"I’m coming back a lot stronger. I feel a lot better after that rest and I’m already noticing it in training. If things keep going the way they are, this will be the best I have come into a fight...This year is going to be a coming out party, get on some bigger cards throughout the year. 2019-2020 is when I feel like I’m going to get in that mix. It’s an exciting time," stated fast-rising jr. middleweight Joey Spencer, who talked about his next fight, his future plans, and much more. Check it out!
PC: January 13th, you are back in the ring on FS1. You are part of a highly-anticipated fight between Caleb Plant and Jose Uzcategui. How is everything going?
JS: I feel great. Since my last fight, I have had a good amount of rest. So it’s been a couple of months where I could just chill. I was still training, but not having anything lined up is a little bit different. I have been resting a lot and having some fun and I’ve been in training camp now for about 2 weeks and it’s been going well. I’m having a great training camp so far; just started sparring this week and it’s been going smooth. I’m looking forward to January 13th.
PC: You had a very busy 2018. You fought five times and obviously went 5-0, but that is a hectic schedule. How important was that rest?
JS: Well, I was really thankful that my team gave me that time off at the end of 2018. I had five fights since February, so it was a super busy schedule for that part of year. It is taxing. You are basically training all year round. I was glad I got that time to kind of relax my body and let it heal a little bit. I feel like that was needed. I know it was because I’m coming back a lot stronger. I feel a lot better after that rest and I’m already noticing it in training. If things keep going the way they are, this will be the best I have come into a fight.
PC: You have been knocking guys out in the first and second round, but the preparation that goes into all of these fights and training camps is what the body needs a rest from.
JS: Exactly! People think, "Well it lasted 45 seconds," but it’s that 7 to 8 weeks of training before when we’re sparring round after round is what really taxes you.
PC: Are you approaching 2019 as your coming out party year?
JS: You know, that’s exactly what I’m thinking. I’m really excited for this first fight coming up. I was thinking I got five fights in my first year under my belt and some notoriety, but this year coming into it, I’m just like, skies the limit. I feel like this is really going to be the year. It makes me really excited, coming through 2018 and seeing everything that we’ve gotten done, I can only imagine where we are going to be in 2019 with 2019 coming up. At that point, I feel like I can be in the title running by 2020. So we are not that far off. This year is going to be a coming out party, get on some bigger cards throughout the year. 2019-2020 is when I feel like I’m going to get in that mix. It’s an exciting time.
PC: I’m sure getting this fight early in the year, you’re using this as a tone-setter.
JS: It is a good feeling. I started in February of this year and fought five times and they said they plan on fighting me at least five times this year and I’m starting earlier by a month, so I may even be able to get another one in. I may be able to fight six times this year. It is good to get a head start.
PC: Were you just able to enjoy the holidays and not think about fighting or did you stay active in the gym in case something came up?
JS: I kept training because I didn’t want to completely let myself go. I had 2 months off. I was kind of on cruise control. I was training 2 to 3 times a week. I was getting some runs in and some strength and conditioning workouts in, but I tried not to do many boxing workouts. I wanted to work different muscles by doing different types of exercises. I have done so much this year with my shoulders and it becomes muscle memory with boxing workouts and fights, so I tried to get outside of the box and stay in shape without necessarily doing the same things.
PC: You are only 18 years old. What are some of the things you are learning about yourself through this process?
JS: You know, I’m realizing that everything that I want out of my boxing doesn’t have to happen right away. I kind of had fallen into the mindset that I needed to see myself...I needed to see my 2020 self right now. I have high standards for myself and I wanted to see Joey 3 years down the line right now. It doesn’t need to happen like that. It really doesn’t. It’s a good thing that every camp I get better and better and I see myself progressing. That’s really what matters. Learning everything is a process and falling in love with the process, I see myself getting better and I’m taking steps instead of one big leap. It takes time and being comfortable with that and I think the main thing that’s going to help me is I just recently figured that out and that’s just something that you learn. It’s not going to happen overnight.
PC: What do you feel like people will be most impressed by in January?
JS: That all comes down to the opponent that they end up giving me. I’m still at that stage where at this point, I don’t have a solid opponent yet. They are just starting to throw me opponents. It’s like my last fight; I had an opponent set, he ended up failing his drug test, so I got a last-minute opponent and that fight ended up lasting like 2 minutes. I came into that fight ready to show myself and show the full package, but we will see how much my opponent can take and I think as the opponents get tougher, you will see more of my full style. At this point, they are still going down early and hopefully it will be someone that’s a little more durable, so you can see what I really can do. I feel like that’s going to be coming soon.
PC: Is that process of opponent by committee frustrating to you or are you embracing it to prepare you for the great unknown that is boxing?
JS: I embrace for all of the reasons you said. You never know what’s going to happen in this fight game. You never know what’s going to get thrown at you. You can be training for a certain dude and your opponent gets injured, but you already got the fight date, so they throw you a last-minute because you don’t want to lose the date. Things can happen at any time, so you want to be able to adjust on the fly. You have to handle your business no matter what and no matter who it is. I take advantage of any learning experience I can get early out my career.
PC: Do you feel like at this stage, as long as you are at your best, it doesn’t matter who they throw at you?
JS: That’s the way I train because a lot of people ask me that. “What do you do with all of these last-minute opponents? How do you train?” It’s kind of the best situation for a young fighter because it forces you to not be laxed at any part of your game. You gotta be 100% for every part of your game. I think that’s the way it should be when you’re in the developing stages. We shouldn’t feel like this is a tall fighter, I’m going to spar all tall fighters for this fight. We should be getting better against every style. I’m sparring southpaws and right-handers. You never know what you’re going to get. You gotta work on every style; fast fighters and strong fighters. That’s what I do. So that’s why I feel I will be prepared down the road.
PC: I appreciate the time. I can’t wait for you to send me some training footage to post and we will definitely get camp updates. Is there anything else you want to add?
JS: I’ll be getting that to you soon as well. Thank you, brother. I appreciate it.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]