Andy Vences on Triller Fight Club signing the day he got fired
Andy Vences takes on Jono Carroll for the vacant WBC international silver super featherweight championship. This is part of a Triller Fight Club card going down on Saturday, June 19th.
Andy Vences discusses signing with Triller less than an hour after losing his job. Also, what aligning himself with this promotion could mean for future world title bids.
Triller Fight Club
You were saying that around like six some odd weeks ago you had lost your job. But that same evening you received the news you were fighting on Triller pay per view.
Can you kind of talk about that whole timeline?
Andy Vences stated, “In professional boxing, the money’s never been good since I started my professional career. So I always held down a full time job throughout my professional career. There’s never been one fight where I haven’t been working a full-time job. And that’s just due to the city I lived in, the area I lived in. It was very expensive in the Bay Area, just to make ends meet. I ended up getting married and continuing my life as my crew went on. I’ve reached an age where I moved on with my life as well. You know I just purchased a new home, moved the family in the new home.”
“We’re settled in the new home and then one day at work, I received a notice from some of my supervisors. They came up to me, kind of handed me a piece of paper and said you know, ‘hey, this is not from us. We’re being told we got to let you go. We’re just the middleman, we’re sending you the message.’ And at that moment I was devastated. You know I just bought this new home, a lot of questions running in my head during that minute. I did tear up, I cried a little bit because I was just wondering like what am I gonna do?”
“What’s gonna happen? Like yeah, I have Boxing but I haven’t had a fight in the past eight months. And I think that was a lot of the frustration too when I got that message. (It) was like, you know I’m not fighting because I hadn’t fought you know. But I was in the gym every day. I’ve been in the gym every day five to six days a week since then. I haven’t had time off.”
“But anyways, long story short, I got that notice and then 20-30 minutes later my manager Peter Kahn sends a message in the group chat that we have with the whole team, saying that we’re fighting. The original date was June 5th. ‘We’re fighting June 5th on Triller’. So I didn’t know to believe it or not. Obviously, I was very happy but I was just like, man, like one door closes another one opens for me.”
“Maybe this is it, maybe this is what I’ve been missing is to be a full-time boxer for once. And actually dedicate 150%. Even though I feel I’ve always had. Maybe it’s just that extra sleep, that extra rest, that extra focus. It’s just weird the way things happen. But yeah going into this fight, it just feels awesome knowing the way this opportunity was created and happened for me.”
Andy Vences
You were talking about some past struggles getting that world title crack, politics of the game being involved. I mean you’re part of an event now where successful purse bids were put out there for not even just one undisputed title fight, but a pair of them.
Is there any level of bolstered confidence you have affiliating yourself with Triller? In as far as facilitating getting that world title crack?
Andy Vences said, “That’s another thing too is I know in the back of my mind winning this fight is, it’s not even about you know everyone says ‘oh how do you feel fighting for the title’? It’s not really the title, it’s not that. I tell people I held a title for three years and that didn’t do anything for me. I’m not really fighting to win a title. Not fighting for the title. I’m fighting to win the fight, the actual fight. Because I know winning this fight, I know what it’s gonna do for my career. That’s what’s important to me is I know the people that I’m fighting on this platform.”
“I know that winning this fight is gonna give me the opportunity to fight for something bigger that I’ve never fought for. And that’s already written, and that’ll be left up to whoever’s behind obviously the whole promotional. But I do feel the purse bids these fighters are getting. The purse that I’m getting, you know, I don’t want to bash anybody but it’s the most I’ve ever gotten. In my whole career with my past promoter. I mean even holding the title, I didn’t even see half of that. So I mean, then you realize why some of these fighters are doing these purse bid fights.”
“Because they just want what’s fair. Some of these fighters want what’s fair you know. We risk our lives on the line. I know we see a lot of boxing fights go to decisions and it seems more like a sport. There’s been a lot of people that died this past year in the sport of boxing, and outside of boxing. So it’s not a game. It’s a sport but this sport of boxing is not a game you know. Sad how many fighters died inside the ring, due to weight cuts, due to too many punches. It’s like ‘man, these are young kids. 23 years old with a future’.”
“You know one of them that stood out to me was the (Maxim) Dadashev fight. Like ‘man, that guy used to fight on my undercards, awesome fighter. Like that was sad, you know left behind his mother and kids’. It’s just the things that as us boxers, I think we start thinking about when we get older and get wiser, smarter. Like we’re not gonna fight for something like this. It has to make sense, that’s what it is. It has to make sense for the fighter at the level you’re at.”
“And I just felt this was; this fight made a lot of sense in every aspect for me. Opportunity wise, purse wise. It’s like, man, why wouldn’t I? Why can’t I? So I am very hopeful and very positive in winning this fight. Being with this, fighting on Triller pay per view, having this exposure. I think it’s definitely going to open that door for me, yes.”
