RAU'SHEE WARREN DISCUSSES TITLE DEFENSE AGAINST ZHANAT ZHAKIYANOV: "I'M READY TO FIGHT...I WANT MORE TITLES"
By
Percy Crawford | February 02, 2017
PC: How are you doing, Newt?
RW: I'm doing good, man. I'm ready to fight. I've been ready to fight since mid-January.
PC: How was camp for this first title defense against Zhanat Zhakiyanov?
RW: Ah man, camp going well, man. I couldn't ask for a better camp as far as coaches and sparring. The whole atmosphere, just getting that good energy going. Camp has been going well since I've been here.
PC: How are you keeping the anxiety down? I know you're ready to get in there. What do you do from now until fight time?
RW: I'm just sharpening up more on my craft and my skills and watching my opponent a little bit more and seeing what he relies on most. I'm working on a lot of things with Coach Barry and Boog. There are things that I see other fighters doing that he don't really be liking, so with my experience and my ability, I should make the fight easy. I'm not going to look down on a fighter like him because he is a straight-forward fighter and he's looking for the knockout, so I gotta be aware at all times. I don't care if it's from the 1st round all the way to the 12th round. I gotta be ready at all times with this guy. It's a lot of things that I'm doing in the gym to make it easier on me and I feel like I'm going to come out on top. Like I said, I'm in there with good sparring partners that are strong. I got a little black eye right now from my sparring partner. They even trying to knock me out. This training camp was so hard, I'm ready for it to be over so that I can make the fight easy, you feel me?
PC: Without a doubt. And you're coming off of back-to-back fights with Juan Carlos Payano. I'm sure it's a good feeling for you to be preparing for anyone not named Juan Carlos Payano?
RW: Yeah! I feel like by me having a title now, Coach Barry turned the training up a little bit more. It's a little bit harder than me trying to get the title and trying to win it from somebody else. Now that I'm defending it...it's going to be hard for somebody trying to take my title from me. I'm used to being #1 in the amateurs and going to the Olympics 3 times. It's way different now because one punch can change the fight. So I'm always aware and staying focused in the ring and listening to my corner. Once you have a good game plan and you and your corner on board together, shouldn't nothing go wrong.
PC: We see fighters fall in love with the natural gifts and talents and they get away from the fundamentals of the game. You are one of the most naturally gifted fighters I have seen in a long time, but you don't stray away from the fundamentals. How important is that?
RW: I feel like I still got more to do as a professional. I have 15 fights and a world title and there are a lot of fighters that it took them 25 fights to get a title. I happen to be one of the guys to get a title early into my career and I feel like I got more to do down the road. I want more titles that's out there. That's why I'm not turning down mandatory fights. I'm not giving up my title or vacating because I don't wanna fight this guy or that guy. I'm from the era where to be the best, you gotta fight the best. All of these people getting these titles and running with them and turning down certain fights and mandatories and stuff like that, come on, man. I'm not with that era. I believe in back in the day where one fighter got one title and went after all of the titles in the weight class and that's what I want to do. Once I get this mandatory out of the way, we gonna see who else want to get it on. I want to do title versus title. I want to do that. After I win your title, I want to find somebody else with a title. I want to do that. I want to fight other titleholders in my weight class, like the guy from Japan [Shinsuke Yamanaka] who got the WBC title. No telling when I'm going to meet him unless I go over there or we can work something out to make something happen. I'm from the era where I'm trying to get all of the titles. Right now, I gotta handle this mandatory on February 10th so I can go after everybody else.
PC: A lot of guys in the lower weight classes have the mentality of being on the fast track. You haven't had an easy run at all with the competition you've been in with. I'm sure those 3 Olympic Team experiences have to help you from a standpoint of competition or the moment not being too much for you.
RW: Yes, it definitely prepared me going to the Olympics 3 times. Also fighting in the World Series of Boxing in 2010, being an amateur fighting in a pro league. That definitely helped me a lot. When I was in the World Series of Boxing, we were fighting top dogs. We weren't fighting no bums. We were fighting 5 rounds, 8 oz gloves, no headgear, and under the pro rules. Everyone always came in and tried to beat me and they brought their best guy to try and beat me and I went 8-0 in that tournament. I felt like they was a big help for me to go professional. I got the feel of being a professional while still being an amateur. So when I was done in that league, I was ready to go pro, but I wanted to go back to the Olympics. So I had to put my mind back into the Olympics and actually prepare to do the touching and running stuff that they have going on. I was kind of ready to go pro, but I had to get the Olympic stuff out of the way. After that and I lost, I was ready to go pro and start my journey as a professional.
PC: I feel like one of the advantages that a guy like Zhanat could have heading into this fight is most of your pro fights were televised, so the footage is out there. On the flip side of that, there's not a lot out there on him. Have you been able to find footage of him?
RW: Yeah, I watched 30 seconds of him.
I've been around the world and I done been in the ring with Rigondeaux; we fought in the amateurs. He beat me by like 3 points. I've been in the ring with a few people from Kazakhstan. When we used to do USA versus Kazakhstan, I never saw him on the national team or nothing like that, but I'm not going to overlook him, like I say. But I'm used to seeing people around the world who I have competed against. It only took me 30 seconds to watch him and that's what it was. I went from there and I just know what I gotta do. I gotta hit that angle and just keep turning him around because he's a robot and everything he does is to try and land that big shot. He don't work like Payano; all in my face, throwing a lot of punches and chasing me down. He just wanna walk me down and try to catch me slipping. I just gotta be ready at all times.
PC: You grew up in the ring as a professional in those two fights against Payano. What did you take away from those two fights that you feel you can implement in this fight if it goes into those deep waters?
RW: Not being more patient, but definitely using more of my jab. I got an effective jab. The first Payano fight, it was a just a straight brawl, just banging it out. I thought I won the fight, but I'm glad I got the rematch because I started boxing more and using my jab. And in this camp, that's what I've been working on is my jab because I got a nice jab. I'm changing the speed up, switching up my speed, and when I'm ready to drop the bomb, I can. I'm getting stronger. A lot of people don't think that I'm strong because I got 4 knockouts, but every opponent they put in front of me was either blocking the whole time because they didn't want to open up because of how fast I was or they didn't want to take that risk in the ring and try to trade with me. But probably half of the opponents that I have been in the ring with, I dropped; I just couldn't finish them. They felt the power; I just couldn't finish them. It's like they thought Payano was stronger than me and I took his best shot and I was trying to get him out of there. So from them two fights with Payano, I learned that my jab is everything and I got the speed to switch it up effectively.
PC: I appreciate the time. Best of luck on the 10th and I look forward to speaking with you more often. Is there anything else you want to add before I let you go?
RW: Be ready...and still...that's what you're going to hear after the fight; and still!
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