Elcock looking to make Birmingham proud by Paul Downey Jun 12th 2007

Birmingham-based middleweight Wayne Elcock recently chatted to BBN new boy Paul Downey about his boxing career so far, being a boxer from England's second city and his next fight against Howard Eastman in September at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre. BBN: Eastman is certainly not to be underestimated with his impressive KO record, what are you going to be most wary of from him? WE: I have a lot of respect for Eastman and know I'm going in as a big underdog against a man who has only ever being beaten by the division's elite and never tasted defeat on British soil so underestimating him I definitely won't be. Remember I was groomed on his undercards back in my days with Panix at the start of my career so have watched him box first hand numerous times so I know what he is capable of and what a good fighter he is. I would not say there is anything I would be wary of from him as I respect anyone who gets in the ring with me. This is something I learnt the hard way from my first fight with Murphy and you know what happened there (L KO1). I just aim to be in the best possible shape of my life and I will let my trainer Paddy Lynch be the one who is wary of what Howard brings to the table and respect and trust him as a trainer who has a great record and has being around a long time and trained and guided many fighters who have mixed at the highest level.    BBN: How do you aim to beat him? WE: That you will have to see on the night but we have a game plan and my trainer Paddy has had the added advantage of seeing Eastman spar hundreds of rounds with my fellow Brummie Robert McCracken who was with Paddy also for the best part of his career. I will also have something a lot of fighters facing Eastman may have lacked when they stepped in the ring to face him: self-belief.     BBN: Who has been your toughest opponent thus far, and why? WE: I would say Yuri Tsarenko, it was a massive step up in class for me at the time and I jumped up from doing four rounds straight to ten. After seeing my big shots bounce off him with little effect early on I got behind my jab and won the first eight rounds fairly easy but went into the comfort zone and switched off which I nearly paid the price for as in the ninth. I got sloppy and was tagged and he really poured it on it showed me that fighters of his calibre never stop believing they can win no matter how far behind they are so it made them last two rounds tougher than anything I had had to cope with in my career before, or to date as I had to dig deep to earn the victory.       BBN: Any pre fights superstitions? WE: No    BBN: Do you use supplements? WE: No     BBN: Who is the best boxer in sport today, and why? WE: I would say Floyd Mayweather, what he has achieved is exceptional he has it all and his recent fight with another great in De La Hoya created so much media attention, it shows he is not only a great boxer but great for the sport of boxing.    BBN: Which other boxers do you enjoy watching? WE: My all time favourite was Roy Jones, and I still watch his old fights over and over he was a big inspiration for me along with our own Nigel Benn I used to love watching them guys fight when I was still an amateur. In recent times I like to watch Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton who are both great fighters and a credit to British boxing and on the world scene Morales, De La Hoya, Cotto, to name but a few to be honest I like to watch all fights which are competitive and demonstrate good skills and boxing ability. BBN: Do you know many other Birmingham based boxers and if so, what is your   impression over the standard that the city is producing at the moment? WE: I know many Birmingham boxers and I believe in the next few years we will produce lots of good fighters.  There are some great amateurs with the likes of Hall Green's Commonwealth gold medallist and ABA champ Frankie Gavin, Birmingham City's world junior cadet gold medallist and youngest ever ABA champ Khalid Saeed coming through and the now, recently turned unbeaten professional and former commonwealth gold medallist Don Broadhurst who trains out of my gym and big things are expected of him. The new arrival of Birmingham based team Ringside producing some quality fighters under former world champion Richie Woodhall's guidance Matt Macklin and myself we are looking stronger in this part of the country than we have done in a very long time.  BBN: Is Birmingham a 'boxing city' so to speak? WE: I came back to base myself and box in Brum to try and help make this dream I had when I first turned professional a reality as there had not being a big fight in Brum since the early nineties. We are not there as yet but I believe it's not far off and the people of Birmingham are starting to really get behind me with every show. I have been on in Brum selling out thus far in the smaller arenas and with the bigger promoters now coming into Brum, with Frank Maloney who has made it possible for me to challenge for the title on home turf and Matchroom also who recently put the Mutley-Anderson fight on here, hopefully it's the sign of things to come. This time next year it will have progressed to the bigger arenas and bigger shows and I really will be able to answer this question and proudly say that yes, my home city of Birmingham is a boxing city.      BBN: How did you first get involved in boxing? WE: I knew a lad a school who was an amateur boxer, and he invited me to try it out at our local club as I was always scrapping on the street and on the playground he threw down the challenge telling me that I might be hard on the street, but in the ring it was totally different. I quickly found he was right! I took a good hiding in my first sparring session, but it did not deter me as I have always wanted to be the best at whatever I do. I kept going until I could prove him wrong something that I still like to do today and the rest as they say is history. BBN: What is on the agenda between now and the fight in September? WE: I am off to Boston to train with Marvin Hagler's trainer Goody Petronelli soon. I will then carry on with my preparations when I get back with the big countdown, to what I know will be my toughest ever fight but like I said earlier I will be in the best shape of my life both physically and mentally and will be looking at making the Birmingham people just as proud of me as I am of them.

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