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Brazilian heavyweight prospect
Raphael Zumbano is on the verge
to make big noise in boxing. The
30-years old fighter won the WBF
International title in March and
was named “Fighter of the
Month”. In this exclusive
interview with WBF Media
Director Clive Baum, Zumbano
discusses his title win, his
boxing career and a possibly
fight against WBF heavyweight
champion and boxing legend
Evander Holyfield.
Mr. Zumbano, the last couple
months of your career have been
quite exciting. Winning the WBF
International title and becoming
the WBF’s “Fighter of the
Month”. How do you feel about
your latest accomplishments?
It is a great honor for me to be
the International champion of
the WBF and also an opportunity
to make two big dreams happen:
First, to become the first
Brazilian heavyweight world
champion and second, to have a
chance to fight one of the
greatest fighters of all time in
Evander Holyfield.
You might be at the best age for
a heavyweight right now. What is
your next goal in boxing?
I think from fight to fight. For
me, the next fight is always the
most complicated. But nothing
will top the hardest part in my
career and that was my
professional debut. Leaving the
amateurs to go to the pros is a
very big change. The only thing
that came close to that
difficulty was my fight for the
WBO Latin title because I
stepped into the ring only 15
days after my only brother and
biggest supporter died.
But I fought and won, dedicating
the win to him, although I
really didn’t feel in a position
to fight.
The WBF has ring legend Evander
Holyfield as their world
heavyweight champion. A fight
you might be interested in and a
fight you would come to the
United States for?
Evander Holyfield belongs right
into the Hall of Fame. Since I
was a child, I always watched
his fights. The one that sticks
in my head was his first fight
with Mike Tyson. I was in a
nightclub with friends, when
suddenly the music stopped and a
giant television was turned on
inside the club so that everyone
could watch the fight live. I
always imagined to have the
honor one day to fight a guy
like Tyson or Foreman, but deep
down I knew that would be
impossible because of the age
difference. They, after all,
would retire before I would be
in the position to fight them.
But today, I have the chance,
thanks to the WBF. Fighting
Holyfield would be a childhood
dream and a new milestone my
career and in Brazilian boxing.
To be honest, I’m a big fan of
Evander but when I fight, I will
forget it all and win.
Tell us about your popularity in
Brazil?
Unfortunately, in Brazil, while
boxing is one of the most loved
sports by the people, many of
them like to see you struggle
more than they root for your
success. There are always
crowded gym’s, we do not have
much support from sponsors,
media and especially the
government. And very
importantly, we have no world
champion today. But all this
will change after I win the WBF
world heavyweight title.
How did you get into boxing?
In fact, because I am from a
family linked to boxing, I
subscribed to it from an early
age and trained in the academy
with my grandfather. But I
actually started training for
competition later in 2002 alone,
with 22 years of age, shortly
after the death of my
grandfather.
What do you do besides boxing
and training?
When I’m not training and
coaching others, I love to be
with my son and my nephew and
play with them – but I also
teach them some boxing
(laughs).
Thanks for the interview. |
