"It's a dream to me. I'm living a dream right now. I remember being on the undercard of Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson in a 4-rounder. In fact, me and Manny Pacquiao was on that card. It's funny how everything comes full circle like that," stated IBF jr. middleweight champion Cornelius "K9" Bundrage, who took a look back on his journey from "The Contender" to becoming a two-time world champion. Check out what else he had to say!
CORNELIUS BUNDRAGE ON HIS JOURNEY FROM "THE CONTENDER" TO CHAMPION:
To be honest, I always knew that I could beat anybody. I grew up thinking nobody could beat me. I grew up watching Mike Tyson and I always felt like I can do what he doing and couldn't nobody touch me. But to get in this position where I am a two-time world champion...I never thought I would be in a position to be a two-time world champion. You watch these fighters on TV when you're a kid and you can dream as a figure of speech to be in them shoes, but for it to really happen, it's like, "Wow, I was seeing Mike Tyson on TV and was like, wow!" People see me now and say, "Wow!" So it's just a blessing, man, and I think I will have to be in my 80's or 90's to really appreciate what I have accomplished. It's like I'm sleeping right now. It's a dream to me. I'm living a dream right now. I remember being on the undercard of Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson in a 4-rounder. In fact, me and Manny Pacquiao was on that card. It's funny how everything comes full circle like that.
"The Contender" was basically the first boxing reality show. It was actually one of the first reality shows out there, period. There would be no 24/7 or All Access if it wasn't for "The Contender." It wouldn't be the ESPN tournament that they are having right now if it wasn't for "The Contender!" It was right up there with American Idol. Everybody and they momma watched that. They be seeing me to this day, "Man, you was on "The Contender," and I can hear them on their phones saying, "I just saw K9." And it's like, "K9, bark for me, man (barking)." I really knew I had did something special when I went over to the UK and the crowd knew who I was. They were like, "K9," and they were barking. I said, "Man!" I felt like doing the Michael Jackson. I felt like I was Michael Jackson. When I was on that show though, I'm gonna tell you, I pride myself on being smart because they look at fighters as dumb and they can just do anything to a fighter. They can give a fighter a blank contract and he'll sign it. On "The Contender", I wanted to show the world that I wasn't dumb and that I was smart, so I wanted to market myself. I knew it was going to be viewed by millions of people, so I got me a K9 shirt with a dog on it and I had my slogan, "Don't bark if you can't bite." And I always said keep God first, because with him first, I'm going to be straight no matter what, and definitely my signature was, "Roof, roof, roof, roof, roof!" And I made it to where they were saying, "Man, that stuff is so annoying. He barks so much." I knew all I had to do was keep winning and it would grow on them. And when Myspace was out, man, I had more followers than Floyd Mayweather. I remember Andre Ward hit me up and told me I was an inspiration to him.
It was also important to me to keep my spirituality in tact because when I lost my first fight, I knew right then and there I could not do this by myself. I had never lost a fight in my life and when I lost that first fight, I humbled myself and got all the way right with God and I said, "No matter what, I'm gonna keep God first." If I win or lose a fight, I let people know it's because of God. I thank God for my victories and my setbacks. With him, even if I lose, it's a win. It's like when I lost a fight in my hometown, it was actually a win because what happened is I started my own company, K9 Global Boxing Promotions. If I would've won, I would have resigned with Golden Boy. Which one is better, signing with Golden Boy or signing with K9? Signing with K9! So that loss was a win! God don't make mistakes and that IBF belt to me was like a boomerang; it came right back to me. I'm 41 years old and you can't turn back the hands of time. But at the same time, being 41 is like a blessing in disguise because more people should want to fight me because of my age. I've had so many offers overseas, and I'm talking about big money fights. I ain't talking about no chump change, so for anybody thinking K9 just trying to cash out, I done turned down money to where, believe me, they would be like, "Wow!" I want the right fight; I want to fight the right person. Styles make fights and a fight with me and Bradley would be perfect as opposed to going overseas to fight somebody and beat 'em, but if I don't knock them out, they gonna take the fight from me. I don't want to be in that position no more where I have no control. I want it to be a fair exchange. I want to make fights. I want to fight somebody that has a name. I have a name and it's made for TV. HBO don't want to put on a guy that's gonna run and you got a guy chasing another guy. You look at Lara and Canelo; Canelo was pushing the fight, but Lara was running. Lara got skills and he don't have to do that, but that fight style-wise didn't make for a good fight, let's put it that way. I just think a fight between me and someone like a Timothy Bradley would be what the fans and the networks want because neither one of us are runners.
I'm sitting there watching the Super Bowl and I'm thinking, "The Patriots went and got their title back just like I did." They treated that title like a boomerang and it came right back to them. The Patriots have created a dynasty over there in New England and I'm in the works of creating the same atmosphere here at K9 Global Boxing Promotions. We working on some big things and created our own dynasty over here. No matter what sport you are participating in, you have to build a solid team around you and that's what me and my COO, Bill Waller, are doing. We are in the process of dotting all I's and crossing all T's and it's a beautiful thing. Patriots showed that resiliency that all great champs show. I mean, if you listen to the crowd, that was a home game for the Seahawks and just like I went to Mexico and got my title back, the Patriots went to hostile territory and took their title back. It was a beautiful thing to see. Mid-season, people were questioning if Tom Brady still had it and if he should be benched. I had to answer similar questions after losing my belt, but we true champions; we don't accept losing at all. We go take back what's rightfully ours!
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]