8CN’s Darren Barcomb caught up with the “Hillyard Hammer” Chauncy Welliver as he prepares for his September 9th clash with local fan favorite Kyotaro Fujimoto in Tokyo. The 29 year old Welliver (53-6-5, 20 KO’s) stated he is ready for the 26 year old Fujimoto (4-0, 3 KO’s), who is a former K-1 kickboxing champion. Welliver also touched base regarding his recent close loss to Sherman Williams in China and his future plans. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Barcomb: So when’s your next fight?
Welliver: September 19 with K-1 legend Kyotaro Fujimoto, in Tokyo
Barcomb: Fujimoto’s quite well known there. Are you pumped to be heading to Tokyo?
Welliver: Super pumped! I'm not going to lose. I know the officials will look for any reason to screw me, so I'll be 200% ready.
Barcomb: It’s tough sometimes going into "hostile" territory against a local guy isn’t it?
Welliver: I fought Solis in Germany, so I hope it's not worse than that.
Barcomb: speaking of controversial scoring. I have to throw in a bit about your last fight with Sherman Williams. You lost a tight one and snapped an 18 fight winning streak. What if anything did you learn from that bout? What went wrong?
Welliver: really don't know. It's been eating at me. I trained better than ever going into it, just felt cold all night. Couldn’t throw any solid punches.
Barcomb: where does that put the Chauncy Welliver train now though? What are your plans for the upcoming next year or so (after Fujimoto, that is)?
Welliver: Taking things one step at a time. I plan to beat Fujimoto and hopefully the Japanese embrace me and bring me back. I'd like to rematch Sherman. 99 times out of a 100, I'll beat him. We got his 1 out of the way so now I gotta get my sweet revenge.
Barcomb: Anything else you want me to add, any shout outs?
Welliver: I just got engaged to Sarah (Jackson Grant). Loving it. A huge shout out to my manager Roland Jankelson. He is my father figure for sure. I need the push he gives me, without him, I would be a sparring partner or begging for quarters in the street.
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