Back in Hollister following a string of three fights this
summer, Kelsey Jeffries and her manager, Bruce Anderson, sat down
with Free Lance sports editor Joshua Staloch for a cup of coffee
and a chat
Joshua Staloch: So Kelsey, you’re less than a week removed from your last fight. How are you feeling?
Kelsey Jeffries: Good, I feel really good. I’m just starting to look forward to what’s next.
JS: What are you planning as far as your next move goes?
Bruce Anderson: We’re looking at a few things, nothing we can really talk a lot about specifically though.
JS: Have you been able to watch the tape of the fight?
KJ: Not yet. But I think that they’re going to put it on Comcast soon.
JS: You’ve had a little time now to think about the fight with (Leona) Brown last week. Could you grade your performance?
KS: Aside from what I’ve heard from other people… I’d probably give myself, out of a scale of 1 to 10, maybe a six or a seven. I wasn’t able to do everything I wanted to do. But one of the things that I was able to do, I like the fact that I didn’t allow her to get dirty with me. That’s one of the main things I wanted to do. She was a little different than how I anticipated so there were things that I thought I would be able to do that I couldn’t.
JS: Like what?
KJ: I wanted to use the jab more when she would come in. She was timing me, trying to counter me when I threw a punch. She’d either run in and hold me or she’d run away and then try to jump on me and grab me.
JS: It seemed like, from the first round on, that Brown was trying to lock you up every chance she got. Why? She took the fight, why did it seem like she was trying to get out of boxing you in the ring?
KJ: From the beginning, I think she tried to get a little dirty, to use her head when she got in close.
JS: She wanted to frustrate you didn’t she?
KJ: Yeah. She was grabbing me, calling me names when she’d get inside and try to get me angry, throw me off my game.
JS: But I noticed, at the end of the fight, that Brown came up to you more than once and seemed to congratulate you and kind of show some respect.
KJ: Yeah, she did and that was cool.
JS: Can you remember any time in a fight where you thought to yourself ‘This isn’t going well,’ or ‘This is not happening the way that I thought it would and now I’m in trouble?’
KJ: I don’t know, maybe early on a few times. But that was definitely before Buddy (McGirt). Since I started working with Buddy, I haven’t had anything like that happen. But there was a fight, before Buddy, where I was going up against a girl who was way too big. We took the fight at the last minute and she was a southpaw. There were a couple of moments there. But, heart-wise, I know I can always pull it out. She was bigger than be but I beat her with my heart. I’ve never really been in a situation where it was like ‘(Oh no) what am I going to do?’
JS: Have you talked to Buddy since Thursday’s fight?
KJ: Yeah. I get on the phone with him and say ‘Hey Buddy!’ and he goes ‘What round?’
BA: We were talking about grades earlier, the McGirt camp gave her a B+.
JS: You usually fight girls that are bigger than you. Brown was only 4’11”. Was that more your style or do you like to get in there with a brawler, somebody who outweighs and out-muscles you?
KJ: I love being the underdog. My whole career, I’ve been fighting big girls, that’s the reason I don’t have a lot of knockouts. So I’ve learned how to be a smart, technical fighter. But I really like to fight the bigger girls, even though my manager doesn’t.
JS: Bruce, you don’t like that?
BA: No. And she’s not going to fight those kinds of fights unless we get an offer we can’t refuse. It’s senseless. My job is to protect her and her career. And to put her into wars just to satisfy a promoter, that’s just not going to happen.
JS: I know you mentioned that we can’t get into this with any detail right now but when can we expect to see a title fight?
BA: Well, we’re looking at a title fight. Either for a new belt, that’s what I’m aiming for, or a defense of her 126-pound belt. She’s defended that belt five times now. But, let me flip the interview around on you for a second. What were you expecting to see in Kelsey’s fight last Thursday?
JS: Honestly, I didn’t really know what to expect. From everything we’ve talked about, I was expecting to see a girl get in the ring and fight like a man.
BA: Right. So, you look at the kinetics of it, her balance, how she moves and handles her body when she’s in the ring. Then, you put on top of that boxing skill and you add intelligence, and you’ve got the total package.
JS: Have you ever seen that in any other female fighter?
BA: No. Actually, I’ve seen it in very few men.
JS: Kelsey, if you could change one thing about the sport as it exists right now, what would it be?
KJ: The ladies need to be given a fair shot, we need to be treated equally.
JS: Last question. Give us a snapshot of what was going through your mind when you came out of that tunnel last Thursday at the Tank and 3000 people went totally nuts.
KJ: Before I started the walk, my music started and I was getting into my thing. And then, all of a sudden, I couldn’t hear my music anymore, the cheers were too loud. And then I got into the ring and noticed that (Brown) wouldn’t look me in the eye and that was it. I was like ‘Okay, now I’ve got her.’
