It’s been a busy first year for L’Jeon Love, the Detroit native has quickly taken his record to 5-0(4) in just 5 months. It’s something he likes and is thankful to his handlers at TKO Boxing for allowing him to stay so active. His manager Cameron Dunkin hopes to keep Love active this year saying “First we wanted to fight him constantly but after this year we’ll slow him down and pick his fights against certain styles and maybe next year he’ll fight 5 or 6 times”. The award winning manager who has handled 23 world champions in his time has high hopes for his charge adding “He has a chance to be a champ, he’s got lots of ability and growing up around the Kronk certainly helps”. At just 22 Love has time on his side and will continue to develop his skills over the next few years before hopefully embarking on a title run and emulating many top fighters from yester year from Detroit.
Hello J’Leon, welcome to 15rounds.com
Anson Wainwright – Firstly congratulation’s on your win last weekend, you went the distance for the first time. What can you tell us about that fight?
J’Leon Love – Well i fought Fernando Calleros and that was my first time going the distance. I felt pretty good, i’m used to the four rounds from gym and the amateur’s. My body is used to that, i’m in shape. I fought a tough a very tough guy, he was a very awkward opponent. He was very strong, he was there to be hit, but he could take a punch. After the first round i knew i was in for the distance. I was setting him up for so many great shots with precise punches and it was catching him off guard where he didn’t know they were coming. But he took every shot whether it was a body shot or head shot. I was happy to get the rounds in. I enjoyed it and had a lot of fun fighting him.
Anson Wainwright – It’s early days but when can we expect to see you fight next?
J’Leon Love – I was supposed to of had a fight on June 4th in Tampa, Florida but that was cancelled. I’m just waiting to hear when i’ll fight next.
Anson Wainwright – You’ve been very active so far fighting on a roughly once a month schedule. How have you found fighting this often?
J’Leon Love – I think it’s great it keeps me busy. I’m glad because TKO has done a great job of promoting and keeping me busy. A lot of fighters get shelved and they fight every few months or don’t fight so often. I’m glad and happy that TKO Boxing has given me a chance to show my talent and keep me busy.
Anson Wainwright – For those who perhaps haven’t seen you fight, how would you describe your style and best attributes?
J’Leon Love – I’m a typical fighter. A brawler at times, when the time is needed i can sit and exchange and box and be smart and use my skills i can do that also. Either way it depends on the opponent or the style of guy in front of me.
Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about the team that you have? Who is your manager, trainer & promoter? Also what gym do you use to train at? How did you meet those guys?
J’Leon Love – It started off where i was training in Detroit at the Kronk gym and i was being trained by Javonn Hill the amateur trainer there and i had competed in the 2008 Golden Gloves and i wanted to take the next step to turn professional. Things were moving real slow for me after the amateurs, i had a lot of pro debuts set but things didn’t follow through. But god had blessed me with Cameron Dunkin & TKO Boxing Productions, they came through almost like word of mouth. They heard about a good fighter out of Detroit, which was me. I received a call from Cameron Dunkin who was interested in signing me. It went from there, and i got put with a great promotional team TKO Boxing. That’s how I landed with them. My trainers are Angelo Cabrio & Nelson Figueroa. Nelson is more for strength and conditioning and speed. Angelo is more for basics, working on my punches and my mistakes. I train at the Detroit Boxing Jungle, it’s about a mile from the Kronk gym.
Anson Wainwright – What can you tell us about your amateur career?
J’Leon Love – My first was a Silver medal at the 2007 Golden Gloves that was the first National tournament i ever fought in. I fought Shawn Porter in the final. It was a close fight but his experience kicked in the last round and he outpointed me but it was a pretty good fight. I was in the mix with Danny Jacobs though we never fought and all these prospects. I think we’ll all meet down the stretch, the top champions fighting each other. I had a great amateur career i had 125 fights maybe, i say about 10 loses at most. I fought at the National PAL, Olympic trials. I trained at the Olympic training centre.
Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about your younger years in Dearborn Heights and how you got involved in Boxing?
J’Leon Love – I grew up in a small town right next to Dearborn. I was a typical kid, i had a few street fights. I asked my mum one day of i could box, i saw the Army and Navy competing on TV and she told me no not to ever ask her again. As the years passed i had an allowance from my mother and i was saving up and i had a cousin who took me down to the Kronk gym in Detroit i paid my monthly fee. I started training, my mom found out and was pretty supportive of me and over protective of me but protective as a mother would be.
Anson Wainwright – In your first 3 fights you fought at 165 in the next two you have got down to as low as 156. Are you looking at fighting regular at Light Middleweight?
J’Leon Love – My ultimate goal is to get to 160 that would be a better weight for me. 168, or Light Middleweight is great for me. I athletic, i’m in shape, i’m working hard so you know it just takes time. I’m still growing. Eventually i will fight at 160 though.
Anson Wainwright – What do you like to do away from Boxing? What are your hobbies? What do you think you’d be doing for a living if it wasn’t for Boxing?
J’Leon Love – I have a girlfriend, i’m always hanging out with my brothers and my girlfriends brothers we do whatever Bowling, swim, horse riding. We’re real competitive with each other whether it’s video games or Bowling. I’m all for fun, i’m not a club type of guy.
Anson Wainwright – What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t a professional boxer?
J’Leon Love – I’d be a computer graphics designer. I was very good with computers in school. So that would be my second plan after boxing because i know i wont be a boxer for ever. I want to be an entrepreneur i want to own my own business. To be something big, i want to be something inside and outside of the ring. So i have a lot of plans.
Anson Wainwright – Who are your Boxing hero’s?
J’Leon Love – I like Marvelous Marvin Hagler he was a destroyer, it didn’t matter who was in front of him he gave them his best and most of the time his best was destroying guys. There’s a lot, Felix Savon the Cuban he was great.
Anson Wainwright – Can you say Hagler being being from Detroit after what he did to Thomas Hearns? Haha
J’Leon Love – I like Tommy Hearns he was also a great fighter but not one of my favourite’s. I look up to him, i actual saw him a few times and sparred with his son a few times.
Anson Wainwright – Finally what are your goals in Boxing?
J’Leon Love – To become the undisputed pound for pound world champion. Also to be just a great fighter for people to say J’Leon Love from Detroit was a great fighter. If that’s how i can have people remember me like a Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson or Floyd Mayweather at the top of Boxing.
Thanks for your time and good luck next week.
Anson Wainwright
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