Steve Forbes Q&A: My journey from champ to promoter

By Boxing News - 11/25/2017 - Comments

Image: Steve Forbes Q&A: My journey from champ to promoter

Exclusive Interview by Ian Aldous: After a decade passed without a professional boxing card taking place in Portland, Oregon, it was time for someone to step up – that man is Portland native, Steve ‘2Pound’ Forbes. The former IBF super-featherweight world champion and his partner, Christina Lunzman, will be promoting their first card on Saturday, December 9th, at the Jackson Armory. Earlier this week, Forbes took some time to talk with me about his career and his new-found life as a boxing promoter.

IA: First of all, tell me a little about your venture into promoting boxing and your first show on December 9th.

SF: I’m back in my home town where I was born and grew up boxing. There is no professional boxing in my town. The last professional boxing match they had here was in 2005, Floyd Mayweather fought Sharmba Mitchell, I also fought on the card and Andre Ward fought in a four-rounder! There hasn’t been professional boxing in my town since then. With my career, I always wanted to come back here and promote professional boxing here and this is what we’re doing coming up soon.

IA: Who are some of the guys headlining the card?

IA: We got a guy from Tacoma, Washington, which is maybe two hours north from me. He’s a 6’7″ cruiserweight, his record is 11-1, he’s fighting in a six-round contest against another guy from Tacoma, Washington. Our co-main event is a guy who’s undefeated from Detroit, Michigan, he’s 9-0. He’ll be fighting a guy who’s 4-1 from Mississippi. We got a pretty good card and we’ve got some good amateurs that are ranked in the nation. We’ve got some beginners who are having their pro debut against another guy having their pro debut. The fights are pretty evenly matched all the way through. There may be a couple of fights where you kind of see one guy you believe will win, but for the most part, the card is pretty evenly matched and that’s what we wanted to do.

IA: You’ve been in the game a long time, has promoting always been something you eventually wanted to get into?

SF: Yes, always. I wanted to promote and also produce my own fights, meaning the production and filming of it, because I took TV and film for three years, lived in Hollywood for a bit. I’ve always wanted to promote and showcase talent, kind of build a bridge for local guys to get into the big time scene of boxing, to get an opportunity at bigger fights.

IA: It’s almost exactly the 17th anniversary of the night you won the IBF super-featherweight, when you defeated John Brown. He was stopped by the doctor due to a damaged ear drum from a couple of right hands. What are your memories of that night?

SF: I just remember I wanted to win that title so bad. I remember John Brown was a known guy, he was a proven warrior. I was unknown to a lot of the boxing people. I was known to people in Las Vegas because that’s where I turned pro and I did a lot of sparring and a lot of training with the top fighters there. Floyd Mayweather was my friend at the time, and he’s still my friend, we trained together and I trained with his uncles. So, going into this match, the boxing world as a whole didn’t know me, but I think fighters and fight people around Vegas knew who I was. John Brown was a really tough guy. I saw him fight Diego Corrales and Shane Mosley and Jesus Chavez, some really good guys back then. I knew it was going to be a tough fight. I really wanted to win and I knew that I was behind in the fight going into that round (when the fight was stopped). I was like ‘I got to do something to win this fight’, and I’m not known to be a puncher, but that was a pretty good moment to win that fight that way, being such a big underdog going in. It changed the direction of my career, for sure.

IA: You mentioned it already, but arguably you were behind on the scorecards at the time of the stoppage. Do you agree with that?

SF: Yeah, I agree. You know, watching it, I thought it was kind of an even fight. But, for the way he was fighting and the type of fight that we were doing – I wouldn’t have won a twelve-round decision fighting him that way. I had to change the nature of the fight. The good thing is that we had a rematch and I beat him very convincingly. Winning that title, there was some nerves – it was a different feeling when you’re in the big show for a title fight. You know, the nerves get to you a little bit and you got to kind of snap yourself out of it a little bit and treat it like any other fight. It was one of the most interesting, I would say, moments of my career and one of the most satisfying too.

IA: I’ve not personally seen the rematch with Brown for the title, but you scored a unanimous decision win. People would have doubted you after being behind on the scorecards in the first fight, so why was the rematch more comfortable for you?

SF: Because I just wanted to prove I was legitimate. I wanted to prove that it wasn’t a fluke and that I really was championship material. I really wanted to prove that I could outbox him and beat him in a better fashion. That rematch was really important for me.

IA: You lost the title on the scales after that. Was it just that you’d outgrown the super-featherweight division?

