Chauncy Welliver: “After I defeat Van Sickle tell Tommy Morrison let’s rock, I’m ready!”
 INTERVIEW By Benny Henderson Jr, AKA Big Dog (March 8, 2007) Doghouse Boxing
In recent passing conversation with a few professional heavyweight fighters in the fight world today we hit on the subject of Tommy Morrison and his recent return. I often ask (off record) if they would climb in the ring with him at this point and time with the whole HIV false positive debacle, to be honest not many said they would jump in there with the guy, but one said not only would he not be afraid to get in with Morrison, he wants to get in with Tommy, even would go as far as calling him out.
So I guess it can be made official, assuming heavyweight veteran Chauncy Welliver 30-3-4 (11) gets past his future foe Chad Van Sickle 21-5-3 (12), whom he will be facing this Thursday night at the Coeur d’Alene Casino in Worley, ID, he wants a crack at the former heavyweight title holder Tommy Morrison.
Competing in a slew of Tough Man contests with around fifty amateur bouts that include a Bronze Medal at the 1999 U.S.A. Nationals the native American whose tribal affiliation is with the Assiniboine-Gros Ventre stepped in the pro ranks in the summer of 2001 winning with a first round knock out.
Since his climb in the professionals Welliver has had a creditable career winning a few fringe titles along the way. Being a big draw over in New Zealand the “Hillyard Hammer” has crossed the sea a total of six times winning all except for one no contest.
He has had losing efforts to David Bostice and John Sargent, losing both unanimously but has winning efforts against Billy Zumbrun (UD8), Chris Lewallen (UD12) where he earned the WBC’s Fecarbox and Youth interim heavyweight titles. With a disappointing draw against Chad Van Sickle in June of ’06 the two are squaring off once again this Thursday night, and again if all goes well, which he is confident in doing, Welliver wants a go around with Morrison. Will he get his wish? Only time will tell, for now read on to see what he had to say on his career, his rematch against Van Sickle and his desire to swap leather with Morrison, enjoy.
Benny Henderson Jr.: Give the readers your thoughts on the upcoming rematch between you and Chad Van Sickle.
Chauncy Welliver: First off the first fight was an ok fight; I was in very good shape, I mean I cannot sit here and say that I was not or anything like that. I was probably in the best shape of my life, there are just plenty of things that I have should have done that I did not do. I went out there and tried to play his game because I wanted to beat him at his game but it ended in a draw, even though I felt like I won. I definitely did deserve s slap on the hand for being a thirty-eight fight pro veteran and fighting junk like that.
BH: How are you going to approach this fight to make it a different outcome than the first?
CW: You know honestly I do not know, I am just going to go out there and in the first round I will know. I want to go out there and get a feel for what he wants to do and then do the exact opposite. If he wants to box I will brawl, if he wants to brawl I will box.
BH: How would you describe your career up to this point?
CW: You know I feel that it has gone pretty well, I have fought a lot of guys that I should of beaten, but hey I am only twenty-three years old and I should not be fighting Lennox Lewis every fight. I am very happy with my career and have put up a couple of ok wins, so yeah I am very happy with it.
BH: What are your thoughts on the heavyweight division, and being brutally honest where do you see yourself in the mix?
CW: To answer that question it is pretty sad when you have a fat white kid from Spokane, Washington to actually be a player in the division. The heavyweight division is the saddest it has ever been and I am talking about the eighties also. The heavyweight division is so dead, there was a couple of years ago when I said John Ruiz is the worst heavyweight champion ever, then there came a time when it was like John Ruiz is the best heavyweight champion and Lamon Brewster is the worst. Then it was like well Lamon Brewster is the best champion and now (Laughs) I would have never imagined that Shannon Briggs would be heavyweight champion of the world. Oleg Maskaev, oh my gosh, Corey Sanders knocked him out and that was the bad one. That is pretty bad.
BH: What has been the hardest aspect of being a fighter?
CW: For me personally being from Spokane, Washington, there is nothing here as far as boxing goes.
BH: What have you learned about this sport in your six-year journey?
CW: I have been around it for a while with my brother being a pro, I have learned a lot and I have met lots of great people. The reason why I started fighting is because I always wanted to be a match-maker and a manager, even as a kid I did not want to be the guy who was asked were you ever a fighter, so I wanted to have couple of fights and here I am now, seventy four tough man fights and thirty-eight professional fights.
BH: What is the deal with your February 2005 bout against Elisara Sii Uta in New Zealand? From what I have read it was originally announced as a loss for you then later announced as a no contest.
CW: It was a real weird situation, I do not know if you have enough ink to write this. (Laughs) The promoter was also the head commissioner, also the guy’s manager, also the referee of the fight as well as the ring announcer. He was definitely a horse of many colors that night. They announced him as the victor, so I asked to see the cards because this was a fight that I won very easily, probably the easiest fight I had down there, I mean the guy probably hit me a total of two times. So I looked at the score cards and the cards had me winning, so I talked to the promoter and he said if we would have announced that you won this there would have been a riot, I told him I’d tough through that I just wanted my win, he told me that it was a loss no big deal in New Zealand and I responded well it is in America. So they did not want to take what was a victory from him because it would not be fair to him, and I told them that it was not fair to me so I settled for a no contest.
BH: If you can send out a message to Chad Van Sickle before this bout what exactly would you tell him?
CW: I am ready, I have had plenty of sparring and I know that he is sparring with Wladimir Klitschko right now, so he is going to be just as ready. But hey I am coming in aggressive and this is not his people cheering for him this time it is my people cheering me and that is what pushes me to throw an extra fifty punches a round, that is my home town and with and with all my friends and family getting to see me fight again I am going to go ballistic on him.
BH: What will be next for you after this throw down?
CW: There is talk of May 30th here in Spokane maybe a fight on ESPN Wednesday Night Fights; there are plenty of things being tossed around. May 30th is the date but whether it will be on TV is not definite.
BH: Anything you would like to add or say in closing?
CW: I am a huge fan of Doghouse Boxing of course. (Laughs) I was hoping 2006 was going to be my year but I had a couple of injuries, and some problems with some promoters so hopefully 2007 will be my year. With my record hopefully it will be time to take that next step to get somebody like Lamon Brewster or somebody of that nature. Heck, tell Tommy Morrison I am ready as well. (Laughs) If he wants another Joe Hipp type battle well I am here.
BH: You would fight Tommy Morrison with all the controversy surrounding him being HIV positive, well false positive or whatever.
CW: Yes, I would take a fight with Tommy Morrison, it would bring me so much attention I would be crazy not to take a fight with him. Hey you know what I am a fighter, I’ll eventually probably die in the ring some day anyway. (Laughs) Let’s be real here he has a bigger name than any other heavyweight out there right now. Shoot after I defeat Van Sickle tell Tommy Morrison let’s rock, I am ready!
I would like to thank Chauncy for taking the out to speak to Doghouse Boxing.
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