Michael Medina on Beating Grady Brewer, Future Plans

By Chris Robinson

The night of December 22nd, 2011 was a do-or-die moment for Michael Medina.

A 29-fight professional with three losses heading into his bout with Grady Brewer in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Medina stated before the fight to MaxBoxing.com’s Steve Kim that he would enlist himself in the military if unsuccessful.

That proclamation seemed to work as a sense of inspiration, however, as Medina rallied to pound out a clear-cut decision over Brewer over ten rounds. And in the wake of his recent triumph, you can hear by the tone in his voice just how revived Medina is as he eyes the junior middleweight landscape and everything that his future now holds.

I caught up with the Modesto, California native to get a sense of the fulfillment that came from the Brewer victory and also picked his mind about the motivation he had coming in, his previous setbacks as a professional, training at the Wild Card in Los Angeles, and much more.

This is what Medina had to share…

Reflecting on his victory over Brewer…
“It was very tough. I feel cool that I was able to go over there, to his backyard, and bring back the championship to my gym out in L.A. I feel good about what I accomplished and I’m just ready to start the New Year by training hard and getting more goals.”

Appreciating a good fight…
“It was a really tough fight. I have to give it to him. After the fight I went to his dressing room and told him that I admire the fact that he’s a warrior and I really appreciate the fact that he gave me a good fight. I think that the edge was mainly my hunger. I felt stronger physically and I was able to outpunch him and just throw and land better shots that made him hurt more. He was still fighting back, he fought back until the end, but I could see in the late rounds that he wanted to quit already.”

Inspiration from the Wild Card…
“I trained at the Wild Card. That’s my gym right there. I had Eric Brown in the corner. I worked some strength and conditioning, so I had the whole package. Also, Rashad [Holloway] got the fight. He was the one who put this deal together. And we trained for almost two months. We were supposed to fight and we knew we were going against a tough opponent like Grady Brewer.”

A do or die situation…
“That was basically what it was for me. I told one of my close friends about my decision, that this was basically my opportunity to make it or just lose and become a journeyman. And that’s something I don’t want, because this sport, I love it. I went down there with that in my head and actually that was a motivator. I respect the Army but my main passion is boxing and this is what I want to do. It pushed me. When I was getting tired in the late rounds, that was what pushed me to continue throwing shots and to take that belt away from Grady Brewer in his hometown.”

Looking back on his setbacks…
“I had three losses. The first loss that I had was in 2007 against Vanes Martirosyan. That was a tough fight. The second loss was against John Duddy and that fight was kind of controversial. I thought I had that fight but he ended up having a split-decision. That was at middleweight, though. And my last loss was against Saul Roman at middleweight in his hometown. It was a stoppage but I was still throwing punches and it could have been a weird stoppage. All the losses showed me that you can never let your guard down against a fighter.”

Eyeing the future…
“I love my weight class. Right now it’s a hot weight class. There’s many good fighters that have great names and are excellent fighters that I want to match in the future. What I expect in the future is to just keep improving, to get a little better with my boxing skills, because I’m a natural brawler ya know? I like to scrap, I like to throw punches, and I like to receive in order to get more warmed up. But boxing is not about receiving. It’s about hitting and moving. I think that’s what I’m working on and that’s what I’m going to try to improve. I’m going to come out crisp, faster, and more intelligent. Just doing my work without being hurt.”

Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He can be reached atTrimond@aol.com. Please follow him at www.Twitter.com/CRHarmony