By James Slater: 31-year-old British-born cruiserweight contender Ola Afolabi scored a stunning 1st-round KO over the usually durable Terry Dunstan on the Klitschko-Haye under-card, arguably stealing some of the thunder from the main event. Now 17-2-3(8), the man known as “Kryptonite” says he is a changed man; no longer content to be “lazy” in fights.
Looking ahead to a big fight with the likes of Marco Huck (in a rematch) or Denis Lebedev, Afolabi plans to stay busy and stay busy scoring highlight reel KO’s.
Ola very kindly took the time to speak with Eastside Boxing earlier today. Here is what he had to say:
James Slater: Thanks so much for taking the time to speak with me, Ola. Congratulations on the win over Terry Dunstan on Saturday. That was a brutal KO; were you surprised yourself you got him out so quickly?
Ola Afolabi: Well, I trained hard for the fight, and my mindset was, I had to beat him in impressive style. If I lost, it would have been terrible. If I’d won but not looked good, that wouldn’t have been enough either. I wanted to look impressive.
J.S: You certainly were that. Did you know much about Dunstan coming in? He’s never been destroyed like that.
O.A: I heard his name, and I went straight away and googled him when I knew I was fighting him. I was supposed to fight another guy in an eliminator, a shorter guy. Then I heard I was fighting a guy who was 6’4.” I wound up facing another Brit because they [the promoters] knew there would be a lot of Brits in the audience, so that made sense to me.
J.S: How impressive do you feel the Dunstan KO was, compared to your equally stunning KO of Enzo Maccarinelli?
O.A: I was even more pleased and impressed with this one. The reason is, I got the win in the 1st-round, and against Enzo I was a lazy fighter. But it was the same punch: an overhand right. But this one was better because it was a cleaner punch. People say, ‘oh, he was 42.’ But today, a forty-something fighter is different compared to that age years ago. I mean, he came to fight! He was more ripped than me and he had beaten four younger guys previously – like David Dolan, a good amateur, who he made quit in the 6th-round. I worked hard for this fight, I deserve credit for it. But what can I say, the haters will hate.
J.S: You feel you are hitting harder now, more so than ever before?
O.A: Absolutely. Ever since I’ve been with trained by Fritz Sdunek, who is also Klitschko’s trainer, I’ve been working on my strength and conditioning, and I’ve stopped like three or four guys. I’ve improved my power and I’m not the lazy fighter I used to be.
J.S: Who would you like next – if you could get anyone?
O.A: If I could choose, I’d pick [Marco] Huck. Because I think that if that fight [in December 2009] had been in the U.S, I’d have had a good chance of winning. He missed a lot, but the crowd went nuts whenever he threw three or four punches but only landed one. I had him hurt, but I was too lazy to go for it, I was scared of getting tired. But that was the old Ola – the new Ola would have taken him out. If I can’t get Huck, I’d like [Denis] Lebedev. I’m 31, and if I’m gonna win the big fights I have to do it now; take them now.
J.S: You say 31, but that’s quite young for a cruiserweight. Do you feel you are at your peak right now?
O.A: I feel like I’ve just started boxing, actually. For the first time I have time to train, time to prepare. For the first time I know what it feels like to never get out of shape.
J.S: Just talking about the main event on Saturday…
O.A: You want my opinion on it? I think, and a lot of Brits said it to me on the night after the fight, that Haye sold out. He did. He has this excuse, but excuses are like a** holes; we all have one. He bamboozled people into believing he had a chance; he bamboozled his U.K fans. But then again, the real fans, the knowledgeable fans, they knew he had no chance and they said so. I got a lot of hate on my Face Book page because I said what I thought would happen, but he got his ass whupped. He cam in at like 211-pounds, he had no chance; he fought like he just didn’t want to get KO’d. He never wanted to become known as, and called, Wladimir’s 50th KO victim. And the excuse he has! My [right] shoulder popped out two weeks before the fight [with Dunstan], and I couldn’t do anything. But I ignored the pain in the ring and I KO’d him with my right hand! I was warming up in the dressing room before the fight and I threw a right hand and it pulled and I said, ‘oh, shit.’ But my trainer told me to forget the pain, that it would go away in the ring. And that’s what I did. You can’t cry about an injury. I never even had a shot! And he’s [Haye] crying about his toe! Basically, Haye got rich by fooling people. He deserves credit, for the way he made this the biggest heavyweight fight in ten years, but this was the biggest fraud in the history of boxing. He created so much buzz with his mouth, but then let everyone down. The fans wanted to believe in someone, like he was the new Lennox Lewis, but I said all along he would have no chance against Wladimir.
J.S: No doubt about it, I saw your interviews on Sky Sports. Getting back to you: how soon will you fight again?
O.A: Well, it depends on the shoulder. If the right shoulder’s fine, I might be back in camp in less than four weeks. There’s a chance I’ll be on the under-card of the Vitali Klitschko-Tomasz Adamek fight in September. I’ve heard a few names, unbeaten Polish guys who I can’t pronounce. But whenever I fight again I’ve got to score another impressive KO. I have to earn the respect of the fans. I understand why they lost faith in me when I was lazy, but that’s over with now. I’ll get noticed by scoring more impressive KO’s and then the fans will have no choice but to love me (laughs).
J.S: It’s great speaking with you, Ola – has anyone ever told you, you sound just like Lennox Lewis!
O.A: It’s funny, I was with him at the after-fight party, and he was giving me advice. I was like, Lennox is giving me advice! (laughs).
J.S: You are one of the most underappreciated boxers out there. Hopefully the shoulder will be okay and you will fight on the Vitali card. You definitely deserve another world title shot.
O.A: I think slowly but surely the fans are coming around to me. Let me say this before you hang up the phone: people have left comments on You Tube, about the Dunstan fight, saying he was 42 and this and that. Don’t take the win away from me, I worked hard for that fight. And anyone I hit with a shot like that, be he 21 or 42, they will be taken out. Like I said, the haters will hate, but I’ll carry on getting knockouts.
J.S: Thanks so much for your time, Champ. We look forward to your next fight.
O.A: Thank you.