Gulfcoastboxing.com had opportunity to sit down with fighter/promoter Ricky “Pit Bull” Folse. Folse has had a number of years experience in both cage fighting and boxing, and now he is making his mark as a local promoter. Folse was generous enough to touch base on quite a few topics, including the difference between boxing and cage fighting, and some of the discrepancies between fighting and promoting.
You have had a successful cage fighting career thus far, now your dabbing into boxing, besides the obvious differences (take down, kicks, etc) what is the main difference between the two?
I believe that in boxing, you can't hold like you would in cage fighting, boxing demands steadier action.
Do you have to train differently for each style?
Yes I do. I have to slack on the weights more in the boxing matches, because I need to rely on speed rather then brute strength and power. As for the cage, your strength and conditioning are used more when you are hitting your opponent, or using take downs, the power and strength of heavy weights will benifit that, but they slow you down in the boxing match. That's why you should do more road work and jumping rope so you can stay light on yours toes, rather than what you would do in a cage match.
As an experienced cage fighter, I'm sure you see things a bit different than most boxers. In your boxing matches have you ever seen an opening for a takedown or some sort of choke hold and had to stop yourself from acting on your insticts?
Many times, in fact a fight I had last year in Mississippi against Jo Jo Akiens. Every time we would lock up, I had the perfect opportunity to body lock and slam him down on the ground, but I knew that would get me into trouble. Many times when he rolled over to dodge my punches I saw the opportunity to grab him behind the head and knee him in the face, of course if I would have done that, it would not have been good for my career. Also, people in the crowd told me that they could see my foot coming off the ground to throw a kick, and I didn't even realize that I did that. Many times I had to stop myself from kneeing a guy in the head. There are also many opportunities that you could throw an elbow at the opponent, to his cheek or to the throat, but in boxing you can't do that. It is not the right thing to do.
In your last fight you had an all out war with Jo Jo Akien, I hear it was a Rocky movie style ending, can you explain?
It was actually an MMA fight with David Benafield, but yes, it was like a Rocky fight.
OK, so what happend with that one?
I was really messed up, he kneed me in the head so many times, and I came back and won the fight, it was Rocky IV. He looked like Dolph Lundgren, and I kind of looked like Rocky.
You are fighting your friend Kenny Stephens in his pro dubut, how do you think that will turn out?
I think Kenny Stephens is as tough as a telephone poll. You can hit as many times as you want and he will not go down. He has the heart of a lion. He is a great guy and a very worthy competitor. He and I did an exhibition a while back, and of course it was an exhibition so we didn't go all out. Now we are doing it for real, it is going to be weird to look at one of my buddies face to face across the ring, especially one as humble as Kenny. He is not a mouth of the south, like people I have fought in the past. It will be a different type of fight, I do not believe it will go the whole four rounds, it will go into the 2nd or 3rd round. He is so tough I do not see myself knocking him out until the later rounds.
Being you have four pro fights under your belt, will that be enough experience to pull you threw this fight.
I think I have a better defense than Kenny, I may hit a little harder, and hopefully my I'm quicker than he is. Now if he does not catch me with a bomb or a clean shot, I think it is going to be my fight. Now no one should look unfavorably on Kenny, being it is his first fight, Kenny is a very tough guy and he is going to keep coming. I am going to have to beat him half to death before he even gets a thought in his mind to quit.
Now you are getting into promoting, what is harder, training for a fight or promoting a fight?
Both of them are pretty easy until you combine them, try to promote for three hours a day and train for four. I do believe that promoting is a way to do it, I built my name up over here, and I have lot of powerful people behind who are willing to support me through the activities I'm willing to put on and the events I decide to put together. I am looking forward promoting from here on, and I want to let all the fighters know that I will do my best to put them number one, besides the fan of course, because without the fighters you can't draw people. After that I want to make some money, but I want to make sure they are treated fairly; not overmatched or underpaid on any Pitbull Productions event.
They are a slew of local guys on the card, out of these, who do you think the local fans want to see the most?
I think everyone's going to want to see Martin Verdin and Zane "The New Bayou Boy" Marks. I believe Martin is a boxer, and I believe Zane is a slugger/boxer. Zane, from what I hear is a very good boxer, but he's got the nose to slug it out also. Martin has a lot of finesse, very skilled, very quick and powerful, he is a true All-American boxer.
There are a lot of up and coming fighters on the card, whom are you most looking forward to seeing?
One local guy we are really looking forward to seeing is Brent Carline, son of Darren Carline out of Houma, a man who fought an exhibition with Butterbean, Darren has trained me off and on for the last six years, he started me out, I have a lot of love and respect for Darren. Darren has been a good figure in my career. He started me out, and I can never repay him for all he's done for me. Brent is one fighter I definitely want to take care of. I'm definitely looking forward for me and Mr. Damien St. Pierre to get Brent some good fights and sponsorships, and letting this young guy have a good career. I expect him to come out the gate quick, he's young, only seventeen, so I'm hoping that more older and experienced fighters will not affect him. If he fights like I've seen him fight against his dad in sparring, he should be favored against this opponent.
Your putting on a show in the Houma area, do you think the Houma are is a hotbed for boxing right now?
Houma is a hotbed for anything to do with any type of fighting, I think that you could put boxing and mix it up with cage fighting every couple months. Houma is a growing community, businesses are popping up everywhere, where once was swamp they've covered it up, I think it's a great for someone like me, or Damien (St.Pierre) or Bradley (Verdin), to grab it by the horns and run with it. It's the perfect opportunity for people like us who know so many people who are from the bayou to promote on the bayou, and get something good going for everyone to benefit from.
Do you plan on doing more shows in the Houma area?
I plan on doing many shows in Houma, Golden Meadow, and probably carrying on into the Slidell area. I've never had a partner that I've got along with as well as Bradley (Verdin). In the past I've always run into problems putting on fights with partners not knowing what they were doing or not willing to listen to someone with a little bit more experience. For example, the partner I had at the extravaganza last year, and the promoter I worked with out of New Orleans when I was putting on weekly fights at The Abyss. Some people are just hard headed and not open to opinions. Bradley Verdin is a very humble guy, very likable guy, he's one of the best I’ve dealt with so far. So is Damien (St.Pierre). I think we're going to have a great year, in 2005, we've got a lot of opportunities for new and up coming fighters.
Anything else you'd care to add?
I just want to say I hope everyone comes out and enjoys the show, enjoys the fights and enjoys themselves. Anyone willing to sponsor any future events, please contact me at Pitbullproductions.net
Gulfcoastboxing.com would like to thank Ricky Folse for taking time out of his busy schedule to speak with us.
