Big House Boxing

On July 19, “Big” Ben Rothwell will take his biggest step up in competition when he faces former UFC champion Andrei “the Pitbull” Arlovski on the first Affliction Banned card. Affliction Banned will feature at least 5 of the top ten heavyweights in the world with another legend sitting in attendance waiting for his chance to mix it up with the all-star studded cast. In this interview, a charismatic Rothwell talks about his preparations for Andrei, the keys to victory for his fellow bad-ass training partner Tim Sylvia against Fedor Emelianenko, and his thoughts on Kimbo Slice. All this and much more in this Big House Boxing exclusive.

by Jonathan Brown

JB: How’s training going for the Andrei Arlovski fight?

BR: It’s going good…I have had a long lay-off since the IFL, so I have been trying to utilize my gym more. The personal trainer John Shaorian has been at the gym for years, but I really haven’t gotten utilize him as much as I’ve wanted to until now. I’ve been getting in two-a-days…I’m doing more than just working on my fighting skills—I am also working on my strength. Some guys get that mentality that “I don’t got a fight so I don’t need to train.” The quicker you figure this out the further you’re going to go: you’re a fighter; you’re going to fight, so just train now. It helps that my manger, Monte Cox, always has his crystal ball to see into the future, so I kind of had the heads-up that this fight was coming.

JB: Coming into this fight, you and Andrei are in similar situations. You’re coming off a long lay-off since your contract with the IFL ended, and Andrei has fought once in the last… (cut off)

BR: Similar situations, and similar mind sets. I ran into him when we did a photo shoot for Affliction a couple months back, and he wasn’t even aware we were going to fight…He really didn’t want to talk about anything. I was thinking he didn’t want to talk to me because me and Tim Sylvia train together. Their grudge goes beyond their fights, but that’s between them. But we got to talk and clear things up and I let Andrei know that I have a lot of respect for him and, that I’m always excited to see him fight. He’s a great fighter, and has a lot of fans for that reason, and he definitely is a top tier heavyweight. I just want to let him know I’m honored, but at the same time I got a job to do. I’m always a guy that has respect for my competitors.

JB: You’re coming from an organization where you were a big fish in a small pond. Now you’re fighting for Affliction who has the best crop of heavyweights in the world. Are you excited?

BR: Yeah I am. Now I’m in the biggest pond…There’s only a handful of us, but we’re the biggest, baddest sharks there are. We’re all in the same water fighting for the same food, so I’m really excited about it.

JB: After Andrei’s K.O. loss to Tim Sylvia in their second fight, Andrei seems like a more passive fighter. Is that something you will be able to exploit in this fight?

BR: I answered this pretty good in a different interview…Andrei got a lot of negative feed back from his fight with Werdum, and some of his other fights. I have studied all these fights. It isn’t that he’s scared. He got knocked out before Tim fought him. He knew what it was like, and what his body could take. He just realized that these knock outs happened only because of mistakes. He has become a smarter fighter. He’s actually more dangerous now, I believe, than he was before that happened. A lot of people are like, “he’s easier now just go after him.” Yeah right, you go rush into that, have fun. If you watched his fight with Buentello and Eilers, he knew that they were not going to take him down, and even if they did, they didn’t have anything for him anyways. He just got to rip loose on those guys. Against certain fighters like Tim—in their third fight he, realized he couldn’t make a mistake. I see an improved Andrei. People say Andrei has gone backwards—I know better. When you’re at his level, you start to understand things. Against a guy like me, Andrei is going to show more of what he had before. Besides that, he’s going to replace my head with Tim Sylvia’s head, so my job just keeps getting better and better. I don’t mind, though I want him to bring his best. I don’t want people to say this or that happened or the ref got involved.

JB: You mean like the Kimbo fight?

BR: Yeah that was a bunch of garbage. I want people to watch the Affliction card and know they’re watching the best heavyweights, light-heavyweights, Matt Lindland, etc. Pretty much everybody on our under card would beat Kimbo Slice. Just so the whole world knows, lets get your heads straight.

JB: (Laughs) So, you weren’t impressed with Kimbo in the James Thompson fight?

BR: Of course not. All the hype and the bull crap. And there it goes—he has been exploited. Hello everybody…Tim especially gets mad about it. He is a heavyweight who has really fought his ass off to get where he’s at. I try to focus on the positive things, though, instead of being upset about the wrong guy being hyped I’m happy that our sport is getting hype, and it was on international television. All these radio stations that ignored our sport before are now talking about it. I think Robbie and Scott Smith had a great fight that salvaged a lot. The early stoppage sucked, but me and Tim talked about this, and Scott Smith has been fighting long enough where he should of known. If you want to keep fighting you tell the doctor, “No matter what, I’m fine.” You say, “Just give me a minute, I’m fine.” At first I was really pissed at the doctor, but then Scott got on the mic and was like “I told the doctor I couldn’t see, but to just give me 5 minutes”. I’m not trying to rip into Scott Smith. It doesn’t make since to me, because he was coming back. I love Robbie. Robbie’s a bad motherfucker, and for Scott to put up the fight he did was really impressive. He got on the mic afterwards and said he was going to get knocked out. I was like, “Dude, why are you stepping on yourself like that.”

