Vyacheslav “Czar” Glazkov, 19-0-1, 12 KOs and Steve “USS” Cunningham, 28-6-0, 13 KOs will be the co-feature on the Saturday, March 14 Kovalev vs. Pascal card from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, fighting for the mandatory position in the IBF, and televised live on HBO Boxing. Earlier today Glazkov and Cunningham discussed the fight on a media call.
Czar Glazkov
“It was a very busy year for me last year as a fighter and in my personal life. The most important fight from last year was the one against Tomasz Adamek. It was the first time in my career facing a fighter like Adamek. He has won so many title and he was a good fighter. It was a very big experience for me to learn something in that bout. After that I went through the training process that was very disruptive on my personal life with the war in Ukraine but I don’t want to talk in detail about that. It was a good year for me. There was gaps between my bouts but I was busy and was always training.”
On the unrest in Ukraine, which was at one of its worst points before and during Glazkov’s fight against Derric Rossy in August 2014:
“It was pretty hard in the beginning. It was upsetting my concentration and interrupting my training. I lost my grandmother; she was killed in the street during one of the bombings. Of course it was always distracting to talk with my family back there. Right now I am concentrated 100% and I am here, I am training, I am ready.”
On his size:
“If you are smart in the ring, you can overcome a size disadvantage.”
On reconnecting with his old trainer:
“Everything is going very well. We are closer together. We understand each other. He sees a lot of my mistakes and we are working on them.”
On fighting Klitschko or Jennings:
“I can’t run in front of the wagon. I am a fighter. I am a boxer. My career is in the hands of my manager and my promoter. I know I have to face Cunningham on March 14 and this is my priority right now.”
Steve Cunningham
“I have been with Naazim [Richardson] for some years now and he is such a mad scientist when it comes to figuring guys out, so I just let him do his job. He is one of the best trainers in the world, in history, for a reason. He looks at the fighter and he tells me what we are going to do. He tells me what [my opponent] does and this is what you do, so it is still like I am in the military taking orders. Whatever commander Naazim tells me to do, if he tells me to take that hill, I am going to take that hill. That’s the faith and the trust I have in my team.”
On Glazkov’s performance against Adamek:
“I thought he did a damn good job. He did very well. I was the color commentator on that fight where I stated it was like the old lion getting beat by the young lion. It was a very entertaining fight. He showed heart. He dug deep. Adamek did come on heavy in those last two rounds to show he was the champion, but before that Glazkov bagged so many rounds that Adamek just couldn’t get the nod. I thought he did a great job. Adamek was definitely getting older so you have to factor that in. Adamek has been in war after war and his defense is getting punched. He never really blocked punches or slipped punches. He ate punches, but he gave back just as much as he received. After he fought Vitali [Klitschko] he was basically beat up and it was only a matter of time. When Glazkov got to him, he was already damaged goods. I don’t want to diminish the victory that Glazkov had against Adamek because Adamek is still a formidable heavyweight. He could beat most of those heavyweights out there, so Glazkov beat a top ten heavyweight in Adamek.”
On his loss to Adamek:
“I believe I won that fight every time I look at that fight. We know there is politics in this business. Adamek had a huge fan base and Steve Cunningham really didn’t. There is just a lot of other aspects. At the end of that fight I walked away very comfortable and it seemed like a victory to me. There are things I will take away from that fight. There is things I did with Adamek I won’t do with Glazkov. Naazim comes up with the game plan. If Naazim says spin backwards and flip three times and that is what is going to knock Glazkov out; that is what Steve Cunningham is going to do. I let Naazim look at the guy and analyze and break him down. He comes to the gym and tells me what we need to work on. Every fighter needs a game plan. They want a game plan and they should have a game plan. I believe I have a game plan mastermind in Naazim.”
“I think my size is going to help me get a world title. I don’t consider myself a heavyweight at all, period. I am just a fighter. I’ve gotten in there with huge monsters but performed greatly. Even with the loss to Fury, I’ve done things that people didn’t even dream I’d do. I am a fighter. You put a challenger in front of me and I am going to do what a fighter does which is try my best to kick that guy’s butt. I’m a smart fighter and I think my science is what is going to help me get to a world title. I have a great team and they emphasize different things about my strengths and my weaknesses. Throughout camp we have worked to strengthen those weaknesses. I have gotten better and better with each fight. I think my size is a plus. Being big does stop fighters from being able to do certain things but they do have that power. This is the heavyweight division and one shot can change the night or change your life. Glazkov is a small heavyweight too so this is going to be like two cruiserweights fighting.”
On Klitscko vs. Jennings:
“Vladmir is a historic fighter. He does things many haven’t done. You can’t deny his pedigree. I have seen how he works. Jennings is young, hungry which could be a plus for him. So he can be ignorant to the scariness of fighting at that level. Wladimir doesn’t have the greatest chin so Jennings has a chance in there. If Jennings wins it would great to face him in Philly. After that fight we can take each other’s kids out to Dorney Park and spend all that money together. I think it would be a good fight for Philly. It would be a revitalization for Philly boxing. But I am a fighter and, if you put a challenge in front of me, that is a force that I can’t even explain. If I get to face Wladimir, if you beat the man, then you are considered the man. Going up against Wladimir would be like a dream come true. I am an old school fighter’s fighter. I want to fight the champion. I want to fight the biggest guy; the best guy. I want to be put into a challenge where people think Cunningham can’t make it out and then get in there and have people looking at me sideways when the fight is over. I want people saying, ‘This dude is crazy.’ I love challenges. I love to fight, period. It doesn’t matter who I am facing I love to fight. I love a challenge.”
On his daughter, Kennedy:
“My daughter is nine years old. We have been dealing with this situation for nine years. It has just been the last year and a half that the boxing world has really heard about this. I have fought all over the world while I have been dealing with this. This is my life. I have been a two-time world champion with this in my life. I use it as energy. I use it as fuel and I press on. There’s a job that I must do. I have three children, not just Kennedy, so I have to provide for my entire family. I can’t just shut down. I have two sons and a nephew that I have to take care of. I got a job to do and a family to take care of. During this whole ordeal I have seen her face things that would make grown men shake in their bones, but she takes them on with a smug smirk on her face and says, ‘let’s go!’ I do remember that look on her face going down to the transplant and I have visited that look in my memory when times have gotten hard in training camp. If she can go in there and get a transplant with that much heart, then me going into these fights is nothing.”
On his age:
“I have been in some good fights but I wouldn’t call them wars. Hunger drives me. I feel like I am getting better. I am still learning and that drives me to perfect what I am learning.”
