By Terence Dooley
I lieu of a preamble it is only necessary to say that Boxingscene was having a cup of tea with British light-middleweight Champion Jamie Moore when Jamie asked if we would like to review his recent British title fight with Matthew Macklin - a brutal fight won by Jamie in the tenth round. BS did not need to think twice and as we settled down to watch the fight Jamie expanded on the problems he faced going into the match.
BoxingScene.com: You had a shoulder injury going into the fight was that a massive worry?
Moore: “Yeah, it would flare-up depending on the type of training I was doing. I needed to sort it out because I hadn’t been able to do any strength work for the past three or four months.”
BoxingScene.com: So you took a huge risk in taking this fight Jamie.
Moore: “I took a big risk really fighting Macklin without doing any strength work because he is a big, strong lad but it wasn’t my strength that pulled me through it was my boxing (ability) and the fact we had a plan that worked out well.”
BoxingScene.com: Matt came out firing in that first round; did you find it hard in the early going?
Moore: “The more I watch it the more I think Matthew won the first round but I won the next four or five rounds after that. They were close rounds but I landed the cleaner shots and my defence work was a lot better, he was throwing his shots but they were wild.”
BoxingScene.com: Did he surprise you with his intensity?
Moore: “I knew he would (come out that fast) but I knew he would have to keep it up because he knew that if he would have slowed down I’d have taken over. I knew that if I conserved myself I would come on stronger and stronger.”
BoxingScene.com: Matt looked good with the jab in round one then ditched it, would that punch have caused you problems if he kept putting it out there?
Moore: “Every time he tried with the jab (in round one) he wasn’t really landing and he uses it to tee you up rather than as a solid shot. I use it as a range-finer but also as a hurtful shot as well. Matt is a hooker and an uppercutter and that is what he went for straight away.”
BoxingScene.com: Watching this first round again Jamie what springs to mind?
Moore: “He underestimated me a little bit, I know he did. He thought that he was stronger than me and he could go right through me. He thought he’d come at me, bash me about and knock me out, that is what he thought but it was never going to happen.”
BoxingScene.com: I recall that in the gym you promised us a war yet both you and Oliver were constantly working on your footwork.
Moore: “Yeah. Little sidesteps and if you remember from the gym it was little steps, it was nothing major because we wanted to give ground to a certain extent but only to give me the room to punch not to give the impression that I was running.”
BoxingScene.com: How big a part did Oliver Harrison play in the win?
Moore: “Tactics-wise for weeks and weeks he was watching the videos of Macklin everyday and the tactics he came up with were perfect.”
“We are the perfect team and it takes a clever boxing trainer to come up with those types of tactics but on the other hand you need to be able to carry them out and I am good enough to carry them out.”
BoxingScene.com: He is not a ranter and raver though is he?
Moore: “No, I can’t be doing with people screaming and shouting in the corner. I don’t need pumping up, I can do that myself. I need someone calm and relaxed. I can’t be doing with screaming and shouting in my ear between rounds.”
BoxingScene.com: So you trust him completely?
Moore: “I know that Oliver can see a lot more from outside than I can and it has taken five years to get to the point where I trust him the way I do. If I think one thing and he thinks something else I will do what he says because I know it is going to be right.”
BoxingScene.com: Scorecards around me varied throughout the fight; why was that the case?
Moore: “In the some rounds it was the case that I looked like I wasn’t doing anything, I was just blocking and covering-up but I was working. Matthew would throw shots in little twenty and thirty seconds bursts at the end of the round to make it look like he was winning them but I was doing more over the previous two and a half minutes.”
As we spoke Jamie watched himself land some short jolting shots on the inside and nodded his head.
Moore: “You see they were that shots that won it for me – the little shot uppercuts inside there – it broke him down.”
BoxingScene.com: How good is Matt’s body-punching?
Moore: “Yeah, he is a good body-puncher. Billy (Graham) teaches good body-punching and I know that myself because I’ve been in the gym. I knew that was going to be the case and I trained so that I was solid around the body, even more so than any other fight.”
“I think that is why the body shots didn’t really bother me.”
BBN: Were you really shaken-up at any point?
Moore: “He never hit me with a shot where I thought “uh!” or anything like that. He hit me with shots and I could feel them and would think “that wasn’t a bad shot” but you take shots like that in the gym when you are sparring and you think “that was a good ‘un”
“I whispered in his ear in the fourth round I don’t know if you saw that, right there. I asked if he was getting tired and he looks at me and smiles and shakes his head but I could feel it in him, I could feel that he was getting tired.”
After the clinch Jamie pumps out his jab and returns to his game-plan.
Moore: “See that? I was putting power into my jab.”
BoxingScene.com: Did you hope to break him mentally by letting him know how fresh you felt?
Moore: “If you think about it he knew he had come out too fast and I knew he had come out too fast but I was sticking with him to test his fitness. He thought he was a fighting at a pace he could handle but there is a difference between fighting at a pace on the body-belt and fighting at a pace with someone hitting you back.”
“Think about it, he is thinking to himself “I’ve come out too fast” and I say to him “you are getting tired now” so he started to panic.”
BoxingScene.com: He threw a lot of punches after you had whispered that remark to him; perhaps he was hoping to prove you wrong.
