End of HONOO Pro: WILD MIKE'S BLOODSPORT

An Interview With Andronicus Turner
By Maxwell McNally

In the fighting sports one can never know where one’s career path may lead. One of the best examples of this can be observed in the life of Andronicus Turner. A star amateur boxer who trained under the great Emmanuel Steward in his developmental days, and looked to carry on the proud Detroit legacy in the sport, Turner’s career hit a series of roadblocks. Once a favorite to contend for a championship, Andronicus Turner now turns to a different arena to pursue his future. I met Mr. Turner at the M1-5 Lounge in New York City, right down the block from the Church Street Boxing Gym, where he has been training for this month.

Maxwell McNally: Thank you for meeting with me, Mr. Turner, how has your time been here in NYC?

Andronicus Turner: It’s been well. Been training with some top guys over at Church Street, worked some wrestling defense with the coaches, the old school style. You know that the real old guys, the bare knucklers trained as much wrestling as boxing?

McNally: I was not aware.

Turner: Yeah, they didn’t break the clinch so easy, so they had to learn how to control it. That’s what I’m having to learn, fighting in HONOO like I’ve been doing.

McNally: Yes, that was exactly what I wanted to speak about. But first, can you give me some background, your personal history in the sport?

Turner: Sure thing. I was born in the middle of Detroit. My dad raised me, mom skipped out right after I was born, didn’t want nothing to do with me, so Dad had to teach me everything. He had a bad leg from a car accident when he was a kid, but he loved boxing. Every Thursday, we watched Ali’s and Tyson’s old fights on VHS, he had them all. Then Friday, we’d watch the fights on TV, and once a month, we’d go see some live action. He told me I needed to be tough to survive, and I needed to be smart to succeed. Told me that’s all I needed in life, don’t be weak, don’t be stupid.

McNally: And I certainly think his message got through.

Turner: You bet it did. We’d play chess, made me do the toughest practical math he could find for me to do. And he enrolled me in two, not one, two boxing gyms! Made me fight my crazy little head off so hard that I couldn’t even dream of running the streets. So one day, Manny Steward saw me training, and told me he could give me some advice. I quit both my gyms and went with his guys from then on. You know how I said I watched Ali and Tyson? I tried to fight just like them both, high hands, peek a boo like Mike, the footwork and fancy stuff of Ali. Manny told me to knock both those out. Made me drop my guard lower, fight at my optimal range instead of dancing around or bull rushing inside. And made me sit down on each punch, combination, make them all count.

McNally: So when Emmanuel died in 2012, you kept on with his crew.

Turner: Yeah, that’s when I went pro, came up, won a few fights on ESPN, got known nationally. Reppin’ Manny, the Kronk guys, Detroit, it all meant a lot. But you know, when you think you have it all put together, you don’t have a clue.

McNally: That’s when you started losing the important fights.

Turner: Yeah, got two title eliminators, lost both of them. No chance at a shot at the gold, at any of the Alphabets. Then I’m not on TV, not on any of the big cards, back to fighting at the club level. Fighting people who weren’t going nowhere. It got worse, I get picked a few years back to go up against a rising prospect, I was just going to be a faded name on his record. I fight him, and flat out blew it. Got stopped against the ropes, even though I wasn’t KOed for real. So instead of keeping that up, I decided it was time to turn things around, do something different.

McNally: And that would be HONOO.

Turner: I don’t think that’s what I was thinking exactly, but I wanted to see if I could get my stuff back if I tried doing my boxing outside of boxing. MMA, Kickboxing, No Holds Barred, as long as I could still punch and move, I was game. So these guys called me up, said they had some legit underground fighting league. I thought “why not?” I mean, it can’t be worse than fading out and retiring as a boxer!

McNally: And so far, you have been undefeated. I’ve seen your fights, you looked remarkably impressive. I see a pure boxer using his skills and athleticism to dominate. We know that is not easy to do against someone who has wrestled or thrown kicks for a career.

Turner: Man, I don’t care about where they came from, what they’re doing. I just want to drag them into my style, make them box. If they wrestle, I jab them as they come in, stuff their shot, hit an overhand. If they kick, I’ll move in and out of range too fast for them, work the angles, beat them up with combinations. There’s no style I can’t deal with, using my boxing.

McNally: Do tell me, what is your aim in HONOO, and what do you have planned going forward?

Turner: I don’t plan on doing this for more than a year. Give me a year, I go undefeated, get some hype going, and I’ll see if I can get back into contention again in boxing. But I told you my dad didn’t raise a fool. I know that fighting this much, against this many different styles, I can lose some. That happens, I roll with it, win the rematches, and show everyone that the Kronk style is the best in any sport, and that Detroit boxers can come back from anything. Maybe that’s more realistic, to look and see if I can win here. And maybe that’s what I need to focus on, to win everything I can in HONOO.

McNally: Well, I will not be the man who bets against you anytime soon. Thank you again for speaking with me, and I hope to see your next fight.

Turner: April 4th, live from the Spike Dome, HONOO #3, I’m clashing fists with Sam Bopp, it’s going to be real, it’s going to be hard hitting, it’s going to be off the hook! Sam, you better be working that neck like Sonny Liston, ‘cause I’m taking my best shot at your chin! Go order this now, call your friends, your family, everyone on the block, we’re going live at www.twitch.tv/fpbdwtv and nobody’s gonna want to miss it!