Naazim Richardson Interview - Great read

[RAZZ-MCFC]

It's a bit long but well worth the read, a couple of cracking stories in it.

 

 

Last month, it had been on my mind to get in touch with fellow Boxingtalk writer Stephen “Breadman” Edwards, so I could get the phone number of Brother Naazim Richardson, the trainer of Bernard Hopkins, Shane Mosley, and Steve Cunningham, among other fighters in the game. Stephen trains fighters in the same gym as Brother Naazim, so I figured that would be the best way to get his contact information. One night, I drove to a casino in Palm Springs, CA where I met with Andre Ward’s trainer Virgil Hunter to do an in depth interview. And it just so happened that Stephen was at that very casino, because his fighter Julian Williams was fighting there on that night. When Stephen gave me Brother Naazim’s number, he said, “You don’t even have to tell him you got it from me. Just give him a call. He’s a really cool guy.” And he was right. When I called Brother Naazim for the first time, we spoke for about an hour before I even got around to asking him questions. In Part One of this three-part interview, Brother Naazim discusses his background in boxing, what Bouie Fisher means to the Philadelphia boxing community, and the Bernard Hopkins vs Felix Trinidad fight.

 

 

 

DL: What is your background in boxing and what lead to you becoming a trainer?

 

 

 

NR: I come from the fighting city of Philadelphia. And I fought as an amateur and I’ve been around the gyms for years, watching legendary trainers like Bouie Fisher and Harold McCall and Al Fennell and Stan Williams and all these guys that raised fighters. And as I moved around in the gyms and started helping out, they started telling me to go talk to fighters. And I was looking at them like, “Are you sure you want ME to talk to them?” These guys had trained eyes, and when they had confidence in me, it made me believe I could do it. So I started reaching out and helping fighters. I had the privilege of working with guys like Buster Drayton and Nate “Mister” Miller. I saw Nate develop from an amateur fighter to a world champion. The time I spent working with them guys was like an internship you develop in Philadelphia. And that love just fuels that boat.

 

 

 

DL: Tell me a little about what Bouie Fisher meant and still means to Philadelphia boxing.

 

 

 

NR: Bouie Fisher was a great man. He was bigger than boxing. And I learned more about family and patience from Bouie than I did about boxing. Bouie would teach you about demeanor and about how to conduct yourself. He was just a good human being, man. Philadelphia is a fighting city. And I tell these young guys at the gym that their reputation as Philadelphia fighters was crafted by guys like Bouie Fisher. And all we can do is try to live up and add to that legacy.

 

 

 

DL: Bouie Fisher started out as Bernard Hopkins’s head trainer. How did you become involved in the Hopkins camp?

 

 

 

NR: I started working with Bernard around ’96 or ‘97. Bouie would ask me to work the mitts with him and everything else. And Bouie kept telling me, “I want you to start helping me with this guy and going out to the fights with us.” And I’d be making excuses, “No, I can’t. My job, my kids…” And he was like, “No, man. You know what you’re doing. I want you to come with us.” And to be honest, I wasn’t sure I could. But I trusted him and started helping.

 

 

 

DL: One fight in Hopkins’s career that really stands out is the night he faced Felix Trinidad in September of 2001. There was a lot of animosity leading up to the fight, 9-11 occurred, there was some controversy on the night of the fight with Trinidad’s handwraps, and then of course, it turned out to be a great fight. Tell me about that whole experience from your perspective.

 

 

 

NR: Bernard was focused on the middleweight title. That was key. We had camp out in Las Vegas and just the discipline of being out in the desert and wanting to win the middleweight tournament with Felix Trinidad and William Joppy and Keith Holmes, he was just absorbed. Bernard wasn’t a factor in that tournament and he wanted to prove everybody wrong. So they called us to have a press conference in New York. And I walk up on the press conference and Bernard grabs the Puerto Rican flag and throws it on the ground. And he was supposed to go to Puerto Rico after that. And I was like, “Man, when you go to Puerto Rico, they’re gonna try to kill you!” I wasn’t gonna go, but I made the trip at the last minute, because I felt like I had to look out for my guy. We were in Miami and I had to go buy clothes at a Walmart, just so I had something to wear the next day. So we got there and I said, “Bernard, don’t throw no flag down. We’re in Puerto Rico.” And he said, “You think I’m crazy?” So we’re there at the press conference and he wound up grabbing the flag from Don King and throwing it down again in front of all those people. And the people went off in that place, man. They started tearing up the joint, tearing our limo up, tearing up everything else… I’ll never forget the energy. Right after that, they were trying to get us out of Puerto Rico and get us to the airport. And cars were literally following us along the expressway, making gestures at us and driving along side us. One guy was giving us so many fingers I wondered how he was steering the car. It was a crazy sight.

