Interview with “Relentless” Lamon Brewster

By Pattee Mak on June 18, 2011

Pattee:  Hello Mr. Brewster!   Currently you are retired from boxing.  Your last fight was January 30, 2010 against Robert Helenius in Germany.  He won by TKO in the 8^th.  Can you tell me what happened in that match?

BREWSTER:  That particular night was a tragedy because when we got to the venue we arrived at about 7:00 pm and I was suppose to go on at 9:00 pm and so when we got there we walked pasted my opponent’s room and went to my room and I didn’t have a room. They put me in a room with 10 of other guys. But I understand that because I was the opponent.  

Now when a fighter wraps his hands he wraps it an hour to an hour and a half before the fight.   Normally that is what a fighter does.   Because if you wrap it too soon the wraps gets soft.   So we sat around for 30 minutes and we waited to wrap my hands and they told us don’t worry about it just wrap your hands.   What do you mean don’t worry about it.  They said that because Helenius already wrapped his hands.  I’ve never been to a fight or anywhere were I wasn’t allowed to watch someone wrap their hands.  So basically they said if I didn’t fight they were gonna sue me.  So I came to fight that’s who I am, I’m a fighter.  So I’m fighting this guy and I just remembered when I got to the 6^th round at the beginning of every round I was seeing white and I couldn’t see into the first 30 seconds of each round.  I thought maybe he had something in his gloves.   I didn’t know what to make of it.   During the 6^th round in the first 30 seconds he landed a punch and I was blinded in both my eyes and was seeing white.   At the 8^th round after I was blinded he kept throwing punches and I couldn’t see so the referee stopped the fight.   I never did get a chance to inspect his gloves after the fight. So after that I went back to Los Angeles that same night and I had a whole lot of cuts across my eyelids as if you took a razor across my eyelids.  I never experienced anything like this because those types of cuts are never like that for a fighter.  Even my doctor couldn’t understand it either as it isn’t conclusive to boxing.  Afterwards I thought I could have died in the ring. 

Pattee: How are you feeling now?

BREWSTER:  I had 4 surgeries last year and I have another surgery next month and hopefully this surgery will repair my vision for my left eye.  The Doctor said I have a slit across my iris and cornea.  Whatever was on his glove cut it and once it started to heal, it infused my eyelid together.  They have to give me a cornea transplant.   Being a man of faith I believe God closes one door and opens another. 

Pattee:  OMG! That is awful.

Pattee:  What titles did you hold as a professional boxer?

BREWSTER:   NABA heavyweight title, WBO heavyweight title, WBO NABO heavyweight title and the WBC Continental Americas heavyweight title.

Pattee:  Currently you are involved in a new adventure you are putting together which is an up and coming website called www.fightingconnection.com.  How did this come about?

BREWSTER:  It’s going to launch this August.   I came up with this because a lot of times when I was getting ready to go to camp my trainer would say this is a fight and we would have to find sparring partners to train me for this particular fight and so I always ask someone if they know someone so I can get them to my training camp.   Well that is such a headache because lets say I do find someone and you find that person, well say he gets hurts then you need to find someone else or someone to fight a certain way.  It’s really hard and I got frustrated and I knew there has to be a better way.  So I was talking with a few people and we were brainstorming and I said I was going to have a search engine built.   For instance, if I was going to fight a guy who’s 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs 225 pounds and he’s a right hand fighter and a boxer who moves to his left, I would go to my website and put all the information in and let it bring up everyone around the world with those same criterias.  I personally asked myself the questions to build this site.  Nobody knows better than me when they go to camp.  I been in camp with guys that I couldn’t open up 100 percent because if I did, I was afraid to hurt them because then I’d have to look again for someone to train with.   A lot of times I’d leave my wife on vacation and want to work out.  Man let me try to find a gym. So I’d look in the yellow pages or phone book.  Now you go to my website, type in the country, zip code, providence etc etc and you click what you are looking for, boxing, mma, mauy thia and press enter and it’ll bring up everything in that region.   I believe the cut man is very important to me because when you go to a fight you only get 2 tickets one for you and the other for your trainer.  So what me and my trainer would do is once we registered in we would always find someone who was walking around with a bucket and give them $50.00 to work my corner.  9 times out of 10 they would say yes.  Although this worked, I got frustrated at that.  So now I made it easier for everyone.  You’d just type in I’m looking for a cut man, when, where and hit search and the site will bring up all cut men available.  I even added a star rating next to the cut man so everyone can vote and see their ratings.

Pattee: Who is Sam Simon and how was he involved with the show “The Simpsons”?

BREWSTER:  Well “The Simpsons” was a show that was created by my former manger.  He actually created Bart Simpson.    He helped me and went beyond the call of being a manager.   He is considered to be family.  He was instructing me to fight for the world title.  

