Interview by Pattee Mak – March 6, 2012
Nicholas “Victory” Lavin (2-2-0) of Shelton, Connecticut is scheduled to fight a 4 round bout on the undercard of Henry Lundy vs. Dannie Williams on March 30, 2012 at MGM, Foxwoods Resorts and Casino during the show entitled “All In” presented by Jimmy Burchfield’s Classic Entertainment & Sports. A portion of the fights will be broadcasted live on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights. His opponent will be Steven Chadwick (0-3-0) of Jacksonville, Florida.
Here is what Lavin had to say about his upcoming fight via email:
Pattee Mak: This will be your 5th fight and the first time you and Chadwick will be meeting up. What is your strategy going into the fight?
Nick Lavin: I’m going to work behind my jab, go to the body and let the rest unfold.
Pattee Mak: On 10-7-2011 both you and Chadwick were at the same arena fighting different opponents. At any time during the night, did it cross your mind that he would make a great opponent for you?
Nick Lavin: No, all I was thinking about that night was my fight with Amparo. Gotta stay focused.
Pattee Mak: Now a couple of months later, do you wish you studied him more while he was in the ring?
Nick Lavin: I’ve seen a video on Chadwick and I know I have what it takes to beat him. Answer to your question, no, not really, plus I have that fight on tape! LOL.
Pattee Mak: What do you know about Chadwick?
Nick Lavin: I know Chadwick is a southpaw, he’s tall and he himself has a decent jab, he can take some good shots too but I know I’m gonna outwork him and the body shots are gonna take a toll. I’m a conventional fighter and I fought a few southpaws in the amateurs and I always did well with them.
Pattee Mak: How did this fight come about and why Chadwick?
Nick Lavin: Well CES [Classic Entertainment Sports] called Bobby and asked me if I wanted to fight Chadwick and I said sure. Pretty simple.
Pattee Mak: You are scheduled to fight as a super middleweight. You usually fight as a cruiserweight. Why the change?
Nick Lavin: I’ve been fightin at heavier weights before because I couldn’t secure opponents my last few fights. All my opponents that I was supposed to fight at supermiddle would back out so I would take heavier opponents because they were around. I know it wasn’t the best idea but I did it. I need to make weight at 168 for this fight.
Pattee Mak: Now that you’ll be fighting at a lesser weight, do you believe this will be a problem for you?
Nick Lavin: Absolutely not. This is definitely the weight class I should be fighting in!
Pattee Mak: Are you still currently training with John Scully?
Nick Lavin: The “ICEMAN”! I am proud to say that I am. I’ve been working with him since November and I gotta say he is like the Wizard of Boxing! I’ve learned so much working with Ice and he explains it so simple. I don’t know yet if he’s going to make it to the fight that night thou since he will be in training camp with Bad Chad Dawson for his upcoming rematch with Bhop [Bernard Hopkins]. He told me he’s working on it.
Pattee Mak: So if Scully doesn’t work your corner, who else will be working your corner that night?
Nick Lavin: I’ll have my strength and conditioning coach Kevin Gendron from Better Athletic Development out of Shelton, CT, one of the best around. He used to strength train Travis Simms. And I’ll also have Ted Panagiotis as my cutman, one of the best in the business.
Pattee Mak: Since Scully is training [Chad] Dawson for his upcoming fight. Does this mean that you could possibly be sparring with Dawson anytime soon?
Nick Lavin: Like I said before, Scully is a boxing Guru and if he thinks I’ll be good work for Chad I’m sure he will set that up.
Pattee Mak: Talk to me about what your typical week of training entails.
Nick Lavin: My typical week of training?? I can sum it up in one word… HELL! LMAO! No, really, I run 5 days a week, strength train 3 days a week and box 6 days a week. Boxing includes mitt work, bag work and tough sparring. I also swim 1 day and do sprints as well. Lots of fun!
Pattee Mak: You started your pro debut 9-18-10 and had 3 fights in 2011, out of all 4 fights to date which one was the toughest?
Nick Lavin: I’d have to say my toughest was the Amparo fight cause it was such a war. We beat each other up for 4 rounds. Wish it went more!
Pattee Mak: Your manager is Bobby Smead. How did he become your manager and how do you like working with him?
Nick Lavin: Bobby is a great guy who LOVES boxing. You mention anything about boxing that man has an answer. We met after I fought Cobbs, he was managing Cobbs at the time and afterward we were at the bar and exchanged numbers for sparring and the rest is history. He’s a real good guy to work with. He’s always fightin the vultures off my back! LOL.
Pattee Mak: Tell me about these t-shirts that are floating around with your name on it? I believe the artwork is awesome but it’s a bit too nightmarish for me.
Nick Lavin: Ya, they’re in the works right now. Bobby [Smead] should have them all set and ready to be purchased within a couple days, hopefully by Friday so I can give ya one. 😉
Pattee Mak: That is so nice of you!
Pattee Mak: If someone wanted to purchase one, whom should they contact?
Nick Lavin: If anyone else would like to purchase one contact myself or Bobby.
Pattee Mak: Thank you so much for taking the time to complete this interview. I look forward to meeting you on Friday and I’m looking forward to your fight on the 30th.
Nick Lavin: Thanks Pattee.
Other bouts on the card include Henry Lundy vs. Dannie Williams, Elvin Ayala vs. Hector Camacho Jr., Frank Trader vs. Adrian Perez, Josh Crespo vs. Alfred Garcia, Christian Lao vs. Thomas Miller and Shelito Vincent vs. Karen Dulin. In addition the following fighters are waiting to have their opponents announced. They are Joe Smith, Jr., Abner Lloveras and Dante Wiggins. All fights and bouts are subject to change
For tickets to this fight please contact Nick directly at 203-814-7440.
Should you have any comments or suggestions, please free to contact me on facebook at Pattee Mak or below.
To read my previous interview with Lavin’s manager, Bobby Smead please click here: http://bit.ly/InterviewSmead.
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As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
