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As
Curtis Stevens prepares to face Patrick Majewski (NBC Sports Network, 10 p.m.,
ET/ 7 p.m., PT) in Atlantic City tonight, his defeat at the hands of WBA
middleweight beltholder Gennady Golovkin on November 2nd is still
fresh on his mind. Stevens was stopped in eight rounds at the Theater of
Madison Square Garden and as he looks back, he feels like he suffered paralysis
through analysis on that night.
“I
think I was thinking too much and not reacting as the thoughts were coming
through my mind,” Stevens told Maxboxing earlier this week, adding that the
ultimate lesson from that fight was “not to think so much, react more than I
think from now on.”
When
asked if this particular loss was different in that it was one he could really
build upon, Stevens said, “Y’ know, anytime you make a mistake or lose, you
always know you have to go back to the drawing board and review things and make
corrections on what you did wrong. So as I felt after the loss, I got home; I
caught the fight on HBO. I'm watching it and as I'm sitting down there watching
it, I'm like, ‘Goddamn, why were you thinking so much?’ The time that I wasn't
thinking, I was just reacting and letting my hands go, backing [Golovkin] up;
he wouldn't punch. So I'm saying to myself, ‘OK, now maybe that was just your
nervousness,’ because as I'm walking to the ring, I'm feeling good. I don't
have nervousness going on in my body but now as the action starts - after
watching the fight - I'm saying to myself, ‘Curtis, you was nervous. Your
nervousness was you overthinking and not reacting.’ That's the only thing I can
say about that now.”
And
with that, Stevens, who performed respectably in the loss, was given two
options by Main Events: return to the ring on this date (January 24th,
their first of the year) or in March or April. It was an easy choice for
Stevens, who's looking to make up for lost time.
“I
was just off two years, so me waiting till March, like, for what? This is my livelihood;
this is my job. This is what I do. And for me, I was so mad at myself for
losing to Golovkin because I wanted the fight. And I want the fight again to
tell you the truth because I know what I did wrong and after looking at it, the
only thing I had to do was not think so much, react and keep letting my hands
go and I would've been world champion that night,” said Stevens, who's still
just 28 years old. “So I say to myself, ‘Don't let this loss get you down.’ I
know what I did wrong. Me and my trainer got back in the gym making our
corrections and I'm not back in there Friday and I'm letting people know that
this little derailment is not going to stop me. It's not going to hold me back
or anything. I'm still going to become middleweight champion one day.”
The decision to return as
soon as possible pleased Kathy Duva, who rescued Stevens from the abyss last
year after he sat out much of 2011 and 2012. “I was gratified and really happy.
I hoped that's what he would say because that to me, was the indication where
his head was at. How was he going to survive the loss? Not just wanting to come
back but he didn't say, ‘Gimme a tune-up; put me in the main event,’ and he
knows that if you're going to fight in the main event on NBC Sports ‘Fight
Night’ you gotta fight somebody and I think Patrick Majewski is a fighter’s
fighter. It's an interesting fight.”
Majewski is a tough customer
but certainly not considered a world-class middleweight. But what's really
important is that Stevens is willing to stay active and stick to the blueprint
that was set for him last year by Main Events, with whom consistency is every
bit as important as the caliber of fight you're involved in. Perhaps there was
a time when Stevens wouldn't have been so compliant. When you ask him if he has
an altered mindset from a few years ago or was living a different life, he
states, “I'm not going to say ‘different life.’ I'm still a kid from Brooklyn
but now I believe I make better choices in life than what I did before. So you
just gotta adapt to your surroundings and make sure you're making the right decisions
and not the wrong ones.”
It was about a decade ago
when a brash Stevens, full of bravado was one-half of the “Chin Checkers”
alongside Jaidon Codrington. It was a blend of hip-hop and boxing that was
going to change the paradigm on how the industry marketed itself and how it was
run. It seems like a lifetime ago for Stevens, who can't help but chuckle as he
looks back at this stage of his life and career.
“Young, loving it, meeting people. Y’ know, back then, it was different. We had
Chris Gotti; we had Damon Dash. You had the hip-hop world, boxing, being in Source magazine, DVDs out. I'm not
saying I had a big head but a lot of stuff that was being presented to me was
dishin' at the top, so your head gets a little blown up. So the difference
between then and now, I'm a little more humble. You know how to take on life,
not to take things for granted and just try hard and good things will come to
you.”
In many ways, it's the same Stevens but a different one who exists from his
days checkin’ chins at the Grand Ballroom in NYC. He’s an older, wiser “Showtime.”
“I'm not going to say I got caught up into it but I don't believe I was humble
enough for what was going to take place,” he admitted, “because I don't believe
I got caught up. I always trained hard; I always stayed at the gym. I wasn't
humble enough for what was coming next, so God humbled me a little bit and I'm
here today as the new Curtis Stevens.”
WHEATGRASS
In this video featuring Stevens (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6arHrAPjvs&hd=1)
you see him taking a shot of wheatgrass juice. It turns out it's a daily ritual
introduced to him by his former personal trainer, Peter Codrington, the cousin
of Jaidon.
“I've been taking it since I came back and fought Elvin Ayala. It cleans you
out. It's pure. It gives you a little energy and it's all natural too. It's
organic. I juice now,” he said before clarifying, “I mean, the natural juice, not the f*ck-around juice
and it's just makes your body feel good. It makes your body feel good about
itself.”
(And believe it or not; applied directly into the eye if you're suffering from pink
eye over a few days, it's also very effective. I should know since I recently
went with this remedy.)
TNR
Here's the latest episode of “The Next Round” with Gabriel Montoya and Yours Truly:
Blogtalkradio.com/leaveitintheringradio/2014/01/21/
FRIDAY FLURRIES
There are three nationally televised cards tonight on ESPN2, NBC Sports Network
and Fox Sports 1 that all overlap. So set your DVR's accordingly...Ronald
Cruz-Kermit Cintron (ugh…) has been added to the March 15th “Fight
Night” telecast...So are we going to get a Carl Froch-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
fight later this year?: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/boxing/article-2544781...Thus
far, Kevin Durant is the NBA MVP; right?...Anyone see the footage of
Richard Sherman being mic'd up for the NFC title game? It was pretty
interesting...So is “True Detective” really all that good on HBO?...By the way,
loving “Friday Night Tykes” on Esquire...Free Justin Bieber! (Actually, don't,
please.)…
I can be reached
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