This week I caught up with one of the country’s busiest fighters Super-Middleweight Ryan Clark.
PZ: You won your last two fights against Jonjo Finnegan, both of which were epic, but Jonjo sustained a clot to the brain in the one you had last week. Do you know how is getting on since?
RC: He’s unfortunately still the same, in a coma. We fought on the 27th July, so it been tough the last week thinking about it. I would really like for anybody reading this to say a prayer for Jonjo.
PZ: I saw the both of you recently on Boxnation and it seemed like you had the utmost respect for each other and looked like friends outside of the ring.
RC: Absolutely. Best of mates, but it’s the nature of the sport unfortunately.
PZ: You have boxed not far off 300 rounds and won 4 in 61 fights. However, you are ranked 16th in the country for your weight division, so you are obviously a very good fighter. What motivates you to continue boxing when the majority of your fights have been losses?
RC: There’s a few things to remember here Paul – I’m only 22, and I was boxing every week pretty much, plain and simply to get paid. I wasn’t looking at it in terms of where I can get, just simply to stay on the roads as a journeyman. At one point I had eleven fights in eleven weeks. It’s an easy payday. I was hardly going to the gym, just fighting and getting paid, and on to the next guy the week after. That was my job.
In fact last year I had the most number of fights in the year – 27. Not in the UK – in the world! There was a guy from Mexico who had 25, but I beat him!
PZ: The incredible thing about your record is that you have had all your 61 fights in just over three years, and you are only 22yrs old! That’s like a throwback from the fighters of the era of Jack Dempsey. Do you think if you were to reduce the quantity of fights and concentrate on longer training camps that you could progress even further?
RC: Definitely. I have fought some great guys with little notice, and the fights where I have done well, have been where I have had a longer training camp. For example – against Frank Buglioni, I was only given five days notice, whereas he had been training for weeks. I was out of shape, but they offered me good money so I took it. However, I know that if I have a decent training camp I could knock him out. I would love a rematch with him. When I’m fit, I can really hit hard. I hit Buglioni in the third round and he felt it.
As of now I’m off the road. I’m no longer looking at myself as journeyman, and am concentrating on becoming a good fighter as a super middleweight. I’m ranked 16th in the UK for super middle, so I can’t be that bad! My last two fights I trained for 8 weeks each and I won by knockout, so I know what I can do. I have also been hurting many of my sparring partners, so it’s now official I am off the road.
You also need to remember that I only had 12 amateur fights before turning pro, so from today you can consider this the start of my serious pro career. I am aiming for top ten and winning some titles.
PZ: What’s your long term plans? Looking for any titles?
RC: I want the British title. Clock up a few more knockouts and get that Lonsdale Belt around me!
PZ: If you could call any fighter in your division for your next fight, who would it be?
RC: I’m really not like that. I’m not the kind of guy who goes around saying they want to fight this person or that person, calling everybody out. My manager Carl Greaves will organise my opponents and I trust him with whoever he puts in front of me.
PZ: Any boxing idols?
RC: Not really. I don’t really spend much time studying past fighters. The only fighter I used to love watching was Mike Tyson.
PZ: Who got you into boxing and at what age?
RC: I was about sixteen or seventeen when I first went to the gym and had a spar. After that first spar I just going back and the rest is history. The funny thing is that nobody else in my family has ever boxed! I don’t know where the passion or ability came from. My mum and dad are just such nice placid people, and I have a brother and two sisters who also have no fighting streak in them either. I really have no ideas where it comes from. I can only think my parents must have taken the wrong child home from the hospital! (PZ laughs!).
PZ: What do you do when you are not boxing?
RC: To tell you the truth, I’m just a quiet country boy who lives in a village, plays the piano, goes horse riding and walks the dogs! I have very good friends who live locally and for others looking in it must seem like Emmerdale! I’m not a complex guy – one shop, one pub, that’s all I need.
PZ: Toughest opponent to date?
RC: If I have to be honest I couldn’t really say. Nobody has ever really hurt me. I got caught with a good body shot with one of my stoppages, but I recovered within a short time of getting up. It was a good shot, but I really can’t think of an opponent who I would say was tough.
PZ: If any of your previous opponents are reading this article, who would you want a rematch from?
RC: Frank Buglioni. This time I want eight weeks notice instead of five days, and will make sure I have about 500 of my fans there also. If I get a full training camp in, the fight will have a different result second time round.
