A2Z Boxing

3 weeks ago, Steve ‘’iron chin'’ Forbes fought Oscar De La Hoya in Oscar’s backyard as a huge underdog. Many at hand and watching at home expected Oscar to knock out this contender, many even wondered why Oscar would even take such a step down in fighting this ‘’2 pound'’ fighter. Boy were those many ever so wrong, the underdog came in and fought a hard courageous fight, the underdog also known as ‘’iron chin'’ as I like to call him fought with so much heart that never again will he ever be called the underdog, Ladies and Gentlemen I bring to you, Mr. Steve Forbes.

Hey Steve, how have you been doing? Is everything going good for you?

Yeah man, everything has been great, I feel real good, I can’t complain, things have been great since the Oscar fight, I have been getting lots of love from everybody.

Good to hear that man, now speaking about the fight, I gotta say that I was there live watching the fight and when I was there I had you winning 2 rounds tops, however when I got home to watch the tape, I thought that you clearly won at least 4 rounds, how would you rate your performance?

You know Albert you are so right about that man, I feel that I won at the very least 4 rounds, the fight was very competitive, more competitive than the announcers would have lead you to believe.

After the fight I bumped into Joel De La Hoya [Oscar’s Father] and he told me that after this fight you will be bigger than ever before, not because you faced Oscar, but because of the way that you fought Oscar. He went on to add that you fought with alot of heart and you didn’t run, he said when Mayweather fought his son that Mayweather ran alot, but not Forbes, Forbes came to fight….

You know I respect that so much for Joel to say that, man I really appreciate that so much, for him to say that, man it means alot to me. I knew that being on the biggest stage I had to give it my all, I mean I had to cause as we all know Oscar is an all time great.

Joel was 100% correct, cause here we are 3 weeks later and people from everywhere are still asking, when is Steve Forbes going to fight again? Seems to me that the Oscar experience allowed you to not only tap into a larger audience, but it also allowed you to gain more fans by the way you fought, what were your thoughts when the ink on that contract was barely drying itself out?

I thought of 2 things, 1. this thing win, lose, or draw, will really help out my career alot. 2. For that to happen I must put on a hell of a performance. I knew that they would get a smaller ring so I knew what I was in for, and the ending result has been great as far as fans goes, I have alot more fans now than ever before.

Looking into your future, Jr. welter seems to be a good fit for you weight wise, so with Hatton more than likely fighting Malignaggi later this year and with Ricardo Torres fighting Holt in their rematch, the 2 names that would make the most sence to me would be Demitrius Hopkins, obviously because of the history there, and Timothy Bradley who just defeated Junior Witter, so what makes sence to you?

I think that with Hopkins, He’ll fight me now but only because now I have a bigger name, but I really don’t see it happening cause Hopkins turned me down before when I wanted a rematch. So now that I am in control of this situaton I may play the same game that he played with me, as far as Timothy Bradley, Bradley looked good in defeating Witter, but I still see Bradley as a prospect since to be honest with you, I was never really big on Witter to begin with. Right now I just hope that Hatton/Malignaggi doesn’t happen because let’s face it they both failed to impress this past weekend. I want to get it on with Hatton, but you know what Albert let’s do a poll, let’s see what the fans think, would the fans want to see a Hatton/Malignaggi fight? or would they want to see a Hatton/Forbes fight?

So now seeing that you just fought Oscar at 150, 140 seems to be your best bet weight wise, however I feel that if your body allows you to, that at 135 you would be able to make alot of noise. In other words 135 would be able to get you a whole lot of cake, where at 140 maybe only Hatton would be able to get you some real cake, at 135 there are alot more players involved, what do you think?

Right again, no doubt about it that right now the lightweight division is as loaded as the welterweight division, I would love to fight any of the top fighters at lightweight or Jr. welterweight, I am a throwback I would fight anyone in the top 10 in both divisions, but Albert you are so right, there is alot of cake to be made at lightweight.

Truth be told and nothing against Jeff Mayweather but sometimes a quick switch like that takes a piece out of the fighting mind,some feel that had Roger Mayweather stayed with you as your trainer for the entire camp that you would have beaten Oscar, many also question why should Stevie and Roger have to split only to please Floyd Jr.s ever growing ego? What’s your take on that?

I felt that it was done at a weird time, I have a real good relationship with Roger, Floyd Jr. , Floyd Sr., and with Jeff, but especially with Roger. All three brothers are great trainers, but I am really used to Roger, strange things happen in boxing. Jeff did a great job for me, I hold nothing against Floyd Jr.

Speaking of Floyd Jr., what is your take on so many people saying that Floyd is afraid to face a real dangerous fighter like Cotto? Do you think fear plays a role?

i don’t think that fear plays a role, It could be based on the fact that Cotto is promoted by Arum, I will say this and that is that if Cotto beats Margarito, and if Floyd beats Oscar that Cotto/Mayweather needs to be made no matter what, if it doesn’t happen Floyd will have alot of questions to answer, I mean as a fan who wouldn’t want to see that fight?

If you were Oscar, how would you fight Floyd in the rematch?

I would fight Floyd tall, I would be aggressive and not allow Floyd to rest, Oscar’s jab must be the key, in the first fight for the first six rounds at least, Floyd had no answer for Oscar’s jab. I would throw lots of body shots, if Oscar doesn’t fade late it will be a whole different fight.

Stevie thank you so much for the time, and we all really appreciate you fighting the way you do in helping this great sport of ours.

Anytime man, I really appreciate you guys at a2zboxing.com in reaching out to me to conduct this interview, I love all my fans, I appreciate all my fans love and support.

Posted by: Albert Alvarez