“Me personally, I would like her to go on to another big fight. I wouldn’t have a problem if down the line she did a rematch with Kali Reis. This is just me and my opinion mind you, but I don’t think it was that close of a fight to where it warrants an immediate rematch...I think a Cyborg fight for end of the year or next year would be the best bet. If it were to happen, it would have to happen sooner than later in my opinion,” stated Johnathon Banks, world-class trainer of world champion Cecilia Braekhus, who shared his thoughts on her win over Kali Reis, her future plans, and much more. Check it out!
PC: Congratulations on the historic win with Cecilia Braekhus over the very durable Kali Reis. You had to plead with her a little bit towards the end to box more. How do you feel about her overall performance?
JB: First of all, thank you for that. I appreciate that. I thought her performance was pretty good. I do wish it could have been a little bit better. Like you said, towards the end, it’s just a matter of keeping your fighter focused on the bigger prize instead of looking at the major or minor accomplishment; look at the bigger prize. My thing is the only rounds she lost was the rounds she either got hurt in or knocked down in. She was skating to a good victory and she won the last round. Now if you need a knockout to win, that’s what you gotta tell a fighter. I don’t believe in sending a fighter out there telling them you need a knockout to win if you don’t need a knockout to win. Performance-wise, I thought she’s had better performances, but her mentality of being able to get up and continue and keep fighting hard, you can’t replace that. That’s always A-class.
PC: She was the first female fight to ever be televised on HBO, so she had that pressure on her because in the back of her mind, I’m sure she knew an exciting fight would lead to her being invited back. Do you think it was that or the fact that Kali Reis would not take no for an answer?
JB: It was Kali Reis. Kali Reis is a tough fighter, man. This girl is no slouch. She is no pushover. You have to give all the credit to Kali Reis for stepping up, banging this lady up, and taking the fight to her. That was the big adjustment for the fight and that’s why even I had to make the adjustments in the corner with Cecilia because Kali Reis is a huge, tough, tough competitor.
PC: From your talks in between rounds, late in the fight, it appears you felt Cecilia was giving her the best opportunity to win and that was to land something huge because from a boxing aspect, you could see which fighter was a level above.
JB: Right! She was giving her hope. If you notice, Kali Reis’ body language before the knockdown, her body language was kind of unsure if she could land what she wanted to land and needed to land. Then, Cecilia kept trying to mix it up with her and she was able to land what she wanted to land. Her body language never was the same. Her body language then said, “I can do this, I’m about to knock this girl out.” That’s what her body language said. And when you’re reading that body language...I hope her corner is telling her you need a knockout to win. That’s what it looked like they were telling her because that’s the reality of it. Anything after the 7th round, she needed a knockout to win because they were only going 10. You can’t lose 7 rounds and think you’re going to win a decision. Her body language said it all. She came pressing forward and pressing hard trying to get Cecilia into another trade battle so she could catch her with a good punch. The girl is strong. She’s a big, strong puncher.
PC: What was the deal with the training situation, because the explanation the HBO telecast gave was something to the effect of Cecilia chose you last minute over Lucia Rijker?
JB: It wasn’t that in that aspect. What it was, I was over in Germany training a fighter. She told me that she was going to get somebody to fill in. I said, “Okay!” When I got back, she said...basically her people said, “We got a ticket for you. You need to come straight to L.A.” I said, “Okay, cool. Let’s do it,” and that’s what it was.
PC: Is there a difference for you as a trainer when you train a female because you have 2-minute rounds as opposed to 3-minute rounds, so you have a shorter period of action to process what adjustments need to be made?
JB: It’s no different because you still have the same one-minute rest to say what you gotta say. It’s no different on the rest aspect of it. That’s the reason it is no different. My thing is you do everything that you can, either in the gym or in the back while you’re warming up, you go over everything that you need to go over; that way you have very little to say during the one-minute break. You give the shortest route to what you want them to know. You make everything short and sweet and it usually sticks pretty good when it’s short and sweet.
PC: Cecilia seems to be very interested in a rematch with Kali Reis. Cris Cyborg attended the fight and that’s a match that has some intrigue. What would you like to see Cecilia do next?
JB: Me personally, I would like her to go on to another big fight. I wouldn’t have a problem if down the line she did a rematch with Kali Reis. This is just me and my opinion mind you, but I don’t think it was that close of a fight to where it warrants an immediate rematch. This wasn’t a Golovkin-Canelo or Mayweather-Maidana. It wasn’t that close of a fight to me. I think Kali Reis, as awesome as she was, I think she won 2 rounds out of 10. If you win 2 out of 10, that’s not close to me. Maybe my mathematics could be wrong, but I just don’t think it was that close of a fight to warrant a rematch. I think it will be these two fighters make a good fight with one another. I think it’s good for women’s boxing to see two fighters dig down and go blow for blow like that. It was great for women’s boxing, but on the other aspect, I would like to see Cecilia keep moving on, but if a rematch did happen, I wouldn’t be mad at that either.
PC: Do you think there is enough intrigue in a MMA fighter versus a boxer, like Mayweather and McGregor was able to do, in a fight between Cyborg and Cecilia?
JB: I think a Cyborg fight for end of the year or next year would be the best bet. If it were to happen, it would have to happen sooner than later in my opinion. I think it could be a great fight and have great interest. I mean, nobody is going to do the numbers that Floyd did. Let’s just be clear about that, but I think it could be a major fight.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]