June 21 features Anatoliy “The Gladiator” Dudchenko and Nadjib Mohammedi in a twelve-round light heavyweight bout for the #1 position in the IBF live on NBCSN Fight Night from Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Dudchenko, Mohammedi, and their teams held a conference call to discuss the fight, and you can find the highlights here.
Anatoliy Dudchenko:
Nadjib is a good fighter and a smart boy. He’s tough. I respect each of my opponents but in my heart it doesn’t matter who is in front of me. I come back to Jesse because we did one fight before and it was a ten second fight. He likes my style. I fight for a better life. Let’s talk after I put him on the ground. Earlier in my career I didn’t have a manager or a promoter.
When I came to the United States I worked in construction. Now I am only focusing on boxing. It doesn’t matter who is in front of me. You have to use your chance or die and if you must die, die like a hero. Let’s meet in the ring and then we will see.
Jesse Reid Sr., Dudchenko’s Trainer:
Anatoliy looks at everybody as the toughest fight of his life. I have been in this business for a long time and with Anatoliy I see a great athlete. Age is not a factor for him. We are here to win not to talk about a bunch of other people. If we have to box we’ll box with Mohammedi. I have some real hungry fighters in my career but these European fighters are so much hungrier than the US fighters.
I am very excited about being a part of this. We will bring boxing back to the United States. I am very happy to be working with Anatoliy. I love his attitude and the way he works. He may be 35 but he is like a 20 year old; he is young and hungry.
Vince Caruso, Dudchenko’s Manager:
We all know the implications that this fight holds. We are happy to be fighting at a beautiful venue – the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. This is our first fight under the Main Events promotional banner. We hope this will be a longstanding relationship because we have every intention of winning every fight until Anatoliy retires.
I am very picky about who I work with. When I first met Anatoliy about a year ago I saw a guy who was very hungry. All he wanted was to win a world title. He is the definition of a throw-back boxer. There is no doubt in my mind that when Anatoliy’s career is done he will be regarded as one of the best light heavyweights in the game. If I said I wasn’t thinking about Bernard Hopkins, I would be lying. I absolutely think we are going to win this fight. The champion should fight the number one contender.
Adonis Stevenson is a fraud. Last week wasn’t even a competitive fight. It was two above average club fighters facing each other. Anatoliy will fight any guy anywhere. We don’t want to sit on our hands for ten months waiting for Bernard Hopkins. Anatoliy hits a hell of a lot harder and we are going to show that on NBCSN. Age is not a problem for “The Gladiator;” he is a machine. He knows what he has to do. We know we have a small time frame.
Anatoliy has never been covered by the media but come June 21 he won’t be ignored anymore. He will fight anyone, if it’s Hopkins it’s Hopkins. We want to fight the best so I want Andre Ward or Sergey Kovalev. I want Anatoliy to make history and he does that by knocking out the best.
Nadjib Mohammedi:
I want to thank everyone that gave me the possibility to come here and box. It’s the fruit of our labor that brought us here. We have been working towards this for years. We have no pressure at all. We have been boxing in many other places than the United States. I have no pressure at all because the ring is my home. When I get in the ring I don’t ask myself questions, I am there to win that belt.
We are ready for everything. That is what we trained for. After this fight we are ready to prove to all the American people that we are ready to be a world champion. I believe this fight will end in a KO. We are not here to play around. We came to fight. We are going to incorporate our own brand of fighting. I am sure I am going to win and I am ready to fight anyone after that. It was my plan to fight in 2014 for a title.
When they told me about this fight we just hopped on it because we really wanted to fight. We used to box against people that were bigger and stronger than us. We boxed with someone who is a little bigger than Anatoliy, height does not matter here. I am faster and smarter than Anatoliy. I think I have more experience than Dudchenko.
