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Photo: Richard Maldonado

Photo: Lisa Scott Q&A: Colin Morgan! By Richard Thomas Colin Morgan is the trainer of WBC cruiserweight champion of the world Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite. Aside from training a world champion, Morgan spends his time training fighters in the 38th Street Crunch Gym in New York, New York. He is either training your average non-fighter (someone who is just boxing to get into shape), or he is training an amateur or professional fighter. Why did you become a trainer? I suffered an injury outside of boxing at the age of 24, and that ended my boxing career. I then went into training fighters and began by assisting my trainer. I train fighters because of the love of the sport. Do you think that anybody can become a trainer? Anybody can become a trainer. But there are not many teachers out there, I see myself as a teacher. How long have you been training fighters? I have been training fighters for a total of 20 years. Ten years in Guyana, and ten years in America. Who are some of the fighters that you have trained? WBC cruiserweight champion Wayne Braithwaite, former WBA welterweight champion Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis, Andrew Murray, Gairy St. Clair, Bert Cooper, 2000 Olympic heavyweight silver medallist Sultan Ibragimov, and amateur standout Corey Jones, who lost in the finals of the 2004 U.S. Olympic box-offs. Do you think that trainers like Buddy McGirt, Emanuel Steward, and Freddy Roach are better than other trainers? I think that those trainers had the opportunity to have good fighters. Emanuel Steward did that with Tommy Hearns, so after that, everything fell into place. And McGirt did that with Arturo Gatti. With the short time that he has trained Gatti, Gatti has looked impressive. You need someone to make yourself known. I never had the opportunity to train a big name American that would give me the recognition that I deserve. What are some of the things that you teach a fighter? I teach them balance, offense, defense, a proper stance, and other things that a fighter is supposed to be taught. What type of fighters do you like to train? Do you like to train fighters that just have begun fighting or fighters that have been in the game for a while? And is it easier to train a novice or an experienced fighter? I like to train both. But it is easy to work with someone from scratch because they don’t know anything and I can easily tell them what to do. When a fighter is trained by someone who does not teach them the right things then they adopt bad habits, and I would have to break those bad habits, and make them do the right things. With a professional, I teach them not to be one-dimensional. I add to what they already know. And over the 20 years that I have been a trainer, I enjoy working with kids. And if they don’t become a professional fighter then they become a better person in society. Who do you think was the greatest trainer of all times? I don’t think that there is such a thing as the greatest trainer of all times because the techniques you used in the past, use in the present, and will use in the future always change. Fighters had to cut trees and chop wood. Today, fighters lift weights. I just respect the trainers who teach their fighters because there are trainers who solely do it for the money. So is there any trainer that you look up to or you can say is a real good trainer? I admire Emanuel Steward for his business techniques; he understands boxing. I worked with Emanuel Steward in 1995 at Kronk Gym with the late Andrew Murray (1971-2002) for his world title fight against Ike Quartey. What can you tell me about your fighter, WBC cruiserweight champion Wayne Braithwaite? Wayne has the potential to go as far as he wants to go, if he stays focused. Do you think that he is the best cruiserweight out there? Yes. He can box, punch, and turn lefty and righty. Do you think that he can become a better cruiserweight than Evander Holyfield? Yes. I think in order to do that he needs big fights. When Roy Jones skips cruiserweight and goes straight to heavyweight that does not give the cruiserweight division any respect. He needs a big name opponent! What do you think about the situation with the WBC? Well I can’t say anything about it right now because nothing is finalized. There is a possibility that they might settle with the fighter (Graciano Rocchigiani). But as of right now, I have no comment. I just hope that the WBC doesn’t end because Wayne will be left in an uncompromising position, just like the other WBC champs.

WBC cruiserweight champion of the world Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite will be back in action on October 2nd on the undercard of the Trinidad/Mayorga super fight at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. Braithwaite will be making his second straight appearance within seven months at the world’s most famous arena in front of his hometown fans.

Braithwaite is part of DKP's cruiserweight tournament to unify the WBC, WBA and IBF belts in the division and will be facing WBA champion Jean Marc Mormeck (30-2, 21 KO’s). And Braithwaite is eagerly awaiting his opportunity to collide with Mormeck to add the WBA title to his resume, just in case his WBC title becomes meaningless to the boxing world.

Being that Braithwaite is a WBC world champion and the World boxing Council has lately been going through some turmoil, Braithwaite’s future existence as a world champion is unknown. And if the WBC derails, will the Big Truck’s world championship status crash?

Fightnews had the opportunity to speak with Braithwaite at the 38th St. Crunch gym in Manhattan, New York to discuss the situation with the WBC, and possible opponents such Kelvin Davis, O’Neil Bell, James Toney, Antonio Tarver, and even Mike Tyson:

What do you think about the situation with the possible end of the WBC?
Well I was on vacation, so when I came back, I heard about the situation with the WBC. And nobody from the WBC contacted me to let me know what was going on. I just heard it from reporters, and people kept on telling me, and my friends kept reading the Internet. So I went on the Internet and I saw it too. So I think that it is a bad situation.

So did you ever think of what would your world championship status be if the WBC ends one day?
I never really thought about that. Now that I think of it, it will be devastating to know that you are no longer a WBC world champion. That will be really bad to know that you fought so hard and that you went through a whole lot.

So you’re getting ready for your fight with WBA champion Jean Marc Mormeck?
Yeah, I am now getting ready for it. I am now getting into the first stage of training. By the October 2nd I will be in full shape.

