Carl Greaves is doing just fine - interview by Kev Parker Nov 5th 2007

Carl Greaves is a promoter, manager, trainer and former super-featherweight fighter from the Midlands. I had the chance to recently catch up with him for an interview. You've been in the fight game for a long time in one form or another, tell me why you decided to go into the business side of it more? I ended up finishing boxing earlier than I had wanted to really due to circumstances. It was my decision to retire due to failing my second brain scan, the Board advised me to call it a day so I did. I knew I wanted to stay in boxing straight away as it's been my life since I was eleven years old. I got a trainer's licence out in 2001 so I capitalised on that, I started to do a few classes, a few pros had started to come along and I pushed it from there. I then got a manager's licence and since I wanted to make a living out of boxing I got a promoter's license as well. I think it's starting to work out well, I've got a few good fighters and I'm ticking along nicely. As a fighter most people assume that to get to the higher levels of the sport it's a 24/7 commitment. Would you say it requires the same type of drive for similar achievements in your current roles? At certain times of my career I've worked as well as trained, but for my title fights I did train full-time. I'm finding now as I have Esham Pickering and one or two other fighters that want to train in the day I'm having to concentrate full-time on the boxing. I do some personal training too so it's working out well. It is difficult but at the minute I'm able to manage full-time on the boxing and there may come a time when I have to go back to work and do both side by side, we'll see how it goes. Taking a look back on your pro career, are there any regrets or things you feel that maybe you should have done differently? No disrespect to any of my former trainers but I never had a trainer that I really looked up to. John Ashton was my manager and promoter and I really respected John because I knew he had been in there at a decent level. I'm a firm believer in having a trainer and a man around you who has been in there at a respected level, there are a lot of armchair boxing people out there but actually knowing what it's like is a different kettle of fish altogether. I feel like I never had the right training behind me, I had to scrimp around and do what I could locally and because I had a family as well I didn't want to be away from them. There are a couple of fights I could have prepared better for, I always gave it 100%, but the two fights that always stick in my mind are my two biggest fights. The Michael Gomez fight, I had just lost my great-grandma before that one, I also struggled with my weight for some reason. For the Carl Johanneson fight, my wife was due with our baby that day and I had weight trouble again. They are two of my biggest fights and two of my regrets really. You've mentioned struggling with weight for a few fights, was it just those two fights or did making the super-featherweight limit get harder as you got older? Yes, it was always a struggle to make super-feather to be fair. In hindsight I wish I had gone up a weight but all my opportunities and chances were coming at super-featherweight. There was a stage when I was going over 11 stone sometimes (walking about) and I'm quite a fit person all round so I think I should have gone up in weight really; it was always a grind and that's one of my regrets. Having previously been a fighter, how have the experiences been of benefit to you in your current position? Having been there myself at a decent level I know exactly what the lads are going through, I know when they are looking for the exit door and when the going gets tough. I'll always encourage my fighters 100%, I'll never pull them down and they know I've been there and they respect me for it, it's a big important factor that I've been there and I think it helps them too. You train, promote and manage fighters. Who do you have in your stable and can you give me some background information on them? I've got Andrew Alan Lowe, he's a Newark lad and formally boxed in the Marines. He won the novice title as an amateur when he boxed for the RHP club. He also had a few fights as a kickboxer. Andrew's a very awkward fighter to box, it's coming together nicely for him now. He's going to surprise a few people, he's won five on the trot after a controversial defeat in his debut. Jamie Norkett, another local lad, who won a British title as a cruiserweight kick-boxing. He's really just learning his trade at light heavy now and won his last fight by knockout. Johnny Greaves from London who will fight anybody. He always puts up a good fight and is a very tough, very strong lad. Amir Unsworth who's a current serving soldier, he's had two fights and won them both. He's fighting at the Nottingham Arena on November 9th, then goes out to Iraq on the 17th November and when he gets back we'll put alot of time in, I've got high hopes for Amir. Esham Pickering, British champion, it's very exciting for me to team up with Esham. Johnny Whiteman from Mansfield, he's having a break at the minute but coming back again after Christmas. Wayne Bloy who's fighting for the English super-flyweight title against Andy Bell. Wayne's improving all the time and the winner should be fighting for the British title, so we might have two British champions in the stable within the next six months. Matty Teague was coming back with me but has unfortunetly had to retire due to recurring hand trouble after sparring with Esham. I've also got a few amateurs that will be turning over soon, Ben Lawler who's in the army. Guy Fletcher and also Eddie O'Rourke who's a very good amateur and they'll all be turning pro within the next six months. I'm getting a good stable together. Some fighters are brought along slowly, others more quickly. What match making approach do you prefer or does it depend on the potential of the boxer? It's always nice to keep a fighter unbeaten but there is only so much babysitting you can do really. I'm a great believer that if you can fight, you can fight. Sometimes the only fights you can get your fighter are hard fights. It's all about being able to sell tickets in boxing, if a fighter can sell tickets he'll be put on the left hand side of the bill. If not then they have to go on the road. What do you hope to achieve in the next 5 to 10 years? I'd like to keep ticking along nicely and keep bringing fighters through and make a name for myself as a decent trainer and manager, if I can do that I'll be happy. We would all love to be the next Frank Warren but alot depends on getting the breaks and the TV behind you. I've got Esham so there's a great opportunity for me to capitalise on that. I want to learn my trade as I did in the boxing game and hopefully I can do that. If you had the chance to promote any fighter, from any era who would you choose and who would you have matched them up with? The match I would had loved to have seen would be Barry McGuigan against Marco Antonio Barerra. Barrera is one of my favorite fighters from this era and Barry was a big influence on my career when I was coming up. I think they have similar styles and to have them square off would be an amazing fight and to be involved in that fight would be exceptional. What's coming up in 2008 for Carl Greaves promotions? I'm doing an open show 23rd Febuary at The Grove Leisure Centre in Newark, I had a good couple of knockouts there in my career so it's great to be going back there as a promotor and not as a fighter. That will be a six or seven fight bill with, hopefully, an English title fight as the top of the bill. That depends on how Wayne Bloy gets on in December, if it goes OK I'm looking for him to defend on my show. I'll also have Jamie Norkett and Andrew Lowe on there. I'll be doing an dinner show with Joe Calzaghe in Nottingham at the end of March. June 7th will be a dinner show at Newark Showground and another open show October/November time. I'm happy with the way things are going, getting two or three shows a year to keep the lads busy and winning. Finally, can you give us your prediction on the big December welterweight match up between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Ricky Hatton? It's a strange one for me, I look at Ricky going at him and pressuring him constantly and it's going to be interesting to see how Mayweather deals with it. Mayweather has seen that style before though, I'm unsure really. If Ricky does win the fight I think he'll have to have worn him down late on. It's a real 50/50 fight and I'd love to see Ricky come home with that title, it would be one of the greatest British wins. I'm leaning just towards Floyd but I'd love to be wrong.

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