Interview with Erick 'The Eagle' Ochieng

Meet Erick 'The Eagle' Ochieng, a light-middleweight prospect trained by Brian Lawrence.

How’s training been going?

First of all I want to thank God for my career. (Very underrated trainer - Ed.) I also want to thank my supporters, they’re awesome I get such great support I’m focused and coming on strong with my technique, you know I’m really happy with the progress and the coaching. Brian Lawrence, my coach-manager, does great work, great support. I’ve had seven fights now, six wins, one loss and I’m looking for the Southern Area title, which will be my next fight. So things are looking bright, as I say I am already world champion as the world is about to find out soon.

Your first couple of fights were unusually tough for a prospect. How do you feel having such tough fights against quality opponents so early on in your career has benefited you?

My first fight I had Matt Scriven, for my second fight I had Prince David, that was his debut fight. When you go in against them kind of guys they’re coming to win. It was good to have this fight, fights like this make you stronger. I knew that I had greatness in front of me, fighting those kind of guys showed me what kind of fighter I am. It shows what category of fighter you are fighting people like Prince David. I then fought Curtis Valentine, who was also unbeaten, so you can say I have been tested and not protected. Which is good, too many fighters are protected until the reach ten or sometimes even twenty fights before they get a proper challenger in their career. So for me it’s good, because I know having these kind of fights just make me stronger. You know I get stronger every time. The better my opponent perform, the better I perform. The higher I go the brighter I shine.

At York Hall you stopped the highly durable Alex Spitko - could you give us your view on the fight?

Alex Spitko, he’s known as a hard man, hard chin, he doesn’t crack and give in. He’s a tough fighter and I just stayed with him and just boxed him. Looked good, I was in great shape, I had great fun there and I just picked him off with my jab. He was like walking into my jab and then I just boxed him. On the last round I knocked him out. He walked into my right hand, ‘cos I couldn’t hit him with my jab, after you hit with the jab you couldn’t hit him with any other punches. He’s a good fighter. I’m happy I’m getting this kind of fight in my early stages.

Your fight against British Masters champion Lee Noble didn't have much action - why was this?

I was quite relaxed on the fight because I knew what kind of fighter he is. He came out covered up and was waiting for me to run out of gas and get tired. But I knew what kind of fighter he is so I just used my jab. I listened to my corner and just worked my jab, I was setting him up with my jab so that if he opened up I could have caught him. Ever since I see what he did with Pat (TKO Gym mate Pat McAleese), I respect him as a good fighter, he’s strong. He’s not a bum, he’s been down that road plenty of times. He’s had twenty five fights, he knows his stuff. He’s quite strong and was heavier than me. I knew I had to be smart, use my jab. I feel I could have done a bit more because I knew what type of fighter he is. I made sure I had a lot more in reserve. After the six rounds I feel quite good, I could have done more rounds. But it’s all good I was happy to do the six rounder, now I’ve a six rounder under my belt.

Your last fight against Luke Robinson - the referee Ken Curtis gave the decision against you. What are your thoughts on the fight?

I’m disappointed to have lost, It was supposed to be a six rounder, but it was reduced to a four rounder. My plan for a six rounder was to break him down and then knock him out. I stuck with the plan even though it was now a four rounder. I rocked him a couple of times but didn’t have enough time to take him out. I thought I had done enough but the referee said I lost by just one point. That’s boxing, I’m disappointed to have a loss on my record but have put that behind me and focusing on the next fight.

You’ve got the Southern Area title fight coming up soon, and you just touched on your aim to fight for the British by the end of the year. I assume these are the first titles you aim to fight for?

We’re looking to the Southern Area soon and then our eyes are on the British. We’ve got time to wait as I am young, strong and smart. But I’m ready to rise and do the business, we don’t want to have padded fights and then wait before challenging for the British title, that doesn’t make sense, that’s a lot of time being wasted. I have the potential so why not go for the title when I can do it. I’ve got what it takes, I’ve got the goods and I believe I can go for it soon. My plan is by my fifteenth fight I’d want to challenge for the European, I could then challenge for a world title when I’ve had around twenty fights. So we’re looking for on my tenth fight the British, God willing, and then a couple more fights under my belt and a bit more experience then the European and then the world title. We’re aiming high, but I can’t say enough about Brian Lawrence, he’s an expert coach and he’s been at that level. When he looks at me as a fighter, he looks at me as a world champion, that’s why he wants me to perform at a higher level. That’s why he push me to perform higher. He has the experience, as you know he’s worked with Don King and others, so you can’t go wrong. And I’ve got Christ on my side.

You’ve been with Brian from the start, what made you choose him?

As I have said Brian is a very good coach, experienced and he knows what he’s doing. He knows how to watch fighters and can see things before it happens. Some coaches, to be honest, don’t know what they are doing. They might get you fit but they don’t know when to let you rest and the like. Brian is an awesome coach. He’s got Ian Napa on the team. I learn a lot from Ian, his style, his defence. He’s a great fighter and has been European champion, he’s been there and knows what it takes. It’s good because he’s also got Ben Murphy, he’s strong and you learn sparring him, it’s a different style. I’ve even sparred Damian, we did a two or three rounds. The TKO is an awesome gym, always buzzing, fighters of all weights and experience. Great sparring anytime, you can’t ask for more than that. Awesome.

You touched on that you get great sparring, who have you sparred recently?

I’ve sparred here with lots of the guys here. I sparred Sam (British Light Middleweight Champion Sam Webb) when he was preparing for Martin Concepcion, Ben (Murphy) obviously. I sparred Kevin Mitchell here when he was preparing for the Michael Katsides fight. Sparred lots of the guys here I’ve sparred Darren Barker and Lee Purdy, not here though. I sparred with Sugar Jackson in Belgium. I went there and really had to dig deep you know. I went there for a week and then they bought in another guy for the second week, but he got tired so they sent him home and called me and said could you come back for another week. So I went back for the second week. Which was awesome, because he’s a strong fighter and keep coming forward. I’m strong myself, however that taught me to be able to box on the back foot, use my jab and make him miss. It went great, it’s that kind of sparring that make me a great fighter.