Cecil Stroud: Age is just a number!


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Cecil Stroud: Age is just a number!

Interview by Benny Henderson Jr., Doghouse Boxing (Aug 11, 2008) DoghouseBoxing.com

Telling a man that he cannot reach his goals for whatever reason is dictating his life, pressing him away from his highest potential, but one man stands strong and firm from others’ control, especially when it comes to his fighting career. Thirty-two year old MMA fighter Cecil Stroud (3-3) is living proof that age is just a number, and the hard hitter controls his own destiny.

Stroud, a Louisiana native, was a natural born athlete. From playing ball in high school and in college, Stroud went on to play ball in the pros, catching for his hometown Alexandria Aces, but after retiring from the sport Stroud filled the void with fighting, and in just nine months he had competed in six amateur MMA bouts. Coming up this Friday night at the Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport, LA, Stroud will throw down in his lucky number seventh bout as he takes on Joey Freid (5-3) in a 170-pound clash on Ring Rulers “The Real Deal” card.

From plumbing to punching, to coaching baseball to bringing out blood, the father of three is living his dream of fathering and fighting, and nobody is telling this hard hitter how to live.

Read on to see what Stroud had to say on this Friday’s upcoming fight, enjoy.

Benny Henderson Jr.: What inspired you to become a fighter?

Cecil Stroud: I was drinking one night watching the UFC, all my buddies were like we could do that, so come Monday morning I was the only one who showed up for training so I stuck with it. It is an adrenaline rush, it filled a void that was left when I quit playing baseball.

BH: Your debut at thirty-two, were there naysayers telling you that you were too old to fight?

CS: Oh yeah, my dad still wonders why I do it, my mom will not watch any of my fights. I won a fight in fifty-eight seconds and she will not even watch the video on it. There are still plenty of my buddies who say that I don’t need to be doing this and that I am too old.

BH: What were your emotions making the walk to the ring for your first fight?

CS: (Laughs) Man, I was jacked up. You can look at the video, I had three people walking out with me and I was out there twenty yards ahead of them. Everybody laughs when they see the video, I was bouncing around like Tito Ortiz, I was a foot off the ground. I did not hear anything or see anything, all I seen was the guy across from me.

BH: What do you feel your best qualities are as a fighter?

CS: My strength. I came down in weight and I kept a lot of my strength. I have above normal bench press and above normal squat.

BH: How has it been fighting under the Ring Rulers banner?

CS: It has been working good, they are real good guys, they treat me right, they stay in contact a lot, they don’t mind cutting up with you. I had a lot of questions when I started this fight game and they answered them for me.

BH: You’ll be facing Joey Freid, what are your thoughts on Joey?

CS: Joey, he is a great guy. This is going to be a very entertaining fight, if you can make it to the fight you need to make it up there. Joey has a strong chin, he likes to kick, he don’t mind getting hit in the face so I am going to test him and see if he has come across somebody who hits as hard as me.

BH: What can the fight fans expect out of Cecil Stroud come fight night?

CS: An, same as normal, non-stop action, once the action starts I do not stop, I am constantly going to be moving and putting fists in his face.

BH: I guess you are living proof us older dogs can still do it.

CS: That’s it, that’s what I say, I don’t think thirty-two is old, I really don’t. You look at all these cats in football, they are all in there late twenties early thirties, I feel that I have a good ten years of fighting left in me.