"I definitely feel like I had to set a tone and set the table for what's coming in the future. I need to let these 160-pounders know I'm a key player. And I think a lot of middleweights that check me out know they got another tough one to deal with. But time will tell. Like I said in the post-fight interview, round by round and fight by fight and brick by brick, we gonna build on it...I'm hoping I can get back in there the end of March or beginning of April," stated middleweight contender Willie Monroe Jr., who talked about his recent victory over Bryan Vera, their future plans, and much more.
PC: Congrats on your win over Bryan Vera. How do you feel about your performance?
WM: I feel real good. I thought the performance was good. I'm not gonna lie, in my mind, my finals fight in Boxcino is still my favorite televised fight; against Brandon Adams. I think I showed a lot of new wrinkles in this fight.
PC: One thing you showed was great patience. When you're fighting someone as dangerous as Bryan Vera, you have to have that. Were you pleased with the patience you showed?
WM: Yeah! And that's what we worked on in camp. I kept telling myself that the key was to be able to stay focused for the full 10 rounds if it goes that long. Bryan Vera is somebody who is always there. You can't ever count him out. That's a guy you could be beating 9 out of 10 rounds and then you get to the 10th round and he just stops you. It takes a lot of mental focus and a lot of physical preparation to be able to keep your head in the game for that period of time against someone like Bryan Vera. I'm very proud of myself the way I was able to pull that off.
PC: Did he show you any new wrinkles that surprised you?
WM: One thing that surprised me, if you notice, I only got to his body a couple of times. In camp, we worked on getting to his body and he was good at protecting his body. After I caught him with a few hard body shots, on the inside, sometimes he would put up the cross-face defense and bend at the waist a little bit, so that when I try to go to his body, I was hitting his elbows and forearms a lot when I was really trying to dig into the body shots. His experience, I didn't expect him to be really crafty like that at protecting his body because he is a walk-you-down and break-you-down type of fighter. But I would guess on him being a good body puncher himself, he would know how to block body shots coming at him.
PC: What do you think was the biggest difference in that fight? What separated you from him?
WM: I think my skill set and how they say, all the boxing pundits say styles make fights. He wasn't able to impose his will on me because I was in tremendous condition. My speed and my mindset of hitting and not getting hit.
PC: You said Adams was your favorite fight. Was this Vera win your most significant win?
WM: This was my most significant win and my toughest fight. Like I said, having to stay focused that long and having to deal with...Bryan Vera is very heavy-handed and his punches on the inside moved me and kind of threw my balance off, so I wasn't able to really...we were working on catching and countering and sometimes I wasn't able to catch and counter because I would either be out of range or too close because of how strong he is. It was definitely my toughest fight, my most significant fight, and probably the fight I'm most proud of to pull out because it's like, Bryan Vera, if you could beat this guy, you proved that you can be at the top of the middleweight division because he's proved he can beat or hang with the who's who of boxing. He knocked out the current WBO middleweight champion, he gave Chavez two fights of his life in which the first one, everybody thought he won. I watched the first one and thought he won. And he beat Darnell Boone and I lost a split decision to Darnell Boone, so to beat him the way I did, I kind of got my get back on Darnell Boone so to speak (laughing).
PC: How important was it for you to get that win early in the year so now you can move forward coming off of an impressive win?
WM: I'm a fighter, so my mind is set on keep winning and keep working. But I definitely feel like I had to set a tone and set the table for what's coming in the future. I need to let these 160-pounders know I'm a key player. And I think a lot of middleweights that check me out know they got another tough one to deal with. But time will tell. Like I said in the post-fight interview, round by round and fight by fight and brick by brick, we gonna build on it.
PC: Bryan posted a picture of you two and had high praise for you. You guys never seemed to have any animosity and both of you seemed to have a ton of respect for one another.
WM: What people don't realize is a lot of fighters are humble people. It's funny because he had his people take his camera and my wife had my camera and they took the same picture, and he posted his and a few hours later, I posted mine. But I didn't know that he posted it. When I tagged him in it and I clicked on his name, I saw he posted the same exact picture I posted and I thought that was cool. To have the respect of someone that caliber and to have someone who has fought everyone and been on that level and for him to say, "I really respect Willie Monroe and he fought a great fight that night. He is an awesome and talented fighter," to have him relay that to the fans and give me that type of respect, it made me feel even better. He's a humble guy, I'm a humble guy, and it's good to just see those type of attitudes in boxing. And honestly, if I get a tough fight against a Triple G or David Lemieux, I told Bryan, I would love for him to come and work with me. I need that toughness. And he said no problem and if he was ever fighting a slick mover, he can always call on me. His manager and my manager know each other. When fighters even talk trash or say things over the internet, I don't let it bother me. This is a business and this is my job. We hold court for that 30-45 minutes we're in the ring and after that, I'm done. I'm back to being with my family and enjoying the fans.
PC: How soon are you looking to get back in there ring?
WM: I'm hoping I can get back in there the end of March or beginning of April. But time will tell. Boxing is one of those fly by night type of sports where you're promised one thing and get something the total opposite. I'm just staying prayerful and I'm back in the gym already. So I'll stay in the gym and hope an opportunity comes. I can't lose that drive. I can't think that because I'm on this level now that it's okay to get lackadaisical and just lay back. It's actually time for me to work a little harder and keep that same fire lit and that same drive that I had when I was scratching and clawing at the door. Now that I'm in a top 10 position, I have to train twice as hard to stay in that position and move higher.
PC: Congrats on the win again. I look forward to you having a big year. Is there anything else you want to add?
WM: I'm just grateful, man. I'm thankful for the fans and for you guys that give us interviews and keep us relevant with the fans. I always give a shout out to my Latino fan base. Big shout out to my Latino fans and an even bigger shout out to my Cubano fan base. I'm very blessed and they see the flag on my trunks and they know my grandfather was Afro Cuban and they show so much love on my social media pages. They write me in Spanish and they challenge me to enhance my Spanish. It's a great thing to be able to pick up another fan base and to have my culture stand behind me and support me in that form and fashion. I never thought I would see the day where I would have a huge fan base like this and I'm just blessed.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]