets a lot of good sparring in with those guys and gets to learn from them. Definitely a hot prospect coming out of Florida!
Real Combat Media: So this will a step up for him against challenger, Bobby Hill?
Joey Orduna: Well… the fight with Bobby Hill did not get approved by the commission, so we’re currently looking for a new challenger for Ruben.
Real Combat Media: I see. How about the fight between Armando “ The Gentleman” Alverez vs Juan Aguirre? How does this fight shape up?
Joey Orduna: Armando is out of Key West/ Miami that’s 7-0 with 4 knockouts. He’s a very good kid, he’s been very active since turning pro last October and is already fighting his eight fight. But Juan will be his toughest fight yet; Juan has went the distance with fighters like Clarence Booth whose now 12-1 and signed with Top Rank. Armando is planning on stopping him. We’ll see if he holds true to that, but he has become more aggressive over the year.It will be a big task because he’s only been stopped twice out of 20 odd fights.
Real Combat Media : How to you plan on growing the Mad Integrity Fight Sports brand?
Joey Orduna: At the moment, Im trying not to bound these guys to a contract until my company can deliver what I want to as far as a business goes, which probably won’t be until next year. I have a lot of people on board trying to help me in various ways, that way I feel more comfortable to be able to provided everything I need to my fighters, and support them to make sure they get (the right) fights and help make them move in the right direction. I have a great relationship with Armando, Ruben, Rafael Rivera- but I’d say we’ll get there within the year. It’s just kinda of hard when you have two jobs so you can’t put in more than two shows on. To me its unfair to the fighter, but I have put fighters on other fight cards to help them. But definitely next year we’ll get these guys signed so we can grow together. They talk to me and they like the way they are treated. I hear all good things from the fighters, because they know I love the sport.
Real Combat Media: Alright! Best of luck to you Joey! We’ll be looking out for you in the coming years, and Thank you so much for taking time to talk with us.
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