Interview Dated August 2007 Light Welterweight Lanardo "Pain Server" Tyner b Houston boxing fans will likely hope that Lanardo Tyner is just one example of an exodus of fighters from the upper Midwest and northeaster U.S. to Texas. At 16-0 with nine knockouts, Tyner holds the Mid-American Light Welterweight title. He is scheduled to fight Hugo "The Hurricane" Lewis of Guyana (16-0, 12 KO's) on September 21st in Michigan. He says he also has plans to fight Timothy "Desert Storm" Bradley (21-0, 11 KO's) in November. HBS - How'd you end up down here in Houston? LT - Well I decided to move my family down here so I can get focused because I'm in the second half of my career so it's better to be down here training. No distractions, nice hot weather, good family life here. HBS - You could have picked a lot of places though. How did you pick Houston? LT - Well there's a lot of things. Frank Tate was from Detroit and he's a former world champion and we got the same ties together, Detroit now Houston. So it can't help but be a good marriage. HBS - So what's it like working with Tate? LT - Man, getting that experience that he's got, being a world champion, he's pushed me to limits I've never been pushed before and I'm going to be a much better fighter now I see. HBS - Good hard workout here today in the Houston heat . (This interview was conducted at 5 P.M. on August 14th.) LT - Yes man, yes. From Detroit man, oh my God! It's like a hundred degrees difference for me. I'm getting tired kind of quick but I'm getting used to it. HBS - You just did several good rounds with Cortez Bey. What's he like? LT - Cortez Bey, he's a good fighter, young up and coming fighter. He has speed and power so it was a good experience for both of us. So we might meet down the road some time and hopefully for some good money. HBS - How'd you get started boxing? LT - Well I had eight uncles and all they did was try to get me tough and it paid off for me. That's why I'm supposed to be right here. HBS - You said the second half of your career? Did something happen to make you want to leave Detroit? LT - I got to 16-0 in Detroit and you know the second half, 30 fights, you should be fighting for a title so the second half of my career is because I'm 16-0 and it's time to do the next 16 somewhere else where I can stay focused because this is the serious part fight now. HBS - Some people might say the quality of fighters is better in places like Detroit and back East compared to Houston. What do you say about that? LT - That's true. In Detroit, that Kronk experience man, it's some real tough guys there in Detroit, so I learned from the best. I was sparring champions up there, fighting experienced guys, that's how I got better. So coming down here the heat is one of your opponents that makes it about even with the guys here but there are some good fighters down here. HBS - How long have you been down here? LT - About four months. We just bought a house down here so this is where I'm going to be at. HBS - You're kind of a slugger. Not a lot of messing around in there. It's pretty much you hammering away. LT - Yeah, so that's why Frank Tate's trying to get me to box more. So I'm starting to box a little bit more because I'm normally a slugger. I like to go in and bang a guy out of there but there's more to boxing than that so he's got me boxing now and I kind of feel better but I've just got to get used to boxing. HBS - Tell us about your last fight (against Armando Cordoba (23-33-2) Tyner won by unanimous eight-round decision). LT - This guy, he had fought a lot of people and he was real experienced. But I let him hold me too much so it got to be kind of frustrating. He kept holding me, head-butting me, but that's part of my learning with them experienced guys, how they do that. They'll hold you, heat-butt you, try to frustrate you, and he frustrated me a little bit but I won every round. It still got me frustrated because I wanted to get him out of there so bad. HBS - So what are you working on right now? LT - I'm trying to get acclimated to the weather but I've been inactive a lot. I ain't fought in four months and before that it was another four month layoff. See, I'm a good fighter but I always somehow get hooked up with with a bad promoter or a manager, somebody who ain't got no contact, they ain't known. So that make me down and then guys, I'll be trying to fight them, they pull out with a good record, or they'll try to get me on a two-week notice. HBS - But you feel pretty confident about this upcoming stage of your career. LT - Yeah, I've got to force my way through the door. Nobody's going to let me in and my promoter, I really don't have one, that's how I feel about it so I've got to push my way through the door myself. If that is taking a two-week notice fight then just win.