Q & A with Daniel Woodgate

It’s possibly no surprise that your wondering why I’m interviewing a guy whose boxed only once in the professional ranks, a points win against Welshman Adam Wilcox, but I felt it needed to be done, what with Margate having few names boxing wise, other than Sven Hamer and Takaloo many years ago, {I know hardly a couple of English men}, however we now have some home reared talent from the famous seaside resort, has there’s Jack “13” Morris who like Woodgate is a super middle, and also you have the Woolford brother’s Scott and Vinnie, who seemingly are more often than not in the role of journeyman status nowadays!
So on a Summer’s evening from home I made the call to Daniel Woodgate, the latest offering from Margate, the interview went good and I liked the way he answered my question’s with truthful answer’s, this guy comes across as down to Earth and is obviously a realist in his view’s on how he hopes his career to pan out, answering my question’s in a direct and positive tone Dan sure seemed a no nonsense type but at the same time a nice chap, with a voice that sounds a little like former W.B.C 168lb king Carl Froch’s and a build more like that of a scaled down Frank Bruno with a similar muscle definition to that of big Frank, obviously Dan would one day like to emulate both in the ring and become a World champion, especially that of fellow super middle Froch, he certainly does’nt seem to be a fancy Dan, but in time Dan could well be the man!!!!!!!

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Mike Serra: So Dan, how did you get started in boxing and why?
Daniel Woodgate: I boxed a little bit here and there as a kid like most kids do and stuff like that and I never got seriously into it until I started playing football, and then I broke my foot and put on load’s of weight and went up to like seventeen stone, I had a friend whom carried on boxing from when I first went with him and I knew I did the training well and he invited me back to the club, I went back there and my coach soon has I got in the gym said I ‘got something, and to get some weight off of you’ and then I got carded and within three months I had my first fight that I lost, but that’s how I got into it really just too lose a bit of weight and I was enjoying it after the first few weeks and {thinking} I’m going to do it properly though I used to smoke, but I gave up smoking and stopped going out drinking and stuff like that.

M S: So how old was you when you had your first competitive fight?
D W: twenty one, twenty two.

M S: Was there any inspiration from anyone in particular?
D W: My all time hero of boxing was Chris Eubank and I used to love Naseem Hamed also, I used to love the way they put on a show, obviously you’ve got all the greats but I was really only into the British scene really, I wasn’t massively into boxing as I only knew only the big stars but I couldn’t tell you anyone who was on the undercard, I liked the Benn, Collins, Eubank era.

M S: Are you a bit of a show man yourself?
D W: I wouldn’t say I put on a show and I don’t want to come across as arrogant, I’m not flash but I’d say I’m a gentleman as a boxer, I always wish a fighter good luck before I fight him and I’m a big fan of people that respect each other in and out of the ring and I know people do the old war of words, but I would do it to sell a fight, but I’d like the guy I’m having the war of words with to know it was part of the business if you know what I mean.

M S: So where was you born?, and what was it like there growing up?
D W: I was born in Sidcup, Queen Mary’s hospital Sidcup and I lived in a area called St Paul’s way, and it was quite a nice area when we first moved there but from then on it went slowly downhill and basically from a kid I was always a fighter and was always out street fighting and stuff like that, I would’nt say I was a tough kid but I never got beat up and could look after myself although I was’nt the type of kid who acted tough, no one ever messed with me and I was quite a tough kid really but I was’nt a bully it was just the way it was around there, I always wanted to be the toughest in school but looking back on it now I’m grown up it seems a bit strange but has a kid that was the main thing with the kids I hung around with, if you wanted to be someone you wanted to be tough and I got thrown out of school when I was fourteen and got moved to four different primary schools, I was a bit naughty and a bit of a rebel and it was mostly because of fighting, {but} I was a frustrated child but I’m really lucky my parents stuck by me, a good family behind me and I turned out to be not a bad person I think. {laughs}

