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Time To Meet – Denis Douglin
By Barbara Pinnella
Twenty-three year old Denis Douglin is no different than
most young men trying to make it in the world of boxing. He
is ambitious, dedicated, and driven. With a record of 13-1
with 8 KO’s, this Light Middleweight hailing out of New
Jersey seems to be well on his way to make a statement. Not
unlike other hungry fighters, right? Oh, did I mention that
he is trained by his mother?
Saphya Douglin, a former boxer herself and now a trainer,
would take Denis to the gym with her. “I started boxing when
I was eight years old. My mom forced me to come to the gym
with her – I actually hated boxing when I first started –
but she kept me going, and as I kept doing it I grew to love
it and it took off from there.”
Which then made his nickname of “Momma’s Boy” a little
easier to understand. “It actually started to make it funny,
since my mother trains me. When I was little some would call
me “Momma’s Boy” as a joke and making fun of me, and I just
put it on my shorts, again as a joke, and I got a lot of
attention from it. You know, like, ‘”Momma’s Boy”, what’s
that about?’ It just brought me a lot of attention and I
just went on with the name.
“I am a momma’s boy because I’m very close to my mom, so it
just works.”
The one loss that Denis suffered was one fight ago in
February, when he lost to Doel Carrasquillo (14-17-1) in the
third round by a TKO. I asked him what led up to that loss,
and got an honest answer. “I was overconfident,” he told me.
“I didn’t take my opponent seriously, and I didn’t train as
hard as I usually train. I pretty much just took the fight
for granted. I went in there and got hit with a shot that I
wouldn’t have gotten hit with if I’d trained like I usually
do.”
But the loss did prove one thing to Douglin. “I learned a
tremendous amount. You can’t cheat on anybody. I’ve got to
go in there like it’s a World Title fight every time.”
Douglin likes to fight often. He had six fights in both 2009
and 2010. He has only had two fights so far this year, and
told me that he’s hoping for another fight in August.
“I love to stay active. And even if I’m not fighting, I’m
always in the gym. I might as well get something out of it,
so I’d rather just keep fighting, but I’m a gym rat. Like
right now, I’m sitting in the gym. They told me not to work
out today, but I came anyway and I’m just sitting here. I
love being here.
“If I’m not boxing I’m doing some form of working out. I
love every aspect of the workout experience. So if I’m not
in the gym boxing I’m taking a cardio classes, or trying to
get a little better with weights; this is pretty much my
life, all I do is box.”
He is a very focused young man, and has a different idea
when it comes to extra-curricular activities. “I have the
rest of my life to party. Right now I want to focus on a
world title. As I said, I lost track a little bit the fight
before, and I’m not going to let that happen again, so I
just want the world to look out for me. We’re definitely
bringing something refreshing to the sport, we take it very
seriously, and we want to take over.”
Denis does not know with whom or when his next fight will
take place, but whenever it happens he will be ready. I want
to thank him for speaking with me and wish he – and his mom
– good luck.
Be safe and God Bless,
Viva La Raza,
Barb.
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