SF: I believe so, because at that time I had held the title for two years, one successful defence with the John Brown (rematch). It was hard to make the weight because I hadn’t fought in an eleven months span and I had fought at that same weight since (I was) a fifteen year-old amateur. Being fifteen years old, then ten years later I’m still fighting the same weight – it was tough. It was hard to make and I actually made the weight after that (losing the title on the scales) a couple of times, but it was just draining me.

IA: Whilst you were IBF champ, Floyd Mayweather, whom you mentioned earlier, was WBC champion. Was there ever talk of you two unifying and fighting each other?

SF: It kind of came across briefly, but not really. I remember after getting stripped of the title, I got offered to fight Floyd, but it was three weeks’ notice, something happened and his opponent pulled out or something like that and I got offered the fight. I said I’d need a lot more time than that. It wasn’t really a serious offer where we’d have a lot of time to get ready.

IA: You’ve worked with pretty much every Mayweather throughout your career, just how good have they been for your career?

SF: I think they’ve been excellent. They taught me the professional boxing game. I used to sleep on Roger Mayweather’s couch. I got a lot of stories. Jeff Mayweather and I would go and travel up to Big Bear and we would spar with Kennedy McKinney (former Olympic gold medallist and professional world champion). I spent a lot of time with the Mayweathers. They’re all kind of similar, but they are slightly different from each other. They believe in defence. Roger is more of an offensive trainer and Floyd Sr. is more defence. Jeff Mayweather is a mixture of both. It was great getting to learn and pick those guys’ brains throughout my career. I got a lot of respect for those guys. I care about those guys a lot. They helped me out in my life.

IA: Ahead of the McGregor/Mayweather fight, we heard that Conor wanted you in his camp. Obviously, you’d not want to go against Floyd. What’s the truth behind that story?

SF: I was kind of offered it later in the camp and I hadn’t been training. Number one: I don’t want to get in there and not be in condition, number two: kind of go against my guy Floyd who I know anyway. They said ‘it’ll be great’, I said ‘well, I’m not in shape’, and they kept asking me. Then there was really no more talk of it. If I had more time – maybe I would’ve helped them in camp, because I’ve worked with guys that have fought Floyd, like Marcos Maidana, Victor Ortiz, different guys that got ready to fight Floyd and that was fine. Floyd, he doesn’t care about that.

IA: Finally, what can boxing fans in Portland look forward to on December 9th?

SF: If they want to come and have a cold beer and see some good boxing then I think they should come out. You’re going to see some good matches, some even matches. We’re going to start off with the unpaid ranks – the amateurs, just to be supportive because a lot of these amateurs will be turning pro. They’re going to need somewhere to fight on someone’s show and I could be that guy. If they want to see old-fashioned pugilistic boxing and skills – they definitely should be coming to my show. We’re going to try keep it going with a few fights a year, try to get a series going. I want to look at bringing in people from other places too as we build up momentum of doing fights. I want to bring in guys from the UK, guys from Japan, so people can get a sense of different styles of boxing and have a good time and see some good fights and drink some nice beer.

Oregon’s first ever Professional and Amateur Boxing show – 2Pounds Fight Night 12/9/17

Jackson Armory Doors open 6:00 Fights start 7:00

Tickets: https://www.tickettomato.com/ (search boxing)

Professional Boxers

202 lbs Marquice Weston 11-1 Tacoma, WA VS Armondo Ancona 8-6 Columbus, OH 6 Rounds

175 lbs James Ballard 9-0 Detroit, MI VS Britton Norwood 4-1 Brandon, MS 6 Rounds

156 lbs Oscar Hernandez 1-1 Portland, OR VS Marco Russell 1-1 Henderson, NV 4 Rounds

134 lbs Chance Gabriel 0-0 Damascus, OR (Pro debut) VS Filipe Medina 0-2 Albany, OR 4 Rounds

150 lbs Shawn Harwood 0-0 California (Pro debut) VS Oscar Herrera 0-0 Portland, OR (Pro debut) 4 Rounds

147 lbs Jesse Barich 0-3 Tacoma, WA VS Nicholas Jefferson 2-0 Tacoma, WA 4 Rounds

Amateur Boxers

* 141 lbs Lorenzo Caldera Portland, OR VS Gerardo Esquivel Grantspass, OR

* 154 lbs Kevin Evans Eugene, OR VS Julio Gamino Eugene, OR

* 110 lbs Koa Gabriel Damascus, OR VS Alex Meraz Idaho

154 lbs Angel Martinez Beaverton, OR VS Job Gonzallez Albany, OR