An Interview With Nathan Gorman

An Interview With Nathan Gorman

By Rachel Aylett

At Wednesday’s press conference to publicise the big “Heavy Duty” card at the o2 Arena, I caught up with one of the headliners, Nathan Gorman, and asked him about his upcoming fight with Daniel Dubois and the current heavyweight situation.

This is a fight where both of you seem supremely confident. You’ve sparred so many rounds with each other, how do you explain this?

“Obviously, we’re both confident, our characters – we’re both ambitious people. That’s going to make for an exciting night on July 13th. We’re both going to lay it all on the line. But there’s only one winner coming out that night, I’m taking that British title home.”

You obviously both got different things out of the sparring sessions. He clearly thinks he’s going to win.

“He never corrected me on that top table though did he? When I said I never lost a round of those sparring sessions. If he’d said that to me I would have said “oh come on now Daniel!” Anyway, sparring is sparring. When you’re in front of 20,000 people … Time will tell eh? But in my own heart of hearts I fully expect to beat him.”

How’s training going so far?

“It’s going fantastically well. I’m ahead of schedule and everything’s going to plan. The sparring – everything’s going really, really well. Like I said, we’ve got just over five and a half weeks to go and I’m really flying.”

You’re from a travelling background aren’t you? Why is it that so many travellers are becoming successful in the sport?

“It’s obviously a tough upbringing because a lot of people fight, so a boxing match is the norm really. It’s good to see a lot of travellers, I mean you’ve got Tyson Fury, Billy Joe Saunders waving the flag now, world champions. So it’s good to see young travelling lads in the amateurs see them and look at them as role models. That with a bit of hard work and dedication they can make a career out of it.”

What’s your relationship with Tyson Fury?

“It’s good. I see Tyson quite regularly in the gym. I haven’t seen him for the past couple of weeks because he’s in America training for his big fight in Las Vegas. But he’s an exceptional boxer, the best heavyweight on the planet. He’s fantastic to be around, he’s a genuine person, he really is.”

Would you ever fight him?

“Nah, I can’t see it, no.”

What about what happened on Saturday – that was amazing wasn’t it?

“I like Andy Ruiz. I said previously, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a major upset here. Bryant (Jennings) basically said what I was thinking, the way he (Ruiz) moves, the way he got in and closed the distance on Joshua. He done all that. Obviously he’s the unified heavyweight champion of the world now. And there’s a bit of class about him – I really liked the way that after the fight he said “mum, we don’t have to struggle any more”. I thought, you know what, you deserve this, you really deserve it. I hope he goes on and wins loads of defences.”

What do you think about the rematch – Joshua’s got to win hasn’t he?

“He’s got to win. If I was Joshua I’d want the rematch. If he beats him again, you’ve got to hold your hands up and say, “you know what, he’s a better man than me”. If I beat you I’ve got my belts back.”

There’s a huge amount of pressure on Joshua now?

“He’ll have to go away and train like a demon. I don’t know why he didn’t train in the first place. If you looked at it on paper you would think, well, Joshua’s going to walk through him. But there’s a thing in boxing where styles make fights and it happens to be that Andy Ruiz’s style clashes with Anthony Joshua. That’s all that happened, he’s not been exposed, he’s not a fraud, he’s beaten some good people, it’s just that his style clashes with Ruiz.”

Is Ruiz’s style not similar to Povetkin’s?

“He’s (Ruiz) more ambitious though. Povetkin’s a 40-year-old, he’s had his time now. He got his millions to fight Joshua and was happy just to bow out. Ruiz didn’t want that. Ruiz was there to win the belts to change his life.”

It really opens things up now – Al Haymon now has all four belts. Does that worry you that you might not be able to get to them?

“I’ve got this fight to worry about first. Once I get past that I’ve got Frank Warren, Ricky Hatton, BT Sport all behind me so I’m sure that the opportunities will arise for me.”

And knowing the governing bodies, they’re likely to strip one of the belts and make it vacant sooner or later.

“Exactly.”

You’re clearly the B-side in this fight.

“Oh, I know that.”

Do you resent that at all?

“No, I like it. Let me be the underdog. All the pressure’s on his shoulders. He’s the golden boy. I’m not the golden boy, I’m just some lad from a small town who’s got himself fighting for the British title. I understand boxing – it’s a business and he’s easier to sell, he’s ripped, he’s got the highlight reel, so I understand that. It’s a business.”

How do you see the fight going? Who’s going to be on the front foot?

“Both of us.”

You’re just going to go at it?

“We’re just gonna go at it.”

It sounds like you’re expecting an early finish then?

“Oh definitely. It’s definitely not gonna go the distance – definitely not.”