Light heavyweight Radivoje Kalajdzic may have a name spelled with the leftover letters from a game of scrabble, but in this case, words can be very deceiving. “Hot Rod,” as he is known locally in St Petersburg, Florida, who once had a firefight with Artur Betebiev, is two weeks removed from his first-round demolition of Ernest Amuzu in his backyard of Tampa Florida on the sold out crossover influencer card dubbed the Creator Clash.
Kalajdzic discussed the status of his career and his hopes for the future.
“I’m waiting for that phone to call, but I realize I’m not exactly on speed dial for most guys,” he said. “My manager Ryan Rickey has kept me active, and we are in the gym every day working away to improve, so if that call comes on short notice, we are ready.
“Maybe I shouldn’t tell people I’m in the gym all the time, because that’s going to make people not want to fight me even more. I’m an honest man though, and a professional boxer. Professional boxers are supposed to fight the best competition out there and I am the best competition any light heavyweight can have in the world right now. I’m ready for anyone they put in front of me.”
Hot Rod was ringside last week as Jean Pascal rejuvenated his career against New Jersey-based Fanlong Meng, handing the Chinese standout his first career loss.
“Pascal boxed a good fight against Meng, it was close, it could have gone either way but I had Pascal winning the fight. He still has miles in the tank and that showed against Meng.
“Would I fight Pascal? I’d fight him in his back garden if I had to. That’s how badly I want that fight. I need a name like Pascal to take me to the next level and land me another world title opportunity. It really doesn’t matter who. The result will be the same. Callum Johnson, Anthony Yarde, Dan Azeez, Joshua Buatsi, Lyndon Arthur. Meng or Pascal. With all due respect, if I can’t beat Pascal now, I’m never going to be world champion, so that is a fight I need to show I’m world title worthy.”
He’s a pretty good fighter in my opinion and he’s kind of awkward as well so I don’t think anyone is going to fight him unless they have to because he’s a mandatory or if they’re desperate. That certainly isn’t Pascal now – it may be Meng though. If I’m him, I’m going after guys who have lost big fights recently. Like Arthur and Meng, as he said, and then also Salamov, Richard and MAYBE even Marcus Browne.
I saw him lose a close, perhaps controversial decision to Marcus Browne, and saw him in a valiant effort, but was just simply overmatched against Betebiev. Yeah, a fight with Pascal would be a good matchup for him and a victory would put him in title contention. A fight with Anthony Yarde would be another intriguing matchup, but I think that’s as far as it goes. I don’t see him as a major World Champion-he ain’t beating Bivol, Canelo or Benavidez if he were to step up to Light Heavy. What would be really awesome and do the boxing world justice is he were to earn some serious dough and fight Jake Paul. Guys like Kalajdzic will never see the type of money Paul is making although they pay their dues in the sport, honing their craft with lengthy amateur careers, and fighting and earning their way to contender status to earn a title shot only to fall short. I liked his style and wish him luck!