By this point in his career, Danny “Cassius” Connor; 10-8-1, has become fully acquainted with the behind-the-scenes rigmarole that is as much a part of boxing as the show eventually staged underneath the bright lights. He enters the ring under the moniker ‘Cassius’ due to licensing issues that prevented him from using his true first name, and our interview is interrupted early in order that he may undergo a routine brain scan.
“They couldn’t find it, so I’m f*****”, he jokingly informs me as we restart our conversation. From there, we proceed to discuss television breakthroughs, deceptive records and his plans for the future.
BN – How are your preparations going ahead of your fight on April 27th?
DC – Everything’s going well. At the start of the camp I was out ill for two weeks. I went to a fish restaurant and it did me in, so I’ve learned my lesson: don’t eat fish whilst in training. I was out of the gym for a couple of weeks but I feel back to normal now.
I’ve got a good team around me; everyone in Team Wilkey supports each other. Mentally I’m in a really good place at the moment. Without Alec (Wilkey), my trainer, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything. He is a genius. People are going to realize how great a trainer he actually is in years to come. He’s just starting to get recognition now with Johnny Coyle winning Prizefighter (Welterweights IV). Alec turned me from a journeyman into somebody who’s getting somewhere.
So yeah, I can’t complain – I’m really happy with the camp, really happy with the team and I’m looking forward to putting on a great show and coming back in style.
BN – Is there any information on who you will be fighting?
DC – I haven’t got a clue yet. There were a few people we offered the fight to, (such as) Ben Wager and Michael Mooney, but no-one wanted to step up and take the fight. None of them wanted to sell tickets and make it even, they wanted me to do all the tickets which obviously isn’t gonna work; it’s a two-way thing. So I’ve just left it to Alec; who’s my manager as well as my trainer, and Miranda (Carter – Left Jab Promotions) to decide who the best opponent for me is.
BN – What has appearing on Prizefighter last year done for your career? Would you enter another one in future?
DC – Oh, definitely. Prizefighter is massive for anyone’s career – just being in it opens doors. I had actually been in two Prizefighter’s beforehand as a reserve. Off the back of that I got a title shot at the British Masters title, which I won beating Tyler Goodjohn over ten rounds.
Obviously (by then) I was known to Eddie Hearn and Matchroom through Prizefighter. Eddie then rang up and offered me the chance to fight Chris Evangelou for the Southern Area (title) and it all went from there. So Prizefighter was a massive, massive boost.
There is talk of there being a lightweight Prizefighter in late May so fingers crossed I can get into that. It wouldn’t be a struggle for me to make lightweight, I think that will be where my future is.
BN – Has fighting on live television had any affect on you?
DC – It has because people see you on telly and they want to buy tickets. They want to be part of the team and they want to come and support you. You can get across to people a lot better when they see you on telly. It’s a massive platform, especially on Sky television. Sky can transform you.
In Prizefighter I beat an unbeaten prospect (Charlie Rice) and a guy that was doing really well in his career; Ryan Taylor. Obviously I got beat in the final by Chris Jenkins – I had two burst eardrums (and) he was the better man on the night – but it’s good to have been in there with someone like Jenkins who was a great amateur and its shown me that I can mix it at that level. I just need to get back to winning ways and that’s what I’m training for on April 27th.
BN – Do you find the early losses in your career a help or a hindrance?
DC – I think it’s a help to be honest, it made things interesting. Those fights taught me a few lessons. The thing is a lot of these guys with unbeaten records – they’ve not fought anyone. They’ve not learned anything.
We saw it the other day with George Kean losing to William Warburton. Warburton drew with my friend Johnny Coyle. He’s a really tough kid; William Warburton. I give George respect for fighting him because not a lot of people want to. (And) look at (Frank) Buglioni, he had not really boxed anyone of any great deal, then he stepped up a couple of levels and fought (Sergey) Khomitsky. Maybe if he had fought someone just a level below Khomitsky (beforehand) it would have been a different result. But Frank will come back and he’ll hopefully go to the top.
That whole unbeaten record thing is useless if you’re fighting guys who are not coming to win. You might as well spar. Sparring is just as good as that to be quite honest.
BN – Tyler Goodjohn – a previous opponent of yours – fights Tyrone Nurse for the English light welterweight title next. Do you have personal title ambitions in the future?
DC – Definitely. 100%. Not taking anything away from Tyler because he is a greatly improved fighter to when we first boxed (and) Peter Sims has done an absolutely brilliant job with him, but when I boxed Tyler the last time I used a new nutritionist which messed up my preparation really badly. I went into the last week of the camp and the s*** nearly hit the fan I was so far over the weight. I killed myself to make weight, boiled right down. At the weigh in I was pale, irritable and moody and I’m not usually like that. When I got in (the ring) my legs were gone. From the first round I had nothing in me and it was still a close fight (Goodjohn beat Connor on points over ten rounds). I was fighting just out of heart; I was trying to grind my way through it.
I would love to fight Tyler again. I would fight anybody in my division. I’m not someone who picks and chooses, I want to fight the best, that’s all there is to it. I’ll fight whoever is put in front of me. I want to push on, I want the British title. One day, who knows, I might even fight for a world title; that’s everyone’s dream. I’d love to even the score with Tyler. Maybe we can have our own Pacquiao – Marquez sort of thing with five fights.
I’d love to fight Ricky Boylan as well. That’s a massive fight for Carshalton because I’m a Carshalton boy and he’s the same but Ricky just don’t seem interested in that fight at the moment. He never has to be honest. He knows the situation. He knows what will happen; I just don’t think he wants to know. If it doesn’t work out at light-welter and I don’t get the fights I want then I will drop down to lightweight and I’ll make something happen there.
