Q&A Mike Oliver!

July 18, 2007

by Pat Kelley

Mike “Machine Gun” Oliver first walked into a boxing gym at the tender age of two years old. He hasn’t left since.

Boxing is a way of life to Oliver, a means of making a living. It’s what he does, and who he is. He’s been very successful at it, and, in his opinion, Cruz “Chucho” Carbajal, his opponent in Wednesday night’s ESPN2 IBF junior featherweight title elimination bout, is not going to change that. “He’s never been through what I’ve been through,” Oliver stated. “I guarantee it!”

Wednesday night, however, Cruz Carbajal (28-13-2, 24 KOs) will attempt to put Oliver (19-0, 7 KOs) through a little more adversity than he can handle, utilizing his relentless, straight-ahead pressuring style of fighting to try and impose his will on the Hartford, Connecticut native.

It’s the prototypical match-up between seasoned veteran and young rising star. Boxer versus puncher. Promoter Rich Cappiello refers to Carbajal as “The gatekeeper to all the world champions, the man you must beat to get to the world title.“ If Oliver has his way, it will be the “changing of the guard.”

In his most recent bout, Carbajal jumped up to the 126-pound featherweight division on just a few days’ notice to take on former world champion Eric Aiken. The immediate barrage Aiken inflicted upon Carbajal looked as though it would leave the Vera Cruz, Mexico native on the canvas in the first round. However, Carbajal simply kept moving forward, and at the completion of the ten-round affair, appeared to all in attendance to have won the bout. A controversial draw left a sour taste in Carbajal’s mouth, and one that he will undoubtedly try to take out on Oliver.

Oliver, a tremendous amateur with over 300 fights on his resume, is unbeaten as a professional. He is as slick as they come defensively, displays a comfort level in the ring that is the result of a kid that was “born-to-box“, and has arguably the quickest hands in the sport. He will need to utilize each and every one of the aforementioned assets if he is to get by Carbajal and achieve his lifelong dream of fighting for a world title.

FightNews had the opportunity to speak with Oliver about his training camp, and the upcoming IBF title elimination showdown with Cruz Carbajal.

How did your training camp go Mike?

Training camp was good. It went real good.

Did you and your trainer, John Scully, do anything different in preparation for your fight with Cruz Carbajal?

Yes, we did a lot of things different. This was the first time I studied tape of a fighter with Scully. So, it was really good.

You’ve never watched tape of an opponent before, so how do you think that worked out for you?

No, I never had, but for this fight Scully kind of made me watch it. It was good, you know. I noticed a few things about Carbajal, like the way he keeps his right hand out there. Everybody knows he does that, and if he does it against me I’ll be able to counter-punch that really well.

Were you able to pick up on any other weaknesses of Carbajal that you may be able to capitalize on?

Well, he keeps the right hand out there, and he likes to lean in a lot. He’s got a few weaknesses, but when he leans in, I should be able to catch him with a lot of uppercuts. There’s a lot of things I’ve got in mind, though.

Since you’ve seen tape of Carbajal, and know him better than you have any other opponent in the past, do you feel any added confidence going into the fight?

Maybe a little, but not much, because I’m the underdog, even though he’s coming into my backyard and all. But if he leaves his hand out like that, like he did with Eric Aiken…you know, Eric Aiken’s a good fighter, but he didn’t put any punches together against him like I’m going to.

You’ve been boxing since you were two years old, you’ve had over 300 amateur fights, and now 19 as a professional, is there anything Carbajal can throw at you that you haven’t already seen?

No. You know, Carbajal’s never been in my shoes before. He’s never had over 300 amateur fights, he’s never gone to the Olympic trials. I bet you anything he’s never been through what I’ve been through. I guarantee it!

Given that this is an IBF title elimination bout, does that add any additional pressure on you, going into the fight?

No, it doesn’t. The pressures going to be after the fight. We’ll see if Steve Molitor defends the title and all, but right after this fight we’ll be right back in the gym, until his mandated to fight.

Assuming you win this fight, what are you plans as far as getting a shot at the title?

Well, he’s got so much time before he has to make his mandatory defense, so we’ll be back in the gym and we’d like to have a fight right here in Hartford. I haven’t talked to Rich Cappiello about that yet, but that’s what we’d like to do. Hartford is becoming a big boxing city again, and there is a lot of interest in bringing boxing back here. I’ll have a lot of people coming up from Hartford to watch the fight, and the rest will be watching it on ESPN2. I’m the fighter of Hartford right now, and I’m going to put Hartford on the map!

Connecticut fighters have had some very good success in the past few years, but should you get a world title shot, you’ll be the first Hartford fighter to do so since Marlon Starling, back in 1990.

Yes. Chad Dawson’s from New Haven, Travis Simms is from Norwalk, and you’ve got me in Hartford. Dawson’s a champion, and Travis just lost his title, but he’ll be back, so a lot of people in Hartford are focusing on me to make that big step.

So, if you win Wednesday and the title fight doesn’t come off right away, you’ll look to get back in the ring before that?

Yeah, of course!

Well, there’s a lot of fighters that, if they were in your situation, would sit around and wait for that one fight. You have no intention of doing that?

No. Trust me, the way I’ve been training hard, and the shape I’m in, it should all go our way. No matter what!

For more information on Mike Oliver visit www.mikemikeoliver.com

Tickets to the Cappiello Promotions / ESPN2 Wednesday Night Fights at The Castle at Park Plaza are available by calling 508-586-2277. Tickets are priced at $40, $60, and $100. For more information visit www.cappielloboxing.com