M S: Though you’ve boxed once as a pro, you had a pretty decent amateur career, please could you tell me more about that?
D W: Like I said I lost my first fight but I can’t remember the guy’s name, I fought over in Maidstone {Kent}, and the only thing I remember about the fight that will stay with me forever was when I stood in the corner and went out all confident {walking to the ring} and was joking in the changing room, and I always have a laugh in the changing room’s as I’m not someone who get’s uptight about fighting, and then I got in the ring and the ring announcer went ‘and in the blue corner, Daniel Woodgate’ and I remember thinking ‘oh crap, that’s me! what have I got to do now?’ and I completely forgot everything I learned in training, I mean I got the fight on video and I watch it every now and then and I think I did’nt do has bad as I thought I had on the day, I completely blanked everything out {during the fight} and I did’nt remember anything and that’s all I remember from my first fight and then I went on to have two fight’s with the same guy Tony Barret, a bit of an arch enemy and I beat him twice it was all good fun and we was good friend’s afterwords and then I had my under ten novices and I was fighting at super heavyweight like sixteen stone and I went out to Las Vegas and I met Steve Foster {Commonwealth light middle champ 96}, and a friend who introduced me told Steve I wanted to be a boxer so he {Foster} said ‘lift up your shirt son’ I lifted up my shirt and he told me ‘your too fat, your going to go nowhere’, and I was like ‘oh nice one, thanks’ and that was the changing point in my amateur career and my boxing career as a whole, I went back home and lost two stone and got under fourteen stone within a month and had my under ten championship where I burnt so much weight off, I was so weak on the day but I only lost by one point and still gave it my all but it just was’nt there that day, then after that I went on and had two more fights with that club which was Canterbury, my first club and then I decided I wanted to turn pro so I left and went to a better club that I thought was at the time, but later I found out most clubs are the same you just get out what you put in really, I moved to another club had a few fights with them, did okay then onto another club and when I got stale and thought I were’nt going to learn anymore I decided to make a move because I want to get somewhere and I want to get there quickly because I’m old has I started out boxing at twenty two, and then I ended up training at Sittingbourne but because of commuting back and forth it was too much really, and by this time I’d had seventeen or eighteen fights and I won nine and then went into the championship’s the A.B.A’s a second time, the first time I got into the Southern Counties final on a bye {walkover} and I boxed a guy who had twenty fights, knocked out three hundred {laughs}, he was amazing he was supposed to be this really great fighter and he had a few pro fights as well and I went in there and I’d only had ten fights and I did really well against him, I took him the full three rounds and did myself really proud and everyone was really happy and could’nt expect anymore from them really and then I went in the A.B.A’s not last year but the year before and got to the quarter finals, my hardest fight was in the Southern counties final against a guy called Simon Hopkins, who’d also had a few pro fights and he was the toughest fighter to date I ever fought, he was like only 5″2 but he was an animal, a really tough fight and after that it was the combined services where I boxed Mick Mcgarry who was ranked in the top ten, obviously when I saw his ranking I was a bit wary so I trained even harder and made sure I was on the ball and I stopped him in the first minute of the first round, and I’d never ever stopped anyone like that before, I mean I stopped people but never with a single punch and I was buzzing after that and then I went onto the quarter finals and met a guy called Rob Evans and he beat me on points and went onto win the whole competition, so I did myself proud and I was boxing at 86 kgs and I’m only 5″10, this Rob Evans was 6″3 and built like a brick crap house, he was massive and after that I decided that was enough in the amatuer game for me, so I started searching around for promoters, managers and then I found Mike Aldis on Facebook and I got chatting to him and basically what he said to me was what I wanted to hear ‘if you want to make money out of the game, then find someone else, but if you want to get your head down and go for titles, then I’m the man for you’ so I decided to go with him.

M S: So winning the gold medal, it must have been a proud moment for yourself, on that podium, flag flying and a medal around your neck representing your country, please could you tell me more about what it felt like?
D W: What it was, was it was an international competition over in Denmark representing England but what it was you had to put your self into it, I was’nt picked by an England squad, I boxed a guy from Finland and a guy from Denmark, and when I got there I was a 86 kg and weighed in on the mark but found out in Europe they don’t do a 86kg, it’s under 91kg or under 81 kg so I boxed two guys at 91kg, about a stone heavier than me, the first one I remember looking at this man and thinking ‘this man is an absolute tank, he was huge, so I went on the back foot and outboxed him and I did really well against him, then the next was a tall, spindly boxer and I knew I had to take it to him and I stopped him in the second round, the ref stopped the count and I remember thinking I’d never done anything like that before an international competition and it was massive for me, I know I was’nt picked but to go out there to another country with my six or seven people plus my club as well, it was an amazing feeling to win the competition, it was a gold medal and I’m very proud of it and it hang’s on my wardrobe every day.

M S: Did you actually get onto a podium to receive the medal?
D W: No it was presented in the ring and it was done all in weight classes and skill classes so there was six fighters in each class, two got a bye to the next round and I was’nt expected to do anything has they were a weight class above, I was expected to get beat but it’s were’nt going to happen!.

