BN: How do you reflect on Conor Bennโs fight with Rodolfo Orozco?
TS: It went good. It was a good fight for Conor. Where he ainโt boxed for that long, he got the rounds under his belt; he was made to work hard; he done what he had to do in there. He caught the kid with some big shots. It was good for him.
I said to him beforehand, โThis kidโs never been stopped in 38 fight so heโs durable โย heโs definitely gonna go a few roundsโ. I expected it to go six or seven rounds, but fair play to him, he went the distance. Some of the shots โย when he was in the arena and you could hear โem; it was only like a 2,000 crowd there โ when you heard some of the shots, body shots, head shots, going in, they was like thunderbolts in there. Heโs one tough man, that man.
As we know, heโs a natural 147lbs fighter. We werenโt sure if he was gonna fight. He werenโt gonna fight, then he was gonna fight, then he werenโt gonna fight, and thatโs how itโs been for the last few weeks. โYou donโt wanna be boiling yourself down if you ainโt gonna fight.โ Heโs a 147 fighter but everyone who does their weight โ itโs not easy to do. โWeโll make it at 154, and that way, you can do 154 pretty easily and you ainโt gotta strip yourself down that bad.โ โCause up until two weeks ago we still werenโt sure if he was gonna fight or not. It wasnโt the greatest camp, mentally, to do. Although he always trains hard, mentally, he didnโt have an opponent; didnโt know whether he was going to fight, so it was quite hard to focus sometimes.
Conorโs trained all the way through, for 18 months. It was only the last four weeks that we knew that we might fight, so it werenโt that long. A week before we definitely knew he was going to fight, and that was when the opponent come in as well. Normally you get your opponent and you train for 12 weeks, and you zone in during camp. It werenโt actually like that, but the 10 rounds done him good. Heโs all good afterwards, and quite happy with his performance as well โย he boxed quite smart; never really got hit that much.
Even when we got out here there was bits and pieces โ complications going on in the background I didnโt tell him too much about. It ainโt been easy. Itโs been quite difficult, mentally, to get through to this stage. All the commissions had to agree on everything, including The Board [British Boxing Board of Control], and we was waiting for all them to agree on it, so it was all going on all week. It ainโt been the easiest fight to get done, if youโre a fighter โย mentally โ but now heโs boxed heโs done the 10 rounds. Heโs through that, so the next step will be moving on, getting a date, and working towards that date and whoever the opponent is.
Itโs a massive weight off both of our shoulders. Talking about Conor Bennโs fight, and whenโs his next fight and how he can build โย the last 18 months itโs just been about the positive tests. Itโs refreshing for him. Heโs a fighter, and thatโs what he does best and all he knows.ย
BN: Given the British Boxing Board of Control and UK Anti-Doping maintain that Benn hasnโt been โclearedโ, did you have to weigh up the risk of being punished for guiding him?
TS: Only if he was banned or suspended wouldnโt I have been able to work the corner. If he was banned or suspended, from The Board, they wouldnโt have let me work the corner. They would have suspended me. Because heโs not suspended or banned Iโm free to work anyoneโs corner โ as long as theyโre not.
BN: Eddie Hearnโs already spoken of him fighting Chris Eubank Jnr in Decemberโฆ
TS: After the 10 rounds heโs done heโll be ready, and also, heโll get a proper camp in, mentally and physically. Bearing in mind, that was a camp of four weeks, really. Donโt get me wrong, heโs a fit kid, but that was a four-week camp against a durable geezer who soaked everything up. To have a 12-week camp โ a proper camp โ bring in proper sparring, heโll be more than ready. Heโll be properly prepared for the next fight.
BN: What did you think of Eubank Jnrโs performance in the rematch with Liam Smith?
TS: Liam Smith was probably at his best the first fight, and Eubank was probably at his worst, and then the next fight, Smith was probably the worst youโve ever seen him, and Eubankโs was probably the best performance of his career. Both them fights was really hard to look into. Is Chris Eubank still vulnerable? The Smith he fought the second time didnโt even look like heโd done any training. It looked like he was injured. After two rounds Eubank realised he wasnโt doing anything and started to box him and looked good, but that wasnโt the first Smith that boxed him, so you wonder whether Eubank can still take a shot โ he looked very vulnerable in that first fight. But was that โcause he was ill-prepared? You donโt know, so both the fights were really hard to look into. You canโt really take a lot away from either one of them. All I know is Eubankโs 34 now; apart from the last Smith fight he ainโt looked great in the fights leading up to that. Thatโll be the Eubank thatโs in my mind, really โ and also, you canโt say Smith punches as hard as Conor Benn. If them bombs was landing on Eubankโs chin he wouldnโt be able to hold them.
BN: You had to leave Jordan Thompson in the UK during some of the final days of his preparations for Jai Opetaiaโฆ
TS: Iโve got Joe Cordina fighting [Edward Vazquez, in Monte Carlo] in five weeksโ time, but thatโs why you have a system of coaches. Kevin Mitchellโs been my assistant coach for the last two years, so I was here for a week, I set the programmes out for both of them, and Kevinโs carried the programmes out. Kevin works every day in the gym with them anyway, so itโs not really that big a deal. In an ideal world you wouldnโt go away for a week, but thatโs why you have two coaches in the gym, so if that happens the other coach takes over. It ainโt really been that much of a problem to be honest โ I spoke to them every day. They knew their programmes. Kevinโs done all their programmes; done all the sparring, so itโs been fine.
[Thompson looks] really good. Heโs in fantastic condition. Heโs a big puncher โย 6ft 7ins. With that kind of frame and power that heโs got, although heโs not as experienced, with that frame and power heโs literally got a chance against anybody. Heโs like a genetic freak. Thatโs why he took the fight, took the opportunity with both hands, because he knows he probably could have done with another couple of fights but heโs a freak of nature.
BN: How good is Opetaia?
TS: Very good, from what Iโve seen of him. Iโve watched the [Maris] Breidis fight โ to beat Breidis the way he did, heโs obviously a good fighter, but is Breidis the fighter he was a few years ago? Itโs another one where weโre going to see how good he is on the night, really. Weโve got home advantage as well, so it makes a lot of difference.
Iโm really confident. [Thompsonโs] sparred really well; had great sparring; heโs looked good in sparring. His conditioning looks fantastic, and Iโm looking forward to it.ย