By Ben Jacobs
2013 was not the easiest year in the ring for Austin Trout. After losing a unanimous decision to Saúl 'Canelo' Álvarez in April, he was dominated by Cuba's Erislandy Lara in December which included an eleventh round knockdown. After taking some months out of the ring, Trout returned on ESPN with a commanding performance against Australia's tough Daniel Dawson on August 22. Despite suffering two knockdowns in the third round of that bout, Trout looked impressive as he showed more aggression than in prior encounters and almost stopped Dawson in the later rounds.
The 29-year-old will be back in the ring on December 11 against Mexico's Luis Grajeda in what he hopes will be another impressive performance so that 2015 can be as good as his 2012. It does seem easy to forget that Trout convincingly beat Miguel Cotto that year, current WBC middleweight champion and conqueror of Sergio 'Maravilla' Martínez. That fight in New York showed the world Trout's talents after years of perseverance and, he will be looking to revisit those heights in the near future.
"People remember what they want to remember. It's not that they forgot, it's that they actively forgot," Trout told BoxingScene, regarding the Cotto victory.
"It's my job to have to remind them, to make them actively remember what happened in Madison Square Garden in 2012. I am that same fighter if not better, when I'm staying busy.
"I like staying busy, I've got a quick turnaround this time, you don't have to work getting back to where you should be, as far as skill wise or weight wise. It just makes it a lot easier to do my job," he explained.
After a confident first two rounds against Dawson back in August, Trout was dropped twice with counterpunches in the third which resulted in him altering his tactics to avoid the Aussie's right hand.
"Dawson stayed back and he was trying to bait me into that right hand that he caught me with in that third round," Austin recalled.
"Maybe a lot of people will try to do that now, they might think it's my Achilles heal. After the second knockdown I had to tell myself, 'Alright, Austin, cut this sh*t out.' I went back to the corner and my trainer said, 'He's just waiting to hit you with the right hand after you throw your combinations, you gotta' move!'
"It was a good shot but I wasn't dazed or discombobulated, I was ready to get up, I didn't need to get my head together. I credit that to my team, the type of shape I was in. Daniel was a tough guy, it was good to be the first person to put him down. He fought Daniel Geale and Geale couldn't put him down. I did want to finish him, I was a little peeved that I wasn't able to, but he is tough."
