Interview Dated April 2007 Light Welterweight Chad "Bad Intentions" Brisson Chad Brisson is a tough Canadian from the city of Winnipeg in the province of Manitoba. He has pounded out a professional record of 21-2 with 12 knockouts. Brisson recently traveled to Houston to spar with WBA Lightweight Champion Juan Diaz. HBS - How'd you end up down here at the Savannah Boxing Club? CB - I guess kind of like a pinball bouncing around through a game. I started off in Canada, ended up in Philadelphia, wound up in Scottsdale, now I'm here in Houston. I guess it just happened through I got out of my contract with Peltz Promotions up in Pennsylvania, some people saw some opportunities and Juan needed a sparring partner who could offer him a wide range of abilities and that's why I'm down here. HBS - You just had a pretty good sparring session with him. Give us your assessment of that. CB - He's a phenomenal athlete. He's in great condition. His focus is extremely well. He's got a great defense and he continues to come after you. Now, we're able to go pretty good in there, we trade pretty good, and we box pretty nice as well so he's getting a whole array of tactics and skills that he's going to need for the fight (against Acelino Freitas). In any case whatever happens, if Freitas tries to box, he's boxing with me. If Freitas tries to brawl, push him back, I'm brawling and pushing him back. I'm giving him whatever he needs. That's why I'm here, they're paying me, and I'm doing the best I can. HBS - Give us a brief rundown of your career. CB - Well I started off in Canada, turned pro in 1999 with Adrian Tieudorescu. Had a few fights. Wound up fighting Anthony Washington in Philadelphia, (May 2000, Brisson lost a six-round unanimous decision). Got a hometown decision there for his boy. Ended up back going home to Winnipeg, had a few more fights, fought Billy Irwin, had 12 fights, another step up but another hometown decision. (Irwin won a very close majority ten-round decision over Brisson in April of 2002. Brisson had a point deducted for hitting behind the head in the fourth round. Juan Diaz socred a 9th round TKO over Irwin in Houston in January of 2005.) A few years later fought again in Toronto against the Argentinian champion (Sergio "El Tigre" Gonzalez, in April of 2004.) It was a TKO win 9th round, after I took a vicious beating for a few rounds and come back to stop him. Signed a contract with Russell Peltz, fought a few ESPN dates, Chucky T (Charles Tschorniawsky, Brisson won by 4th round TKO), Russell Stoner Jones. We ended the contract prematurely for reasons I cannot disclose but now I'm down here and looking for new opportunities and my people are talking with people and we're going to see where things go. HBS - Tell us about your last fight. CB - My last fight was probably the toughest one of my career. Not in the sense of within the fight, but in surrounding situations around it. I took the fight on five weeks notice. I was living in Winnipeg at the time. I flew out to Philadelphia. Two days into my training camp, my girlfriend of seven years passed away. I thought about going back home and I knew how much boxing meant to her. I stayed. Nine days before the fight I was cut in sparring. Couldn't spar the last week. Went in there and took Russell Stoner Jones apart. Had him almost out in the second round but due to conditioning, it was a ten-round fight, so at about the seventh or eighth round I knew I had the fight won. I knew he wasn't coming after me and I kind of just played it out and took the win and went home with half a paycheck. HBS - What's next for you? CB - I'm flying up to Montreal to fight on the Davey Hilton undercard. I'm either the main event or the semi-main event. He's fighting a six-round fight. I'm a ten-rounder so you can look at that however you want. Then after that I'm moving to Scottsdale, Arizona and I'm making a home there and it's just wide open from there. HBS - What is it that keeps you in the sport after all these years? What do you enjoy about it? CB - I enjoy the fighting. I enjoy the strategic mental focusing. To be in there and to trade and to still maintain that mental control and not lose focus. Keep your hands up, like me and Juan in there, we're getting in there. We step in there and we trade combinations. That feeling right there, that clash of civilizations, that clash of fighters, that clash of styles, it inspires something in me. It gives me something, a euphoria feeling that I'm addicted to actually and hopefully one day when my career's done I can find other ways to fill that addiction through coaching, promoting, whatever.