Cornelius ‘K9’ Bundrage talks about regaining his IBF world championship

By Boxing News - 03/17/2015 - Comments

bundrage33By Ian Aldous: Five months after winning back the very same world title belt he’d lost in 2013, two-time world junior-middleweight champion Cornelius ‘K9’ Bundrage (34-5) is in a great position to be in a big fight this year. Last week, he took the time to speak with me over the phone about his career and what the future may hold for him.

As previously mentioned, in October ‘K9’ traveled to Mexico to challenge Carlos Molina for the IBF junior-middleweight belt – the same belt he’d won and defended between 2010-2013. Something of a merry-go-round occurred when Bundrage lost a majority-decision to Ishe Smith before he then dropped the title to Molina on a split-decision and now it rests on K9’s mantlepiece once again.

“The belt was a boomerang because it came right back to me! (laughs) I was just so happy to bring the belt back to the United States and to my city (Detroit) and my little daughter. I just had a little daughter too (Ariel), so she gave me a lot of inspiration.”

At forty-one years old, the Detroit native was ten years the senior of Molina but that proved insignificant as he knocked the Mexican down twice en route to a unanimous decision. It was quite an impressive feat on away soil and it could be argued the referee gave him a tough time. It all led to him becoming the oldest junior-middleweight champion in history. “Even though the fight was over in Mexico, it was an American referee so it didn’t make no sense for him to be one-sided. He was just on Molina’s team it seemed like and he did a horrible job. I was so upset at him during the fight and I even said to him after the fight, if you look at it I told him ‘Man, you did a terrible job’.”

He continued “To me, it was like I was fighting against Mexico, I was fighting against my opponent and I was fighting against the referee! I was in there sparring against a lot of people. It just shows how good God is that I was able to overcome all the obstacles that was in front of me. To be the oldest junior-middleweight world champion of all-time – that’s a great accomplishment.”

Just a glance at his professional record is enough to show you that he’s been fighting a decent calibre of opponent on a consistent basis for a long time now. A few big names have been bandied around as his next dance partner including Miguel Cotto and Timothy Bradley. “I will know in a couple of weeks. There’s a lot of rumours about me and Cotto that surfaced. I will know in a couple of weeks. I just know this much – it’s gonna be fun and I’m excited to be back in a ring. I know 2015 is gonna be a great year for K9 Boxing Global Promotions, and I co-promoted the (Molina) fight with Warriors Boxing in Cancun, Mexico. A lot of people don’t know that.”

The formation of his own promotional company is something that Cornelius believes will only be a positive for the rest of his career. “It’s great because you got a team that’s working for you, that’s working together to do what’s best for you. A lot of big-name promoters that you saw with me at the time were with me because I became a world champion – they didn’t have my best interests. With K9 Boxing Global Promotions they actually gonna have my best interests and we preparing for the thirteenth round. Boxers can’t box forever, so when it’s all said and done and you hang the gloves up – what are you gonna do next? So, we preparing for the thirteenth round. Shawana (his wife) is my manager and I have a COO, the COO is Bill Waller, he’s an ex-football player, he used to play with the New Orleans Saints in the NFL. He promoted the fight with Alexis Arguello and Aaron Pryor. And Julio Cesar Chavez and Hector Camacho.”

The very tight majority-decision loss to Ishe Smith could have spelled the end for his career as not many fighters return from losing a world title at thirty-nine years of age. Bundrage was to prove the exception to that rule and treated the loss as a blessing that led to his current career upturn. “I did think that politics would get in the way (of another title shot) and I just knew I was gonna sow seeds. I didn’t know what the outcome was gonna be. No-one really knows the future but God. I made sure I learnt my lessons and I worked hard to get back my title. We were still offered a lot of fights, I was offered the Miguel Cotto fight even though I didn’t have the belt, so I think someone blackballed me because it was supposed to be on Showtime but then I heard Showtime didn’t want the fight. There was a lot of dirty politics going on behind closed doors. But a year and a half later before I could go get a coffee – I was world champ again (laughs)! God don’t make mistakes. Me losing the belt was a good thing when you think about it because I was able to spend time with my wife and we ended up bringing my daughter into the world and if I’d have won the fight (against Smith) which I still believe I did but didn’t get the victory – I would have been promoted by Golden Boy. With me not winning the fight, I was able to form my own company. Who would you rather be with? Golden Boy or with yourself? I’d rather be with K9 Boxing Global Promotions, I’m gonna look out for me better than anybody else would.”

Under the promotional banner of Don King, ‘K9’ was chronically inactive and it led to Golden Boy Promotions winning the purse bids for his rematch with Cory Spinks in 2012. “Don King threw a number out there that was I think $50,000 and Golden Boy bid $150,000. They bid way higher. Manny Steward was my manager at the time and he contacted them and asked them if they’d purse bid and we’d do some business together. So, we ended up doing business with them after they purse bid. It showed me they were serious about doing business with me. Then I ended up signing with Golden Boy.”

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The 154lbs title picture currently sees two undefeated men hold the other three belts in the division with Demetrius Andrade as WBO king and none other than Floyd Mayweather as the WBC and WBA champion. It’s very respectful company to be amongst. “You can’t say nothing wrong about either one of them. I’m happy to be in the discussion with those names, especially Mayweather. At the time (he regained his title), Mayweather was a world champion and the highest paid fighter of all-time and I was right there next to him with a belt in the same weight class. So, that’s big for me and my brand and I can tell my kids and my kids kids kids about that.”

If you’d like to get an inside look at the life of Cornelius Bundrage – just check out his Youtube channel ‘k9boxingchamp’. A particular favourite of mine is the video in which he records his call with a phone scammer. “That was actually real, he tried to scam me for real! I had to call a friend of mine and I got friends in big places. I got FBI friends, so I got legal people I talked to first and he told me ‘This is a scam’. If you win something, why should I have to buy something to get what I won! We played games with him day after day and I said ‘I’m gonna record this’. I recorded it and I let him know like ‘You’ve been scammed, you scammer!’ (laughs)”

It shows a lighter side to him away from the ring and that’s something he wants boxing fans to see. “I want you to know that I’m different. You can come and reach out to me, talk to me and we can kick it. My feet touch the ground like the next person. Even Beyonce passes gas. We all human (laughs).”

In my opinion, I’d really like to see Cornelius score a genuine big fight next time out. He’s twice won world titles away from home and ventured overseas to Germany and England to stop respected opponents. He’s paid his dues in the sport and has always recovered from any setback he’s suffered as a pro. I’m very much hoping to see Cotto vs. Bundrage this Summer or Autumn.

Check out ‘K9’ on social media – twitter @k9boxing, facebook.com/k9boxing and on instagram @k9boxing



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