| Darnell "Ding-A-Ling Man" Wilson took time out his schedule to speak to WithinTheRing.com about his background and upcoming bout on August 3rd against George Khalid Jones to be aired on ESPN2 Tuesday Night Fights. This is Part I of a two Part interview. |
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| TR:How did you first get involved in boxing? What drew you to the sport? |
| DW:I was always a fan of boxing ever since I was a little kid. I used to watch the Tyson fights, Sugar Ray Leonard, all those guys. My whole family, we always watched boxing. I always said that one day I wanted to get involved, but I procrastinated and didn’t. I was 23. I started late, so it was really like I was 24 when I started. I’m pretty much a baby to boxing, really. Haven’t been doing it a long time. |
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| TR:What was your very first day like when you went to the boxing gym? |
| DW:I started at the Mooney Gym. That’s where I’ve always been. I always heard about the gym, but I just, you know, procrastinated for a couple years. Then I finally just said ‘I’m going to check it out’. Then at the beginning it was pretty rough. His training ethics are really tough. Some fighters can’t even deal with it, you know, they tend to leave sometimes because they can’t handle that type of intense training. In the beginning I wasn’t really serious, there are certain exercises that he would do and I would hear him screaming when I was on the way in the door and I would turn around and leave and say ‘forget this man’. I wasn’t really serious, I wasn’t really hungry for it. Now I thrive on that. I look forward to it. |
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| TR:Your first fight was November 16, 2000. How would you compare yourself as a boxer from that time to where you are now? |
| DW:Well, I didn’t have a decorated amateur career, so I learned on the job, and I learned quite a bit. I mean I know so much and different things in the ring. I’m a lot more comfortable in there. I still got a whole lot to learn, of course, but from that fight I’ve learned a great deal. I wouldn’t have even thought about fighting the guy (George Khalid Jones) I’m fighting now. |
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| TR:Other than the obvious answer of experience, what do you attribute your growth to as a boxer? |
| DW:Coach (Charles Mooney) is the best. Also the sparring I’ve had with World Champions, former World Champions, them bringing out things in me I didn’t know I could do. Making me jump to the next level. Things started coming out of it. When these World Champions start saying that I can really be something, I started believing more and more in myself. Hearing those things over and over again. I already knew that my chin is like granite and I can hit you once with either hand and I can knock you out. |
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| TR:At this point, who have your toughest fights been against? |
| DW:I don’t know. I guess Dana Rucker. He boxed really good and I was swinging my shots and I didn’t know how to get my weight down properly. I lost way too much weight in a short amount of time. I lost 28 pounds in three weeks. Then I had a chest cold so I was trying to fight him and he was boxing really well and I was loading up on my shots, but I couldn’t get anything out. I won that fight with my heart. I learned a lot about myself in that fight, how bad I want it. The fight with (James) Lubwama, I mean, I made that difficult. I was just really intimidated by the fact it was 12 rounds and he had never been down, so I wanted to take my time a little bit. |
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| TR:What did you think of Lubwama as a fighter? |
| DW:We saw the tapes on him and he normally comes forward relentlessly, so I’m thinking to myself this will be easy. If someone comes forward on me, they’re gone. I landed a shot and they (Lubwama’s corner) were like stay away from him. He hit me and I walked right through it. It was nothing. But then the fact that he was boxing and getting away, I was impressed because I fought one style and had to totally change. I had to make the adjustments and pretty much dominated. |
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| TR:Do you think the experience in fighting a quality southpaw like Lubwama will help you going into your fight with George Khalid Jones? |
| DW:Definitely. The guy before Lubwama was much taller than George Jones. Forrest Neal is 6’4". George Jones, his height of 6’1", is the height I prefer to fight against. For some reason I really like that height. I get the best leverage from guys that height. Both my right hand and left hook will get you. |
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| TR:If you get through George Khalid Jones what do you want your next step to be? |
| DW:I’m going to try and aim high after this. Beating a guy like George Jones and ranked where he is, will probably put me in the other sanctioning bodies top 10. The last few guys I’ve had had decent records. Some of the other guys in the top 10 have fought bums. |
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| TR:What do you think of Rico Hoye? |
| DW:I think he’s a very good prospect. He has a very good right hand, he boxes good. But I see a lot of holes in his offense. That’s who I really want to fight. Anyone that throws right hands like he does, I will catch them. I’m telling you right now. |
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| TR:Moving back to George Khalid Jones, give me some more thoughts on him. |
| DW:George Jones is a difficult guy. George Jones said he’s going to knock out whoever is in front of him. He’s going to feel my punch and the son of a bitch is going to start running, I know it. I already know it. I know he’s strong a little bit, but when I walk through his stuff and he feels my stuff and my quick -, I’m not even going to say the punch I’m going to hit him with. But there are two particular shots I know I can land against him. After I beat him at the boxing game, he’s going to have to do something. As soon as he thinks about something else, I’m going to clean his clock. I don’t care, I’m not Montell Griffin, I saw that fight, I’m definitely not Rodney Moore. I’m Darnell Wilson, and I’m hungry, I want it badly. |
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| WithinTheRing.com would like to thank Darnell for taking time out of his schedule to speak with us. Good luck! |
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