B
x
oxing Mad Magazine caught up
exclusively with former British Light
Welterweight Champion Curtis Woodhouse,
to find out what was behind his decision to
fight on!
BMM It is four months since you last fought
and announced your retirement, why have
you decided to carry on boxing?
CW I retired in June but at no point was that
my decision, I was under constant pressure
after winning the British Title from my
family, my fans and even my management
team. They all had my best interests at heart
and to them I had achieved what I set out to
do, I did manage to get one more title fight
before folding under the pressure but in my
heart I knew that I wanted to fight on.
BMM How does your wife feel about your
decision to continue?
CW She has never been happy about me
boxing and would of been happy if I’d
retired eight years ago, she hates it as does
my mum. I understand their concern, I’m the
same when my daughter goes horse riding
and all the time she is doing it I’m panicking
over what might happen – it’s only
natural to worry for those you love.
Realistically though this is my job, I’m
healthy and fit and have medicals before
every fight to monitor that, everything has
risks but that should not stop you – it just
means you need to take more care and
prepare properly to minimise those risks.
BMM What weight are you looking to fight
at and have you discussed a plan with
Dennis in regards upcoming fights?
CW I will be staying at Light Welterweight
and could of had my comeback fight as
early as December. After speaking with
Dennis and Ryan we are all in agreement
018
NOVEMBER 2014
issue #14
that the weight I’ve put on will need time to
come off properly, with this in mind
we are realistically looking
at
February as my first fight
back.
CURTIS RISING
PHOTOGRAPHY LAWRENCE LUSTIG WRITER DAVID MATTHEWS
ILLUSTRATION CALLUM HARRIS
BMM Dave Ryan won the the
vacant Commonwealth Title at
the
weekend, I know you won a majority
decision over him back in 2012 – would
this be an opportunity for you to fight
again for the Commonwealth title?
CW Firstly let me congratulate Dave on his
win, the kid has done it
the hard way
and totally deserves any
success
that comes his way. In
regard
of
me fighting him again, I
am
just about recovered from our last
fight which was an all
out war.
(Laughs) When I
won my
British belt every
Tom, Dick and Harry
queued up immediately to
call me out, that’s not
my
style. Let Dave enjoy
his
recovery and success and
I’m sure his team will have
plans for him going forward,
if the fight comes up down the
line then of course I would think
about it but let the lad enjoy it first. I
really fancied Dave to beat Tyrone
on Saturday, he is battle hardened and
been there and done it with some
really tough opponents where
as for Tyrone this was his first
big test. Undoubtedly Tyrone is
the
more skilful fighter but that heart you gain
from being in hard battles can’t be
replicated without doing it, Dave had that
and I knew it would be the difference.
BMM So which targets have you got in mind
upon your return?
CW I have always wanted to fight the best,
issue #14 NOVEMBER 2014
019