Mike Arnaoutis: “I am ready to fight, and I am ready to win!”
 By Benny Henderson Jr (April 18, 2007) Doghouse Boxing
It is not the loss that defines a fighter, but how he reacts to it. Will he shell up, bail out, become gun shy, or will he go balls to the wall to dowse out the defeat and get back on the winning track? Come April 20th from Bally’s in Atlantic City, NJ, to be televised live on Showtime’s ShoBox: The New Generation 11:00 PM ET/PT, ‘Mighty’ Mike Arnaoutis 17-1-2 (9) gets his shot at scratching out that L and return to his winning ways when he faces off against Kendall Holt 21-1 (12) in a 140-pound WBO title eliminator to stand alone as the number one contender.
The fighting Greek sensation has awed the fans in recent years banging out win after win tallying up an impressive record over credible foe. With wins over the likes of Jesse Feliciano (TKO 1) which earned Arnaoutis the vacant WBO NABO light welterweight title, then successfully defending that strap against Jose Leo Moreno (KO 1) and Marc Thompson (TKO 1), both unbeaten before facing ‘Mighty’ Mike, it was time for the twenty seven year old to get
his shot at gold.
In November of 2006, Arnaoutis waged war against the once beaten Ricardo Torres for the vacant WBO light welterweight title. Twelve rounds and a razor thin decision later Arnaoutis found himself on the short end of stick losing out from world title dreams via split decision. But all hope is not lost. Now the stinging southpaw gets his shot at redemption when he takes on the once beaten Kendall Holt, the loser takes a back seat and the winner gets a crack at the world title. How does ‘Mighty Mike’ sum up his return to the ring, simple, “I am ready to fight, and I am ready to win!”
Before you tune in April 20th to Showtime 11:00 PM ET/PT, to witness this highly anticipated throw down, read on to see what Arnaoutis had to say on his last outing, his upcoming bout as well as his candid thoughts on his scheduled opponent, enjoy.
Benny Henderson Jr.: Give the readers your thoughts on your upcoming match-up against Kendall Holt.
Mike Arnaoutis: I am ready to get back into the ring, I know I messed up the last time out but that is not happening again.
BH: With your last outing against Torres being a split decision loss, do you feel your back is against the wall coming into this fight, and does that add more pressure to yourself or add to the fire or a little bit of both?
MA: I messed up big time, it was for the world title, I made a mistake, but you cannot make two mistakes back to back.
BH: I do not want to harp on the loss but did you take anything away from that fight that could possibly help you in the future.
MA: I learned that you have to keep punching until the guy goes down and cannot get up.
BH: Looking at Kendall what do you see as his strengths that can give you trouble and what weaknesses do you feel you can feed on?
MA: It does not matter what strengths he has, or what weaknesses he has, I am ready to fight, and I am ready to win.
BH: This question is for you Mike, what preparations have you guys been taking to assure success this time around?
Mike Michael: Basically we are going back to the fundamentals, polishing up like we did before trying to find out what we did wrong and fix it, make it better. We are training with a hell of a lot intensity, I think I know Mike better than anybody else in the world and the Torres fight gave Mike a reality check, that you have to finish an opponent off. So we are working very hard to make as few mistakes as we possibly can, which will make us victorious the twentieth.
BH: What differences will we see in Arnaoutis this time around?
MM: You will see a guy more experiences more polished, and prove that he is an elite fighter that can lock horns with the best in the world. No disrespect to Kendall Holt but at this moment in time the more experienced and polished fighter is Mike Arnaoutis. We are not saying that Holt is not a good fighter; we are saying that we are better. With the ingredients that we have put together we are going to win this fight hands down.
BH: If you could send a message out to Holt before the fight what would it be?
MA: Basically to be ready because it is going to be the fight of his life.
BH: Is there anything you guys would like to add to or say in closing of this interview?
MA: I want to thank Mike Michaels and Cestus Management for still believing in me. I know that I let everybody down in the last fight, I can assure that that will not happen again and I am going to do my utmost and I will win this fight. And I want to thank all the fans and Doghouse Boxing and especially you Benny because you always interview us when we want to do one.
I would like to thank Mike Michaels of www.cestusmanagement.com for setting up this interview, and a thanks goes out to Mighty Mike for his time and thoughts.
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