Do you know anything about Mormeck?
Not really, the only thing that I know about him is that he is a world champion. I heard that he is a good fighter, I never saw him fight or anything. So I will wait and see what’s up.

Will you get videotapes of his fights?
Yeah, I am supposed to get a tape on his last fight with Virgil Hill, and two other fights.

How do you see the fight going with Mormeck?
I see the fight going my way. At the end of the fight I am going to be the champion. I will be prepared to go 12 rounds. If the fight goes 12 rounds or it does not go 12 rounds, whichever way it goes I will take the win.

In your last fight with Louis Azille, you hurt both of your hands. Are your hands better now?
Well my hands are 90%; they are not 100% as yet. I am working to get it back strong, and get it back into good shape so that I can get my power punch back. But I think that it will be fine by October because I am taking good care of it.

What was the actual injury of your hands?
It is something that they call boxer’s knuckles, I went to the doctor and he said that every boxer gets it, especially when you are also a puncher.

In what round in that fight with Azille did you hurt your hands?
Well I hurt my hands in the third round. And a lot of people were surprised that I did not stop Azille (Braithwaite previously KO’d Azille in 2001 within three rounds; Braithwaite also KO’d his last 15 opponents; he also last won a fight by decision in 1997). But I was going through a lot of pain in that fight. So I did not want to cause more damage to my hands than what was already done. So I had to go to plan "B."

How does it feel to be fighting in Madison Square Garden for the second straight time within seven months?
That is unheard of because it was my goal as a boxer to fight in the world's most famous arena. To fight in the world's most famous arena back-to-back is unheard of. And I am really happy. And I think that I have to give an outstanding performance in this one. I gave a good performance in the last one, but I want to give a better one this time.

What do you think about IBF champion Kelvin Davis (21-2-1, 16 KO's)?
I think that Kelvin Davis is a good fighter. He tries to imitate Mike Tyson, but there is only one Mike Tyson. I think that he can fight, but I don’t think that he is anything special. I am not disrespecting him or anything, I respect him as a person but as a fighter I don’t respect him because we fight in the same weight class.

O’Neil Bell (22-1-1, 21 KO's) recently mentioned in an interview that you were an overrated fighter. What do you think about that?
How could somebody be an overrated fighter and defend the title three times? I had three successful defenses. He is an overrated fighter because he is just talking; all the talk he is talking about wanting to fight me and he is not stepping up to the plate.

Didn’t you all have a contract to fight each other?
Yeah, we had a contract to fight but I don’t know what happened because I was supposed to fight him in my last fight. And then I heard that he got into some legal problem with his promoter. I’m not worried about O’Neil Bell right now. O’Neil Bell is not champion; I have something that O’Neil Bell wants. Whenever he wants it then he has to come to me to get it.

You previously called out Antonio Tarver before he knocked out Roy Jones. What do you have to say about Tarver know?
Well right now Tarver is the man because he beat the man that everybody thought that no one could beat. They said that Roy Jones was Superman but Tarver showed that he wasn’t Superman. I give all the props to Tarver; he showed that on any given night you could have a bad or a good night. And that night was a very good night for Tarver. Tarver was very confident in the first and second fight and he believed that he could beat Roy Jones and that is good that you can think like that.

So if you fought Tarver what would happen?
I think that it would be a good fight, and I would come out the winner.

Would it be a knockout or decision?
It doesn’t really matter, knockout or decision, it doesn’t matter. Whenever it is done, I will be the winner.

James Toney is coming back from his injury. What do you have to say about him?
James Toney and I had a little disagreement in 2003 when I first defended my title against Ravea Springs. Toney was at the press conference and running his mouth off and saying a whole bunch of B.S. about me. He was talking on the T.V. and saying that I can’t fight, and that he wants to fight me but when he beat Jirov he was running from me. I don’t care if James Toney comes banging on my door because we really don’t get along. He disrespected me!

Do you see yourself fighting him one day?
Yeah, I would love to fight him. I called him out a number of times but he went up to heavyweight and beat up on an old Holyfield.

How soon do you see yourself becoming the undisputed cruiserweight world champion?
Right now I am the undisputed champion. It is just time. Before I fought for my title, a reporter from Guyana asked me the morning before the fight, ‘How do you feel to be fighting for a world title?’ I said I’m a world champion already, but all I have to do is collect my prizes. So like I said, I am already the undisputed champion. All I have to do is wait to collect my prizes. If I have to go through everybody in the cruiserweight division to do that then I will.

When you become undisputed cruiserweight champion, what will you do after that?
When I become undisputed champion I will go up to heavyweight and fight the heavyweights and see if I can stay in heavyweight division. If I can’t then I will go back down and stay at cruiserweight.

What do you think about the heavyweight division?
The heavyweight division is a little bit shady since Lennox Lewis retired. There have been a whole lot of upsets going on everywhere. You have the Klitschko brothers and none of them can fight. Chris Byrd is a decent fighter. John Ruiz is a boring fighter. They don’t have any exciting heavyweights right now.

What do you think about the return of Mike Tyson?
I think that it will be good for the heavyweight division. It will bring back a little more life to the heavyweight division.

Do you think that he will be the heavyweight champion again?
I think so right now. And the only person that was standing in front of Mike Tyson was Lennox Lewis. I think that he has a real good chance of being a world champion again. If he fights any of the Klitschkos then he will beat up any of them because they can’t fight.

You ever thought about fighting Mike Tyson one day?
Like I said I am not scared of anybody, I will fight anybody because I spar with heavyweights all the time. I spar with heavyweights, cruiserweights, and all of the weights. And I can fight anybody.

For any comments or questions, please e-mail Richard Thomas