Pattee: On 4-10-2004 you fought Wladimir Klitschko at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada and won the vacant WBO heavyweight title by TKO in the 5^th round.  On 7-7-2007 there was a rematch in Germany for the IBF heavyweight title and the IBO heavyweight title.  You lost that fight due to your trainer stopping the fight in the 6^th round.   Can you compare these two fights?

BREWSTER:   Let me tell you about that fight.  Everyone knows I suffered a detached retina.  During that time, I was lying faced down for almost 6 months.    It took me a year and a half to recover fully.   When the word got out I was coming back to boxing because of my recovery, Klitschko’s people approached me to fight and I said no problem and I want to have a tune up fight beforehand because I’ve been out a year and a half.  Well they said no and we’ll pay you extra not to have a tune up fight.  So they paid me more than I’ve ever made, even when I had the title.  In the 6^th round my eye started to swell up and I was very rusty in the fight.   So they were worried and thinking something will happen to my eye. 

Pattee: Your prediction on the Klitschko-Haye fight coming up?

BREWSTER:  I think it’ll be a tricky one to predict because of the fact you can’t count out Haye because he’s proven to be a smart and crafty fighter but at the same time I myself know first hand what it means to be a heavyweight champion and not wanting to give up your title.  Klitschko is fighting for legacy whereas Haye is fighting for glory. You got two different mindsets coming into a fight.   I think the one that has the best strategy and the most determination will win and no one can go in and say so and so will win but as a fan it could go anyway.  Both are proven to have great skill.

Pattee: Out of all your 41 fights, which one was the most difficult?

BREWSTER:  Hmmm… was when I lost my title to Siarhei Liakhovich because I was blind and fought 12 rounds and lost.  I was in so much pain.  I could only breathe through one nostril.  I had a one-piece mouthpiece and I couldn’t open my mouth.  I had previously broken my nostril in camp.  They gave the fight of the decade to someone I know I could have knocked out.   Even if I couldn’t see I could have knocked him out but I couldn’t see.

Pattee: From your professional debut on 11-8-1996 in Las Vegas, Nevada through your 23^rd fight you never lost a bout. Then on 5-6-2000 you fought Clifford Etienne in Pennsylvania and that all came to an end. What happened?

BREWSTER:  I lost my cool because I trained to box him and then when I arrived to fight him I was like this is my first time on HBO, I’m “Relentless” Lamon Brewster and I said he’s been in prison so I’m going to go in there and knock him out.  Well you can only practice what you preach and in boxing camp you are trained to box and then when I got to the ring I let the crowd overwhelm me and I let it get the best of me.  I never came to the ring with game plan.  I was throwing bad punches and I missed.   He practiced to brawl and I came to box.  My football coach had a quote:  “Do it right, do it light. Do it wrong, do it long”.

Pattee: You started fighting at the young age of 7.  Usually a typical 7 year old would be playing with GI Joes.  How did you get into boxing?

BREWSTER:  My mother said I had too much energy because I would tear up all the toys she purchased me.   There was a community center down the street from me but didn’t offer anything for a 7 year old but the coach liked my mother so they allowed me to start training for boxing. 

Pattee:  You have an impressive amateur record of 70-10. Tell me about the 1995 US heavyweight championship as an amateur?

BREWSTER:  It was a great career and run.  I should have went to the Olympics.  I was picked to go but at the same time I went through a divorce and when that happened it was the worse thing that could have happened to me.  I was the team caption. I traveled the world with Floyd Mayweather, Antonio Tarver and David Reed who one the gold medal.

Pattee: Are you currently still do any type of boxing training?  If so where and who is training you?

BREWSTER:  No I haven’t been able to do anything because of the eye surgery. There is so much pressure.  If I stand for a long period of time I get a headache because of the eye surgery.

Pattee: Which boxer did you admire the most while growing up?

BREWSTER:  Marvin Hagler.   He was a man’s man.   I admired the fact that he was a man’s man.  He didn’t care to be glamorous.  He came to fight.  He didn’t have the entourage, fancy cars or the big jewelry.   He was a warrior and came to fight.  Every time he went to the ring he came to fight.   I also admire Julio Chavez because he was a beast and a great fighter and best fighter of all time.

Pattee: Is there anyone you would have liked to fight?

BREWSTER:  I just wished I would have fought Wladimir Klitschko when I was right. He knows and I know he can’t beat me.  I regret I didn’t get to tune up.   I wish I could have had a rematch and a 3^rd fight.   Even in the 2^nd fight he only hit me with a jab and run and no big shots and then I swelled up.  He knows and I know he can’t beat me.

You can follow Lamon Brewster on facebook and sign up on www.FightingConnection. Com.  He hopes that people see him for what he stands for and people see him as being successful.  He wants people to see him as a role model and a role model of faith.  No one gave him a chance and he overcame everything through his faith and determination and he wants to set an example that you can do anything you set your mind to do.

Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me.  I also wanted to say a special thanks to Ike Enwereuzor aka Mr. JacBoxer for making this interview possible.  Should you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please comment below or follow me on facebook under Pattee Mak.



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