JB: Has Tim Sylvia given you any helpful advice for your fight with Andrei?

BR: Yeah, you got to remember when Tim was training for Arlovski I had to imitate Andrei’s style. I helped Tim get ready for his last two fights with Andrei, so I like to think I know his style pretty well. The difference is, I’m not Tim. Tim can do things I can’t do, so even though I know his style, doesn’t mean I can do what Tim did to Andrei. I have to work on my own game, and my own thing, but at least I understand what I’m up against.

JB: How’s Affliction been treating you, and how is it working with Randy Couture?

BR: Affliction is awesome! I love working with them. As far as Randy goes, the last time I ran into him was at the IFL Grand Prix that I went to in Chicago and I acted like a fan. I was like, “Hi, sir.” I give the guy a lot of respect because he is the whole package. Not only with his fights. He has taken his career outside of fighting. He’s a movie star. He’s 40 something years old. Most people are retired at that age. It’s just all respect.

JB: How many fights did you sign with Affliction?

BR: Three with Affliction and three fights with Adrenaline. They’re both non-exclusive

JB: Tim is in the main event against Fedor Emeliaenko. In the past he has come off cocky when he has faced smaller heavyweights. Randy Couture most notably. Has his attitude changed coming into this fight?

BR: I don’t know what Tim does in interviews. I know the Tim in training didn’t disrespect Randy’s size or ability. He doesn’t disrespect Fedor’s size or ability either…I think he tries to play mind games before fights and it back-fires on him. I train with him. He doesn’t honestly think “that guy can’t do anything to me, because I’m bigger.” He knows better.

JB: What are Tim’s keys to victory to beat Fedor?

BR: It’s his size, his ability, his heart, and all the stuff he has already gone through. Fedor hasn’t fought a guy like Tim before. He has fought big heavyweights, but come on, there was either a big part of their game that was non-existent, or they had a huge weakness. Tim is very well-rounded. He’s not a jujitsu black belt, but he knows how to defend himself very well. You saw it against Jeff Monson. If Tim fought a big heavyweight that was oblivious to the ground you would probably see him go for a takedown. I have seen him do it. Like Sammy Schilt…Tim would just take him down and submit him. I have no doubt in my mind. To win this fight I think Tim will have to cripple him on his feet. He will be in the greatest danger in the scramble, and Fedor closes the distance a lot faster than Jeff Monson does—and with hard strikes.

JB: Who do you like in the re-match between Pedro Rizzo and Josh Barnett?

BR: I like both of them. Who do I like in the fight? You got to look at how Barnett fought the first time. Barnett is very well versed. He has hard takedowns. Rizzo has got a good takedown defense, but Barnett has got even better at those takedowns and his wrestling. If it hits the ground, he’s really going to put it on Pedro. Pedro really has to be on his game to get back to his feet, and really has to open up his stand-up. I think we’re going to see a great fight. That’s what I’m betting on.

JB: What did you think of the Faber v. Pulver fight, and how is Jens doing?

BR: After the fight Jens got a lot of calls and hits on the internet from people saying that he made them a fan. I wish Jens could have won. I think he could have, but it’s always easier to stand on the outside and criticize what’s going on in the ring. I haven’t seen anyone stop Urijah on the ground the way Jens did. I just think he needed to do more of that instead. Jens did a stand-up fight, and that’s where Jens was losing the fight. I just wanted to see Jens do more. I wanted to see him throw his hands more. The guy trained really hard. The thing is, he had no answer for Urijah’s straight right. I don’t think Jens expected that. Unfortunately when you’re learning in the ring—that’s a hell of a place to try to learn.

JB: Yeah they’re very few fighters that can just throw their original game plans out the window and adapt in a split second like that.

That’s what makes a guy like Fedor so great. He’s always thinking in the ring, and he knows how to make those adjustments. There are other guys that have the same skill as Fedor, but they don’t know how to fight like Fedor. Fedor won’t just get stuck on one game-plan. He will make a new game-plan up while he’s in the ring. You can’t mess with that. The only way to beat that is to be that way too.

JB: Do you think, as the sport grows, the fans will improve? On the one hand you got the keyboard warriors that find a way to hate on everyone and everything. Then you got the casual fans, who fuel the economic side of the sport, that attend the shows, drink like 25 beers, and boo if they don’t see blood in the first minute of the round. These are the two major fan bases in this sport, and in my opinion, they both suck.

BR: (Laughs) I agree with you, but I think there’s a positive group too. There are people like you and me (cutting in)

JB: Yeah but I think we’re a minority.

BR: Donald Trump always says this: “Good or bad, get them talking.” Both the negative and positive people are going to buy the pay-per-views. The casual fans that are booing at everything—what-the-fuck-ever. Let them boo, because they’re always the loudest when they see a knockout. They’re like, “Bhaaaaaah! I want to see some shit go up in the air!” A lot of these people aren’t going to like the technical side of the sport. But then you got guys like Clay Guida who can make ground and pound exciting.

JB: That’s all I got for you Ben. Thanks for the interview and good luck in your fight.

BR: No problem man.

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