 

 

 

So we got out of there, got the camp going, and went to New York on September 7th. We got set up and we were training at a gym about a block away from the Twin Towers. And on the morning of the 11th, my son Rock came in and said, “Yo… There’s something going on up the street. There’s all this smoke.” And so I went outside to look and that’s when the second plane came and hit the tower. And I said, “Whoooooa!” Nobody knew what was going on at the time. It was just chaotic. So we got back to the room and got back downstairs and word started going around about what happened and that it was Muslims behind it. And I’m a Muslim and I’m wearing my kufi. And this man runs up and says, “Take your kufi off! They’re attacking Muslims! Take your kufi off!” So my sons are with me and they’re wearing their kufis, too. And I had told my sons their whole life that they’ve got nothing to be afraid of, because Allah protects us when we’ve done nothing wrong. So I didn’t take my kufi off, because I had to let them know that. So we got that squared away and we got up there with crazy Bernard, and do you know what he says? Bernard says, “Let’s go to the gym and train. They’re not gonna bomb the gym.” The plane crashes into a building and he’s thinking about his fight! And he goes to train that day! That’s why I say his focus is extraordinary. It’s just peculiar. That’s the best word for it. It’s actually peculiar.

 

 

 

That night, we got into the van and we got out of there and got back to Philadelphia. And naturally, the fight was postponed. But with the kind of focus Bernard had, when the fight went back on, he went right back into fight mode. And when we got to Madison Square Garden on the night of the fight, it was just like when we were in Puerto Rico. I was looking for the Philly supporters, but everybody was there for Trinidad. So we’re getting ready and I went into Trinidad’s dressing room to watch them wrap his hands. And one of his hands was already wrapped. And one of the commissioners told me that he had watched them wrap it. And I said, “Are you in the Hopkins corner? I need to see the hand re-wrapped.” And the way they wrapped his hand was illegal in the state of New York. They were taping and gauzing and taping and layering the hands several times over. It looked like a cast. Now, you could actually do that in other states. But in New York, it’s illegal. So we got to arguing back and forth and Papa Trinidad was like, “The fight’s off.” And everybody started panicking and going crazy. They said I was creating a ruckus and they brought Donald Trump into the room. Why? I have no idea. I guess they thought I would get intimidated and fold under that. And then they got Don King in the room and he cussed all them dudes out and said that he had nothing to do with no handwraps. So finally, the commissioner with the New York State Athletic Commission came into the room and he heard everybody’s story and he said you’ve got to go by the law and re-wrap the hands. That’s the law. So we finally got that done.

 

 

 

Now, Trinidad was one of my favorite fighters. I liked watching him, because when he came to the ring, he looked like he was enjoying himself. He looked like he was having the best time of his life. And sure enough, when he got in the ring against Bernard, he had that same look on his face. Before the fight, I had a conversation with Bernard and I told him that he could beat Trinidad with the jab. Sometimes the most difficult puzzle can be solved with a simple answer. And sometimes the fighter doesn’t trust the fact that the answer is that simple. So Bernard cussed me out for about a half an hour when I told him that. But the minute he stepped into that ring, he tried it. And that’s when you know you have a connection with an athlete. He went out there and he tried. He probably did it just so he could come back to the corner and prove me wrong. But at least he trusted me to try it. But I knew that when he threw that jab that he would throw everything else off of it. He was boxing and controlling him with the jab and Trinidad couldn’t throw his hook like he wanted to. And before the twelfth round, Bernard sat down in the corner and looked at me and asked me, “What round is this?” And I said, “It’s the twelfth round.” And he said, “Now, I’m gonna knock his ass out.” And he went out there and knocked him out.