Moore: “Yeah that’s it, he was trying to prove me wrong but that is the last thing you want to do if you are getting tired isn’t it?”
BoxingScene.com: I spoke to (local trainer) Bob Shannon after the fight and he told me that he was proud to see you come of age in this bout.
Moore: “Yeah Bob said that to me. What happened that night was that I had someone in front of me who was good enough to make me show people how good I was.”
“When you don’t get a chance to show everything (because you are so strong) it is hard but when you have someone in front of you who is just as strong you can show people that you have these little cute moves – the type I will have to use at European and world-level – but that I have never had to show before.”
BoxingScene.com: Matt looked like he was fading badly in the middle rounds.
Moore: “Before that he was slipping and moving his head and stuff but by this time he was going.”
BoxingScene.com: People said that Billy Graham may have let Matt carry on for too long in this fight and that they should have pulled Macklin out of the bout in round ten.
Moore: “It is alright people saying that when they are watching on TV but when you are there and in the heat of the moment it is different. I don’t think they should have (pulled him out) because he put up that much of an effort it would have been unfair on the lad.”
“I know to a certain extent you have to look after someone but I wasn’t hitting him with massive shots until the final combination. I was chipping away at him and wearing him down but I wasn’t getting him with big haymakers.”
BoxingScene.com: As far as I can see Matt played his part in producing an amazing ninth round, it takes two to tango and he threw some shots in that round.
Moore: “That’s it, exactly what I said, it takes two to produce a round like that.”
BoxingScene.com: You seem to catch Matt with a little jarring shot here.
Moore: “When he was throwing his good shots I could see them coming because he winds up for them and I would hit him first and catch him. If he threw a left hook and I caught him first all his momentum would be behind it and I would be using his power against him.”
BoxingScene.com: One of my fears for you pre-fight was that you might try to go exclusively on the back foot as you did versus Jones (in the first fight), would this have given Matt space to move into and attack?
Moore: “Course it would yeah, he needs space to get his power off.”
“That is what we were working on at the gym the days you were there. That was the main plan and I trusted Oliver because he saw that and that it would work, I was confident that it would work. See there are those little shots again.”
“I was using a James Toney defence, standing right in front of him and making him miss. I’m not a big fan of that moving away style of defence, I mean some fighters are great at it but it is not attractive enough for me. James Toney just stands in front of you and makes you miss and I love that sort of thing.”
BoxingScene.com: You executed that defensive style perfectly.
Moore: “I’ve never had to show that (defence) in the past – this is what I meant before – this fight was an opportunity for me to show everything.”
“People think that as soon as they get me on the ropes that is it but I fight great off the ropes. It is one of my best assets. They think they have got me defenceless on the ropes and leave themselves open.”
As we approached that back-and-forth ninth round Jamie pointed out that Matt had to punch in spurts in order to preserve his strength.
Moore: “I am pretty much conditioned for the twelve rounds and Matt is not and you can see it there, I’m still tired but my head-movement is still there, I am still elusive.”
BoxingScene.com: Here in the ninth round Matt did seem to straighten you up with some right hands and landed meaty shots, what kept you up and gave you the wherewithal to fire back?
Moore: “I know from experience that when you are in a fight like this and someone lands something good on you you have to answer them back otherwise they are going to get confident and you are going to lose a vital round in a close fight.”
BoxingScene.com: That was one tough round Jamie, the toughest of your career?
Moore: “Oh definitely, I reckon it will go down as one of the toughest rounds in boxing.”
“You see Oliver then? He said ‘compose yourself’.”
BoxingScene.com: Was he worried that you may abandon the plan for the remainder of the fight and have a brawl?
Moore: “No he was worried more that I was going to try and finish him off instead of letting it happen naturally.”
BoxingScene.com: I noticed in the tenth that you started throwing the one-two more often.
Moore: “Yeah, the straight shots came in here, you see?”
Then the memorable KO came as a result of the southpaw one-two combination. It was the biggest win of Jamie’s career yet Matt went down so heavily there was sensitivity tempering Jamie’s joy.
Moore: “I never even celebrated. Usually you think he is going to get up straight away but he never even moved and I thought away “I’ve hurt him” because as a fighter you know that type of thing can happen late-on in fights.”
“My heart just sank and I thought that if he was hurt I’d probably never fight again because I don’t think I could after something like that.”
BoxingScene.com: If you vacate your title will that rank as the ideal way to say goodbye to the Lonsdale belt?
Moore: “It was because it was one of the best British title fights ever and for me to walk away as British Champion obviously makes me very proud.”
BoxingScene.com: So what next Jamie?
Moore: “Next? I’m hoping that a big fight can be made for me now you know? I’d like the European title. Ideally I’d like a world-title shot but if they could get me a world-eliminator I’d go for that as well. I’d love the European though, to go the traditional route, because I’ve had the British as well and the Commonwealth.”
BoxingScene.com: Do you have a message for the fans that have supported you throughout your exciting career?
Moore: “Over the past three years as British Champion I don’t think I’ve been involved in a bad fight and I always give value for money and I hope they enjoyed the fight and buy tickets or tune into my next one because they are guaranteed a good fight.”
BoxingScene.com: Cheers Jamie.
Moore: “No worries pal.”
