Tweet
By Thomas Gerbasi - In the world of boxing, talent can take you places you normally wouldn’t be able to go to, but eventually, there comes a time when you have to take a long, hard look in the mirror and realize when something’s not working.
For longtime super middleweight prospect Donovan George, that realization came on the tail end of 2012 losses to Edwin Rodriguez and Adonis Stevenson. For the Chicago native, while skill and a blood and guts attitude allowed him to tear through most of his opposition, when he got in with fighters who had talent and size, he was giving away too much.
“It’s just the whole size and strength factor,” said the 28-year-old. “When you’re fighting a guy like Stevenson, he’s just so powerful and so strong. I felt like I could have hit him with a baseball bat and he would just keep coming. It was discouraging. I knew I was a small super middleweight my entire career, but I never had the right people around me to tell me, ‘you know Don, it’s time to make the sacrifice and get down to middleweight.’ My promoter Leon (Margules) told me ‘if you want to be a world champion, you better do it.’ So Leon and (8 Count Productions’) Dominic Pesoli really helped me with that.”
Tonight, George makes his middleweight debut in an ESPN Friday Night Fights bout against rugged veteran David Lopez. Yeah, cutting down to 160 is no picnic after a career spent at super middleweight, but the way George sees it, he had no other option if he wants to eventually contend for a world title.
“I was a lot smaller and I just don’t have that big frame up at super middleweight, and I was getting pushed around,” he said. “I don’t want to be bullied around; I want to be the bully, I want to be the tough guy. So I decided to make the sacrifice, and we’re gonna give it a shot at middleweight. I feel like I have a brand new lease on my career.” [Click Here To Read More]
For longtime super middleweight prospect Donovan George, that realization came on the tail end of 2012 losses to Edwin Rodriguez and Adonis Stevenson. For the Chicago native, while skill and a blood and guts attitude allowed him to tear through most of his opposition, when he got in with fighters who had talent and size, he was giving away too much.
“It’s just the whole size and strength factor,” said the 28-year-old. “When you’re fighting a guy like Stevenson, he’s just so powerful and so strong. I felt like I could have hit him with a baseball bat and he would just keep coming. It was discouraging. I knew I was a small super middleweight my entire career, but I never had the right people around me to tell me, ‘you know Don, it’s time to make the sacrifice and get down to middleweight.’ My promoter Leon (Margules) told me ‘if you want to be a world champion, you better do it.’ So Leon and (8 Count Productions’) Dominic Pesoli really helped me with that.”
Tonight, George makes his middleweight debut in an ESPN Friday Night Fights bout against rugged veteran David Lopez. Yeah, cutting down to 160 is no picnic after a career spent at super middleweight, but the way George sees it, he had no other option if he wants to eventually contend for a world title.
“I was a lot smaller and I just don’t have that big frame up at super middleweight, and I was getting pushed around,” he said. “I don’t want to be bullied around; I want to be the bully, I want to be the tough guy. So I decided to make the sacrifice, and we’re gonna give it a shot at middleweight. I feel like I have a brand new lease on my career.” [Click Here To Read More]
Comment