Q&A: Emanuel Augustus!

By Jose Reyes

Photo: Jose Reyes

One of the most popular and entertaining jr welterweights in boxing today, Emmanuel Augustus (32-26-6, 17 KOs) is set to fight Marteze "Too Sweet" Logan (22-23-2, 5 KOs) Wednesday night in what looks to be an entertaining fight to say the least. Don't let the records fool you. They will give your money's worth in the ring. Marteze's biggest win was against 140 pound prospect Americo Santos (24-1) who had not tasted defeat until he met up with Logan. The Augustus versus Logan fight is the co-main event of the Jose Navarro (23-2 23 Ko's) versus Vernie Torres (27-6) main event at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. The fight card will be televised on ESPN2's "Wednesday Night Fights" and will be promoted by DiBella Entertainment. Read on to see what Augustus has to say about his new dedication to the sport.

What is on your mind for this your upcoming fight on Wednesday?

All I know is I need to win this fight, I really don't care who I'm fighting against. No disrespect but to be honest with you I am in the boxing game to get what I can get. I am not in it to care about who I fight, period. I have enough to worry about, plain and simple. It's the same old song with me, these types of questions shouldn't be asked. You already know the answer.

Same game plan, same.....(interrupting me)

Always. Train and fight and fight to win. Nothing has changed.

Last time you fought. You had a controversial decision loss. Our fight writers saw the fight as a win decision for Emanuel Augustus but the official judges had Arturo Morua winning the fight. You told us after the fight that you had contracted the chicken pox virus and fought through that illness. Any injuries that we should know about this time?

Nothing that's going to bother me in the fight, no. Even my illness in the last fight didn't bother me. Although I don't remember the fight, and that's the only thing it is. My coach was not satisfied with my performance and really I can't really agree or disagree because I don't remember the fight. I only remember bits and pieces, I mean flashes. I remember getting water, I remember my coach saying something, but that was only in couple of rounds. I remember laughing at the dude. I don't know what round and just as fast as I laughed at him was as fast as I forgot the rest of the rounds. So, I fought in a black out state of mind. This is how much I need my career to just, jump off. I can't afford to take any breaks. I had an illness, but be it as it may, I had the chicken pox. But I can't afford not to fight because of the chicken pox. This was an opportunity, it was a title fight. I'm not letting those opportunities pass me by, and if I get the chicken pox again, I would again fight if I'm alive.

Anything to add on that Coach?

Robert Campos: Well, it's simple and just like he said. There is only a few opportunities that actually pass by in ones life. We are planning to take the fights more seriously now. Differently, the training, you know, pick it up a little bit more and make it better. We need to do, what we need to do to win the fight. What ever it takes, it don't matter what it is we need to do because we are going to do it. If we have to fight a different style, well, we will adjust to whom ever we fight. I don't care what anybody says, you know, "fight this way, don't fight that way" I don't care we are going to fight, how we fight. Whatever it takes to get the win. That's what we are going to do, and let me tell you, we are not going to go the distance. We will get this guy out of there. I don't want that s__t that has been happening all the time to us, where they are stealing the fight from us or whatever. I don't want to go through that s__t anymore.

Have you been working on throwing with more power?

Robert Campos: A little bit. Like I said, his combinations and everything has always been there. The thing about it is, we have got to sit down more on our punches, you know. Work them down a little bit a couple of rounds, set them up, to a point that we will knock them out. I don't want him to go the distance. Emanuel is a different guy now. He is running a lot more, his conditioning is picking up and getting better. His punches are feeling much stronger. I feel him being a lot stronger when we work on the pads and everything. He is being more focused and basically he is maturing more. He is 31 years old but sometimes it takes a little bit longer to see things, you know. He has to change things about him, he has to do that for good things to happen for him. Because if he keeps doing the things that he had been doing, he is never going to make it. He is the one that has got to do the change, I am right here helping him out but it's up to him to do the changes. Not for me but for himself. I just want to be a part of whatever he becomes, if it is to be a world champion, I want to be part of it. I know he can make it, because I believe in him, because he has got all the talent in the world. You know, the skills, he has got it. He has everything to be a world champion, but it is up to him to do it to make it happen.

Now, Augustus. The preparation for this fight has looked more intense and has seemed to be a more matured preparation.

Yes, definitely more focused. I have made a conscientious choice to stay away from bad habits. You know, bad habits are very easy to get into and very harmful to my career and they have definitely been proven to be that way. It takes a couple of hits upside the head for me to actually get it. You know, I have Robert Campos who has got a lot of patience in me. My promoter, Lou DiBella has a lot patience in me, both these guys have trust in me and believe that I can do it. They both are doing what they can to help me see that. I can't just have these guys look at me and I look back and just laugh at them, that's disrespectful. It's disrespectful to them and disrespectful to the fans. I am not going to have a positive future in boxing if I keep disrespecting those that are trying to help me. I have had problems in the past and made statements about, you know, illegal substances and those things are going to have to die.

How does it feel going back to Connecticut?

It feels real good. Even though I am not from there, I feel much love coming from there. I just recently read an article in the Ring Magazine that was written about me by Bill Detloff who I really want to give much thanks to man. That's even more of a reason to go back out there to Connecticut and back it up. It would be very terrible in my part to have such an elegant and nice write up about me and then turn around and fall in the gutter. These are the opportunities that I have been waiting for and spent all my career trying to get them. Finally things like these come out and then if I fight like garbage I would humiliate myself and humiliate my team. I have got to make it or die trying. I cannot sit in the ring and just dance my way out of it, because it seems that's the way it's going to come. Me and my trainer/manager Robert have made more of a stand still commitment to actually go out here and not really just give the fans what they want, a real good fight but to get my promoter and actually win these fights. We can't talk about winning by decision. I know I am not a knockout artist but I am going to have to pretend I am one from now on.