EXC;USIVE INTERVIEW TRAVIS KAUFFMAN

EXC;USIVE INTERVIEW: TRAVIS KAUFFMAN
By G. Leon

GL: How has everything been in preparation for your January 22 fight with Julius Long? "Everything has been great. I've been sparring with Al Cole and working my father. People can expect to see me fight. It's not going to be boring, it's going to be a fight."

GL: Are you expecting him to go the distance?

Travis Kauffman: "I hope not. I'm not going in there to knock him out, but I hope to. I know he's went the distance in his last six. I'm not going looking for it though, because that's like a baseball player going out there looking for a homerun. It'll never happen. Do I think I can knock him out? Of course. I believe I hit harder than Sam Peter and Peter laid him out."

GL: Is avenging your lone loss to Grano something you plan on accomplishing this year?

TK: "Listen, I'm past Grano. I called him out like seven times after the fight. I said I'd fight him for free because he said he needed more money. I told him I'd give him my purse if there was a problem with money. He never responded and now that offer is out the door. Would I fight him again? In a heatbeat. I would love to have a rematch with him to say that loss was a fluke. I think everybody who saw that fight knows it was a fluke. I ran out of gas in the fourth because I went after him instead of boxing."

GL: That Grano offer you mentioned went out the window because he lost his last fight correct?

TK: "Yeah he got stopped in two by Nikolai Firtha."

GL: How have you improved as a fighter since the loss?

TK: "I've learned to use my jab more and to stay behind my jab. I learned to eat the day of the fight. Tony Grano fight, I had abs for the first time in my life and I didn't want to eat. (laughs) I had four abs and I didn't want to lose them. The only thing I ate that day was two protein bars. My dad kept telling me to eat, but I didn't. I performed for those four rounds and then I died out."

GL: Closing thoughts?

TK: "Boxingtalk keep an eye on me. You guys have been covering me for years. I'm still here and doing my thing. I'm not getting younger, I'm getting older and wiser. I'm growing as a fighter everyday and I plan on being on top one day."

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