 

In Part One of “Naazim Richardson: The City Of Brotherly Love”, Brother Naazim discussed his background in boxing, what Bouie Fisher means to the Philadelphia boxing community, and the Bernard Hopkins vs Felix Trinidad fight. In Part Two of this three-part interview, Brother Naazim talks about the Shane Mosley vs Antonio Margarito fight, his overprotective nature as a trainer, and the stroke he suffered a few years back.

 

 

 

DL: Your first fight as Shane Mosley’s head trainer was in January of 2009 when he faced and defeated Antonio Margarito. Tell me about that experience from the time you started working with Mosley in the gym, to again, more controversy with handwraps, and then to the fight itself.

 

 

 

NR: I’ve known Shane for years. And I remember taking my guys to an amateur tournament years ago. And Shane came down to the tournament to watch my guys fight. And they were going on and on about “Sugar” Shane Mosley this and “Sugar” Shane Mosley that… They just thought he was something. So before the Margarito fight, I got a phone call from Shane’s people, asking me if I would be interested in working with him. And I said I would, because I always liked Shane. And everybody was counting him out against Margarito. He had just fought Ricardo Mayorga and people were really giving him a tough time. Because even though he won, he didn’t do as good as some people thought he should. But when we got into camp, I saw a fighter who was still willing to learn and try new things. And I said to myself that I was going to take full advantage of the commitment he was showing. Because I had never seen that kind of devotion and dedication from an established fighter like that. He was so focused and I felt extremely confident going into the fight. We had a game plan and he was willing to follow it like a soldier.

 

 

 

On the night of the fight, I’m in the dressing room, watching them wrap Margarito’s hands. And in California, you can have a small bit of tape directly on the skin. But he had it wrapped all down his wrist and I approached them about it and I was like, ”Yo… You can’t have that much tape on his hand.” So we went back and forth and they brought in the top commissioner of California. And he made them re-wrap the hand and they had the cushion on the table. And I reached out and I picked up the cushion and squeezed it. And I was like, “Yo, man, this knuckle pad feels pretty hard.” And I gave it to the deputy commissioner and he said, “It feels okay to me.” And I said, “Well, it don’t feel all right to me.” So I gave it to the commissioner and he said, “Yeah, that does feel pretty hard.” And when he opened it, a block fell out. So I was like, “He’s got to unwrap that other hand, too.” And they were like, “No, no, that hand is already cool.” And I said, “Listen, y’all want to wait till after the fight to unwrap it and we find something in that knuckle, too?” So they unwrapped it and another block fell out.

 

 

 

So for me, that was like finding somebody breaking into my house. And my natural reaction was to respond. But I got to thinking about it and if we got to fighting and wrestling in that back room, those two blocks would disappear and it would just be my word against theirs. So I scooped up the blocks and the commissioner said, “I need those as evidence.” And I said, “Dig this… I work for Shane Mosley. Get his lawyer in here.” And Judd Burstein, his lawyer at the time, came in and took them and wrapped them up in a box. And later, Shane’s doctor felt the block and he said that that’s the same stuff they make casts out of. And to be honest, I thought they were going to take Margarito and them away in cuffs. But they started wrapping Margarito’s hands again and we had to go through a few more things, because they were taping up his wrist again. And I said to the commissioner, “Will you please put your finger on the wrist and show him where the cut off line is?” Because the trainer would look right at me and go right past the cut off line. So we argued back and forth, but we got that squared away.

 

 

 

Now, people have said that the whole handwrap thing got to Margarito’s head before the fight. And they say the same thing about some of the guys Bernard Hopkins fights. They say Bernard is a master of mind games and he gets in their head. And I’m like, “Yo! Can he fight? Does he have a right hand and a left hook? You think all these guys do is get in their head and pick up a check?” I think we lose sight of how talented these athletes are. You have to be special to get to this level. Margarito had never been knocked out before he fought Shane Mosley and he hasn’t been knocked out since. And he’s been in there with some real killers. Manny Pacquiao hit him with everything and he didn’t go down. He eats punches like they’re Skittles. So you can’t say that Margarito got knocked out, because it got to his head. He got knocked out, because Shane Mosley went out there and fought his butt off. There was a lot of controversy in that fight because of Margarito’s handwraps. And people have asked me since that fight if I think Margarito had done that in the past. And I can’t say what he’s done in the past, because I don’t know. We all have things we think. But if I don’t have any proof, I’m not going to point my finger at anybody.