M S: You mentioned earlier about your age, I don’t consider you being too old as I think you have turned pro at the right age, Jack you know, I won’t keep going on about Jack {laughs} I mentioned him enough in the emails {laughs}, his like twenty eight, and his only had six fights and you have years ahead of you, Jack has’nt done much lately, what with injury’s etc…and sadly he missed the prizefighter but you have both boxed in your last fight’s Adam Wilcox, I mean Wilcox is a good guy to have your first fight against has his been around, and fought everyone, and you comprehensively beat him 40-36 and Jack beat him 40-37, so you went one better than Jack. {laughs}
D W: The thing is I don’t want to wait around, I don’t want to waste no time, I saw a video of him {Wilcox} and me and my dad sat down and watched it together and my dad looked at me afterwards and said ‘you sure son?’ {laughs} and I turned around and said ‘if he comes out fighting like that, I promise you I’ll beat him’ because he fought a guy under Hatton promotions and watching the fight Adam Wilcox definitely won but did’nt get the decision and pretty much won every round I think, but I knew with his style {I’d win} I have always said I’ll beat anyone my height or smaller than me, because I think I got an excellent jab and I use it really well and effectively, I don’t waste shots so someone like that who comes forward is perfect for me really and I went out there and he was a tough guy, I don’t want to take anything away from him but I think I did a really good job on him and I was really pleased afterwards, obviously it was my first pro fight and I did a few little thing’s wrong but it ain’t going to be perfection in the first fight, but we will get there.

M S: How many fights did you box as amatuer and what were your honors?.
D W: I only had twenty one has an amatuer, I was Southern Counties finalist twice, A.B.A quarter finalist, I won a gold medal out in Denmark in the H.S.K box cup, the Danish cup.

M S: Your sweetest victory?
D W: Obviously the feeling of getting my arm raised in my first pro fight because that’s what I’d been aiming for, basically since I met Steve Foster I actually thought it was a possibility that’s what I been aiming at, being a pro just to get my hand raised in that ring, that was the most amazing feeling, my best victory as an amatuer would possibly be a loss actually, it was a Monday night I travelled up to Northampton and boxed a guy ranked number twelve and I’d had eleven or twelve fights and I went up there and I remember the first round he absolutely boxed my head off and I went back to the corner and my trainer turned around and said ‘what are you doing Dan?, what are you doing?’ so I said ‘I ain’t got a clue, I were’nt expecting this!’ {laughs} I were’nt expecting him to be this good so he said ‘get out there and take it to him’ and I had two more rounds of me basically beating him up for two rounds, I mean he’d had seventy fights and he was so awkward and tricky and he knew every time I had him in trouble he just tied me up and he knew all the little tricks but I boxed really well and I thought I might have nicked a decision on an home show but I would’nt take anything away from him, he was a brilliant fighter and that was at another point that a change come across me as well, where I thought I’m getting somewhere again against someone much better than me and I’ve done okay!.

M S: So have you found the switch over okay from amatuer to pro?
D W: Yeah I always think I was set better as a pro anyway, I’m not a quick in and out puncher, I’m an agressive counter puncher, I punch hard, like I say I don’t waste punches and every punch I throw I try and knock them out with it, whether it’s a jab or a right hook, I’m always trying to hurt someone with my shots!.

M S: Who are your favourite boxer or boxers?
D W: Yeah Eubank, obviously I travelled about to watch Ricky Hatton because I liked the crack, there was always a great atmosphere at a Hatton fight and he’s a genuinely nice guy and someone you don’t mind paying good money to go and watch, but I always say there’s two type of boxing fan, you either like Mayweather or Pacquio! I’m a Mayweather {fan} I like a classy stylish boxer but some people like Pacquio who goe’s out and throw’s has many punche’s as he can and put’s his heart on the line for every single fight really, some people find Mayweather boring but I find Pacquio quite boring because he just throw’s punches all the time, he’s an amazing fighter don’t get me wrong, but it’s Mayweather all day long.

M S: Mayweather v Marquez was just a boxing clinic?
D W: It was just amazing, I could’nt believe how he could be that good, Marquez has just beat Diaz and showed he is’nt past it and he gave Pacquio a good fight.

M S: your favourite fight?
D W: Eubank v Benn, the first one.

