By Niall Doran
DBB caught up with undefeated (11-0, 2KO) middleweight contender Tommy Langford for a chat ahead of his fight in Wolves Saturday night against Wayne Reed! If Tommy were to win big things (including title fights) have been muted for him in 2015.
The fight will be televised live on BoxNation and will be chief support to the WBO European lightweight title/WBO world lightweight title eliminator between Stephen Ormond and Terry Flanagan. The coverage gets underway at 7pm on BoxNation Saturday evening.
How are preparations going for your fight Tommy and how do you find juggling the training and working together?
“Prep for the fight has gone very well. I’ve had a great camp, put in a lot of hard work, a lot of practice and I’ve felt a huge improvement throughout the camp both in my conditioning and my boxing work. It is tough juggling work and training however boxing now takes more priority, so when I need to, I can shorten my hours or move it around to fit it around my training.”
Since turning pro, what improvements do you feel that Tom Chaney has brought to your game so far?
“It’s has been a gradual transformation from my amateur days and I’m still learning and adjusting now. Tom trained me as an amateur at Hall Green so knew me inside out and knows the way I work. I had good hand speed, use of my range and foot speed as an amateur so didn’t want to take that out of my game and start planting my feet and banging away. But gradually we have started to adjust my feet to make them more efficient and enable me to start delivering more meaningful shots. We have steadily introduced a greater punch catalogue and more body work, I’ve improved my round-pacing and inside work, and I’m now starting to punch a bit harder as we are getting my distance and timing right. So lots of work but there’s lots more to do.”
What were some of the biggest transitions and differences you felt when turning over to becoming a professional boxer?
“Initially when turning pro, I could get away with keeping everything long and fast really and just stacking the rounds. But I think the biggest transition is that your now punching to hurt where as an amateur your punching to score points. The pro game is a lot more physical and rougher.”
If you were to pick just one, what do you feel is your best strength as a fighter?
“That’s tough, my biggest strength as a fighter is probably my speed.”
From a promotional point of view since signing with Frank Warren, how have you found them to work with so far?
“Since signing with Frank Warren and being under Queensbury Promotions, everything’s gone smoothly for me and I’m very happy. I’m being fought regularly, paid well, I’m getting exposure on Box Nation TV and that’s only going to build as I approach titles which we are now looking to move onto.”
Your next opponent Wayne Reed has shared the ring with Olympian Anthony Ogogo and Commonwealth champ Rocky Fielding, how do you rate him as a fighter and what problems, if any, do you see him presenting?
“As a fighter, he’s a tough customer. I’ve watched a bit of him and he comes and gives it a real crack. He’s the sort of fighter that I must get past to move onto the bigger opposition and fights. I’m confident that I have more than enough tools to deal with whatever he brings. But he’ll be gunning for me so I have to keep switched on for the whole fight.”
Without looking past February 14th what are your ambitions for the rest of the year in and outside of the ring?
“Yeah, obviously nothing exists past Saturday at the moment but the aim is to pick up a title, hopefully in my next fight. Then over the next 12 months I can get some needed experience over the championship distance and look to mix with the top names in the British rankings.”
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