 

 

 

DL: As a man who has children who have boxed, when you have been in their corner, has it ever been difficult for you to detach? Has it ever been hard to put your role as their father aside and just be their coach?

 

 

 

NR: I have to me honest with you, man. I’m overprotective of ALL my athletes. It doesn’t cut off when my sons Rock and Bear step in the ring. It doesn’t cut off with my cousin Karl “Dynamite” Dargan. And it doesn’t cut off with Bernard Hopkins or Shane Mosley. Bernard cuts it off himself. He has to say, “Naazim, I’m okay. I’m cool.” I’m just overprotective and that’s why I’m watching the handwraps the way I do. And that’s why I don’t work with a hundred different fighters. I can’t give myself like that. With every fighter I work with, trust me, I care a great deal about them. That’s how it works for me. That’s my formula, that’s my thing. I need that connection to be successful. When we got around to Olympic Trial time with my son Rock, they wanted him to go with another trainer. And I was like, “No way. I’m gonna be the one with him.” Because there’s no way that another coach is going to be as committed to him as me. When I got sick and I had the stroke, I couldn’t be there with Bernard when he fought Joe Calzaghe. And that’s not to take anything away from Freddie Roach. He’s one of the best trainers of all time. But I felt like I needed to be there.

 

 

 

DL: Tell me a little bit about the stroke you suffered. The doctors counted you out, but against all odds, you were able to recover and continue doing what you love to do.

 

 

 

NR: It was Allah’s call. Whatever Allah asks of us, it will happen. All we can do is pray for the strength to endure it. And I prayed for the strength and he blessed me to come through it. He carried me up to a plateau that was beyond what most doctors thought would be possible. One doctor asked me, “Do you know what your recovery is?” I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “Are you familiar with The Lotto?” And I said that I was familiar with it. And he said that my recovery was the equivalent to hitting every number straight in The Lotto. Those are the same odds. So I was blessed. I believe in Allah and I know that there are no limits to Him. That’s why I’m one of the few trainers who would never say that there will never be another Ray Robinson. Ray Robinson is one of the greatest fighters I’ve ever seen in my life. But I will never say that you’ll never see that again, because that’s like saying God is done – that He can never do better than that. And I can’t do that, because my faith won’t allow me to. There are no limits to God. And by God being limitless, I knew I could recover. They told me I’d never walk again. And every time I run up a set of steps, I praise Allah.

 

In Part Two of “Naazim Richardson: The City Of Brotherly Love”, Brother Naazim talked about the Shane Mosley vs Antonio Margarito fight, his overprotective nature as a trainer, and the stroke he suffered a few years back. In Part Three of this three-part interview, Brother Naazim discusses why people call him Brother, and some of his thoughts about the sport of boxing and the Philadelphia boxing community.

 

 

 

DL: A lot of people call you Brother Naazim Richardson. Why do they call you Brother?

 

 

 

NR: It’s the same reason they call you mister. People ask me what Brother stands for and I ask them what mister stands for. This is my attribute. This is my name. Brother Naazim. This is who I am.

 

 

 

DL: Some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet are in the boxing world. And it seems ironic that you’ll find people who are so loving and so caring in the most brutal game known to man.

 

 

 

NR: Boxing is just a sport. It’s gladiators competing against each other. People say violence, but it’s only violence when you violate the rules. Once you violate the rules, you implement the violence. When everybody understands and respects the rules, then we’re on an even playing field. Everything is balanced and fair. When we sit down to the chess board, your queen can’t do anything my queen can’t do. But if you have two extra rooks and an extra queen, now we’re outside the confines of the rules. Now I’m being manipulated. Now I’m being taken advantage of. That’s when we start dealing with what’s right and what’s wrong. Because our sport is rough enough as it is. And if you go outside the guidelines, it can become deadly. And that’s not gonna happen against my guy. Not if I can help it. All I want to do is please God. Because I have to answer to God with everything I do. But when I look back sometimes… As mad as I can be at some of the things people say and do, I can honestly say that I have a good feeling about the people in this sport. Sometimes we yell and cuss each other out from across the ring, but I have such a great deal of respect for what everybody’s doing.