M S: Looking back on your amatuer career, are there any regrets?,
D W: No I would’nt change a thing, the person that beat me in the under ten’s I wanted a rematch with him because I knew I could have beat him, and then there was a little bit of bad blood between us and there was a little bit of a slanging match, not so much that I got involved in it but there was a lot of going’s {on} in between, a lot of things said about me, then a fight {rematch} was arranged and there was alway’s an excuse not to fight me, but by the time I’d had ten, fifteen fights I was way past him, I could have beaten him with one hand tied behind my back, there was just a lot of noise coming from him.
It was a bit like the professional game, where you hear one person slagging off someone all of the time, he tried to build a fight {rematch} up but never really wanted to fight me, I would have liked to have beaten him but it’s not a worry to me I’ll get to spar him one day!.

M S: Is he a professional now?
D W: No he’s still an amatuer but I keep trying to arrange a spar with him so I can beat him up!

M S: He sounds a bit like David Haye with the Klitcsko’s?
D W: it is a bit like that.

M S: So you’ve just turned 27, and you have one fight behind you a points win against Adam Wilcox, what are your future plans?
D W: I’m hoping to be fighting on October 16th at the K2 leisure centre.

M S: How far would you like to go?
D W: I think I’m good enough to go somewhere with it and I’m going to try, I don’t want to be a ‘coulda been’ man, I want to be a ‘was never good enough’ you know what I mean? people can say ‘he were’nt good enough, but he tried’ rather than ‘he could been there, but he did’nt try’ I think I’m good enough and I think I’ll win a title one day but we’ll see.

M S: Has you know, there’s also another super middle from your area called Jack Morris and strangely enough you are not only from the same place but also in the same division and you faced the same opponent last time out Wilcox, do you think you two will feature some time soon up there along the likes of the Degale’s and the Groves in the division?
D W: Jack’s a massively talented boxer, I remember the first time I saw him in the gym and I thought to myself ‘bloody hell, he’s really good’ and I know fullwell that if he keeps his head down he’ll go as far as he want’s because he is massively talented, I’m not sure what weight his going in at now, I know his talking about going up to a different weight but I think if I could make super middleweight I would’nt have any trouble in time with any of them, I mean there brilliant fighters and they’d obviously wipe the floor with me now, but I’ve not seen anything from them that’s made me think that I could’nt beat them in the future, I rate myself quite highly, Im not arrogant and cocky about it, but I believe in myself if you know what I mean, I could surpass them, will it happen? it depends whether I get the right chance’s or not, getting the right fight’s and see if I get my oppurtunity.

M S: With Jack Morris, as I know him personally has I have done a few interview’s with himself, he simply does’nt get the publicity and credit he deserves has the other names are getting, please tell me has you told me you guys once sparred a few times, what you think of him has a boxer?
D W: His a brilliant boxer, I have done sparring session’s with him, the first time I sparred him I was still an amatuer and I was surprised with his power and his speed and being the size he is, his quite a big guy and he was so fast and powerful I was just going away and I just basically covered up really and threw my jab out a couple of times, the last time I sparred him was a few months back and we had a really good sparring session, okay he probably got the better of me has his quite experienced, he’d be an excellent fighter if he could get a bit more in really {fights}

M S: And where would you like to be in say twelve months time fistically speaking?
D W: In a year’s time I’d like to have about five or six more fights, obviously all wins, and just keep safe really, keep on the straight road and all the way to the top time allowing, and see where it takes me.

M S: Although I’ve never seen your fight v Wilcox, you seem too be a rather strong robust type, has it look’s has if your continuosly backing Wilcox up, which speaks volume’s as he’s fearsomely strong at super middle, if you will please describe your style?
D W: I would say I’m an aggresive counter puncher, I come forward all the time plus I got a good jab and use my jab effectively, I like to throw powerful shots, I’d consider myself as far as professional boxing goe’s has a bit of a mix between like a Eubank, obviously he’s my hero but I don’t try and emulate him but that’s how I saw boxing as a kid and that’s just how I box now and maybe a bit like a David Haye, just sit outside and search for the right shot and throw the right shot and hopefully it connects.

M S: So what did you weigh for the Wilcox fight {Woodgate’s pro debut}
D W: It was down at thirteen stone, but I was twelve twelve.

M S: So what will you be from now on, super middle or light heavy from now on?
D W: Well it’s something I got to discuss with Mike Aldiss, whether he thinks it’ll be worth me making super middle or if light heavy will be the right weight for my style, if I can make super middle strong then I’ll be massively dangerous because I’ll be a big super middle, not tall but I’m quite big and strong if not light heavy has I’m more than capable of holding my own against light heavy’s.

Michael Angelo Serra reporting from home