When his career is all said and done Nazim Richardson will have his spot in the boxing hall of fame waiting for him. He’s mostly known for training the ageless Bernard Hopkins and Sugar Shane Mosley. He’s a legend in the making and even with a stable of champions he remains humble, “I’m just a guy who has a passion about the sport and that’s trying to keep the lights on. That’s all I do, I walk that blue collar life,” Richardson stated.
Now that Mosley has retired and B-Hop hasn’t been too active only taking 5 fights since the beginning of 2010, Richardson focuses in on preparing Steve Cunningham and nephew Karl Dargan. They will both be in action at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey this Saturday on the undercard of Tomasz Adamek vs. Travis Walker. I had the privilege of witnessing Richardson at work with both Cunningham and Dargan at a media workout in Philly, and like always training was going smoothly. “Cunningham is doing an excellent job. Like I said, the thing about it is he’s excited and that’s always good when you have a veteran athlete who can find some new excitement. Sometimes it can become mundane when a guys been doing it so long. When they have a new project it brings new excitement,’ Richardson said.
The new project Nazim speaks about is Cunningham moving up in weight from Cruiserweight to Heavyweight. A feat that has been successfully accomplished before but in Cunningham’s case will be more difficult due to the fact that he’s naturally a Cruiserweight. Richardson exclaimed, “What people don’t realize is Cunningham was never a big Cruiserweight. It’s that he’s so muscular that if he loses weigh he would be losing muscle and that’s dangerous to the body. Most of the Cruiserweights are guys hiding from that division (Heavyweight division), I’ll say it out front. Most Cruiserweights have no problem moving to Heavyweight because they are already Heavyweights and they just sweat themselves down. So when you look at guys like Haye you see they are Heavyweights. They are not monster Heavyweights Wladimir and them guys are but they are heavyweights. They are big guys man.”
In knowing that Cunningham will be greatly undersized in the big boy division, Nazim understands that there has to be a certain path taken for his fighter to reach the pinnacle of the division. “It has to be calculated to move properly. You can’t just toss him in and have him wrestle one big guy after one big guy. His athleticism is going to play a huge part. As we’ve seen before smaller guys have been successful in the Heavyweight division based on their game plans and the form they have taken on. It’s got to be done like that and that’s one thing I’ve been on Steve about in training”, Richardson proclaimed. Along with a planned route to the top Cunningham must also attack his training like never before and Richardson doesn’t see that as a problem by stating, “Nobody works harder then Steve Cunningham, nobody. There’s nobody that’s more committed then Steve Cunningham in or out the ring. It’s just unfair that his body type pulls him into a situation that when you’re a 2, 3 time champion at Cruiserweight it’s not the same as if you were 2, 3 champion at Heavyweight or Light Heavyweight. If Steve Cunningham’s fights, wins or losses, would have been on HBO he would be one of the brightest stars in boxing.”
Splitting time with Cunningham in the weeks leading up to this weekend is undefeated Lightweight prospect “Dynamite” Karl Dargan. At the media workout I attended I also caught a glimpse of Dargan at work and wow is he lightening quick with his hands and swift in his footwork. Nazim sees big things in the future for Dargan and getting him in the spotlight on televised cards is the first step. Richardson proclaimed, “He fought on NBC last year on the Teon Kennedy card, when Teon Kennedy was upset. He was the co-main event on that and he fought for a little UBO title, it’s not really a significant large belt. But the only reason I wanted him to fight for it is because he was such an outstanding champion in the amateurs I didn’t want him to lose that and forget about being a champion, being that it was taking a little longer in the pros. But this year we are looking to do some serious things with him as far as moving him forward.” The talent that Dargan exudes is something Nazim kept referencing by saying, “Dargan brings the full package to the table. All he needs is the experience, we just need the fights. He’s a Pan Am gold medalist and we expect great things from this young man.”
Rumors have been swirling around the Internet that there might be a possible matchup of Richardson with Jr. Welterweight star Amir Khan. In addressing that Richardson stated, “I obviously think a lot has to do with the fact that Amir Kahn is Muslim as I am and there’s been some speculation based on that. But other than that I think Amir Khan is trying to resurrect himself from his last pitfall. He’s a talented young man. I can see him moving forward getting something done”. Khan recently parted ways with legendary trainer Freddie Roach. Many think that Nazim’s unorthodox training methods can help Khan clear up glitches in his game. “Every athlete is going to bring flaws to the table. The thing is to get throughout a particular project without those flaws being exposed or being exploited in that particular endeavor. I’ve always like the young man. I had a chance to meet him through amateurs, we were at the Olympics together and I’ve always liked the young man. If I thought I can help him and his people were to reach out to me I would have to consider that,” Richardson added.
A pairing of Nazim and Amir would be a beautiful thing. The wisdom of a boxing wizard mixed with the great talents on a Khan would mean new beginnings for both. But before going on to a new adventure there is still an older timer in the shadows that is possibly looking to enter the ring again. Even at the age of 47 Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins has thoughts of chasing another title. I guess being the oldest champion to hold a major title in boxing history isn’t enough for the ageless wonder. Nazim’s comments on a return to the ring for Hopkins were, “The thing about Bernard is that his lifestyle is so peculiar, you can say over the years. In the way he can just discipline himself. It’s harder for him to see if he can still run as fast as these young guys, if he can still move as well or better then some. The only problem with Bernard Hopkins, and I’m on the record saying this. And his wife will back me up; I can even remember the first fight I told it to her. He was fighting Simon Brown in Atlantic City, I told his wife, when it’s time to retire him how are we going to retire him? When it’s time to retire him he’s going to be better the 75% of the guys in his division. It’s going to be hard to retire this guy. The thing about Bernard he’s going to have to select when he’s ready to step down because boxing can’t retire him.”
As a personal fan of Bernard Hopkins I hope to see the two reach another major title together before it’s over. Regardless of who Nazim will be training we all know there will be championship belts won. Nazim himself doesn’t seem like he’s ready to step away from training anytime soon so let’s enjoy this boxing genius for years to come.
For Full Audio of This Interview Click Here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thaboxingvoiceradioshow/2012/09/02/nazim-richardson-austin-trout-and-peter-quillin