 

 

 

You always hear about the pessimistic side of boxing these days. There’s no more trainers no more, the fighters aren’t what they used to be… I call this “the microwave era.” They’re taking talented athletes and just throwing gloves on them. A lot of the trainers aren’t taking the time to teach boxing anymore. So for this sport to get back to what it was, we have get back to the basics. We have to work together and care for these athletes. I come out of Philadelphia and we have such a big reputation for boxing. And the tradition will carry on. It’s the City of Brotherly Love and we love to get in the ring and show you how brotherly we are. I’ve been blessed to work with some of the best athletes of this era. And I always say that they’re tremendous human beings who just happen to know how to fight. Shane Mosley is one of the greatest human beings you’ll ever meet. And Steve Cunningham who I also train - his wife is his manager. This woman had a baby and twenty-three days later, she was overseas with the baby in her arm, negotiating his title fight. I applaud that! She works so hard for Steve and that makes me want to work hard for him. And when Steve comes to the gym to train, his whole family comes with him. They set the baby up on the table and his son and his daughter and everybody’s hitting the bag. These are just the stories you tell as time passes on.

 

 

 

And Bernard Hopkins, man… I just hope people appreciate him and recognize what this guy is doing and what he’s accomplishing. We argue all the time. But I’m telling you, man, I’m so impressed with this guy. And when we were on the press tour for his fight with Chad Dawson, I gave him back the check he wrote me for training him for the Jean Pascal rematch. He went to Canada in that fight and became the oldest man ever to win a world title. Few Americans have actually traveled outside the country and won world titles. Bernard stood by me when I had the stroke and I just wanted to show him how much respect I have for him and how much I appreciate everything he’s done. He’s cut from a special cloth. And I’ve been blessed to work with some great trainers, too, man. I’ve worked with John David Jackson, who was a heck of a fighter, as well as an outstanding coach. I’ve worked and communicated with Freddie Roach, Emanuel Steward, Angelo Dundee and the late great Bouie Fisher and Eddie Futch. These are great human beings who just happen to be the masters of their craft. And there are a lot of great, hard-working trainers out of Philadelphia like Buster Custas and Sharron Baker amd Brother Khalil and Danny Davis and Sloan Harris – guys who people outside of Philadelphia don’t know about. They’re the background brothers and that’s the world they prefer. And there are some young, up-and coming trainers like Robert Hines and Stephen Edwards and Hemsa Muhammad and Billy Brisco and “Big” Chip Hart who will be carrying on the Philadelphia tradition years from now, alongside teams like the Concrete Jungle Boxing Tribe and The Untouchables.

 

 

 

When I’m at the gym, I always mention Bouie Fisher, so these young guys don’t forget their history. We’re out of a gym called the James Shuler Memorial and I’m hoping these kids know the history of James Shuler. He was a tremendous amateur and an outstanding pro who we lost too early. He was killed in a motorcycle accident and it’s another reason why boxers and bikes don’t go together. And you can’t talk about Philadelphia without saying the name Joe Frazier. His daughter Jacqui checks in at the gym all the time. She spoke at Bouie’s funeral. Jacqui’s a judge now. And she’s so supportive of these athletes it’s ridiculous. Whenever you see a problem with young people, you see Jacqui Frazier. These kids got it tough, man, and they’re doing what they can to make something of themselves. And they see guys with more money than them and sometimes it hurts. But I always tell them, “We’re all gonna eat, we just can’t sit at the table at the same time.” I tell kids that all the time. And sometimes they come up to me years later and remind me of that after they won the big one. We’re just blessed with these people, man, and I’ve been blessed to do the things I’ve done. All of the success is Allah’s, only the mistakes are my own. Man can’t determine who we are and what our place is in life. And I just look at the whole journey and it boggles your mind what God asks of you. It’s been a ride, man.

 

http://www.boxingtalk.com/pag/article.php?aid=22016

[davemurphy]

Thanks for posting, Razz. Richardson is always interesting to listen to!!