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Paul Reed “I won’t fight Adams now"
10 Feb 2010
By Dave Lethaby
2009 was a topsy turvy affair for UK featherweight veteran Paul Reed. Finishing the year with three wins and two losses the Bristol based fighters exploits even took him abroad to Canada to take on the highly rated Thierry Quennville. Despite dropping a unanimous decision to Quennville the fight was perhaps Reed’s highlight of 2009: “Canada was amazing. The way you were treated was great, fighters had brain scans and blood tests it was very professional. The people are great and the crowd was polite, mma is really big out there”. As far as the bout in Canada despite Reed’s extensive experience he admits he was perhaps not in the right frame of mind pre fight: “I wasn’t confident, I went in there with a game plan to box. To be honest he wasn’t as good as id thought he’d be on the ground. I feel like I could have done more and I’d love to go back”.
Moving into 2010 Reed was due to take on unbeaten Featherweight prospect Mark Adams for the BAMMA promotion’s Featherweight title scheduled for 12th of February. A virus would see Adam’s forced to pull out however leaving a deflated Reed without an opponent for his first outing of the year: “I was gutted, it’s always a danger. It’s not the first time it’s happened to me”. Seeking a replacement for Adam’s BAMMA turned to German Featherweight Alan Omer. With a solid 13-2 record Reed has nearly crossed paths with the German in the past as he explains: “I was glad I got someone, I’ve been offered a fight with him a few times. It nearly happened in gods of war and I had it in the pipeline to fight him in April anyway”. Omer is predominately a grappler and Reed insists the late change of opponent doesn’t change his game plan: “I thought Mark would try to take me down anyway. One advantage is this guy isn’t going to be so big”. Reed is particularly relieved to find a replacement at short notice as the title fight will be fought over five rounds rather than the standard three. “I’ve been training for 5 rounds and I’ve never had a fight that long. The training has been hard with two extra rounds on everything. I think the pace might be a bit slower early on, he might be worried about coming a cropper late on”.
At 39 years of age Reed is perhaps nearing the end of his career, as a result 2010 will see a change in approach when it comes to taking fights. The last time Paul saw action was against Peter Wilson back in December where he won a unanimous decision, the circumstances around the fight were far from ideal however: “I trained 3 days for that fight after coming back from an injury. To fight when you are not fit is just horrible. It just comes down to mental toughness”. Taking a domestic fight on such short notice will become a thing of the past for Reed who is seeking the biggest fights possible in the twilight of his career.”I don’t want to be fighting that much longer. I’m 39; I’ve been around the UK circuit. I don’t want to fight anybody from the UK that isn’t ahead of me. I won’t fight Mark Adam’s now, I don’t see the point. The only reason I wanted the fight is for the belt. With BAMMA on TV its great exposure and if you don’t take that you’re an idiot. But there is no point in me fighting people ranked lower than me on UK shows”.
Despite his age Reed cites time spent training as the issue for not wishing to fight much longer rather than any conditioning factors: “I feel young and fresh but time from my family gets on my nerves. Dieting is a pain in the arse too. I’m too big for feather really but too small for lightweight. I’m walking around at 78kg in decent shape so cutting is a pain in the arse. It’s the time spent away from my family that really gets to me though. Working fulltime and training, the time away is a joke”.
Reed’s aforementioned training regime has been stepped up for his first 5 round outing. The Bristol native has also spiced up his program seeking out new training partners: “I’ve been training twice a day every day. We’ve got a good little team at Olympians; I’ve trained with Wes (Murch) for quite a while. He is a totally different fighter now, his wrestling is ridiculous. Leigh (Remedios) comes over with Andy from VT, I’ve also done some training over at Power sports in Bristol. I’ve been working with a lot of great boxers in Bristol, I’m gonna beat Omer it’s going to be a painful night for him. I’d love to finish him early”.
Renowned as a crowd pleaser with a no nonsense fighting style Reed has also gained notoriety for his internet outbursts on the UK’s popular Cagewarriors forum. The Featherweight contender is quick to dismiss any suggestion that he lacks respect for his opponents however: “The banter on the net’s just to take the piss. I find it amusing and it gets people more interested in the fight. They (opponents) are going through the same shit you are, I’ve got loads of respect for all the other guys”.
As mentioned previously Reed is seeking as many high profile bouts as possible this year with fighting abroad being his main prerogative. Two weeks after the BAMMA event he is due to fight abroad with fellow Bristol fighters Nathan Champ and Gregg Knapp also appearing on the European card: “I’ve had about 7 different opponents for that show but I’m not thinking about it. I’ll fight Omer and hopefully not get injured, its good money in Europe”. With the UK scene losing some of its biggest shows in recent times Reed is under no illusions about the current domestic scene: “It's all about the UFC. The sport is big now but the UFC is all some people are interested in. People criticize Cage Rage but back when I fought Pickett (Brad) in Birmingham NEC it was amazing to be a part of. I’m not sure what the promotion was really built on but there just doesn’t seem to be the money in the UK”.
Back onto his domestic clash Reed has enjoyed all the extras that go with fighting on a televised show with BAMMA’s promotional video shoots for Bravo adding an extra dimension to his fight: “The filming has been a really good experience. They had me shadowboxing in the centre of Bristol, I felt a right donut. After Mark pulled out I had to redo some sections to. It’s great but I just want to win the title”.
With Paul Reed approaching the end of his career its clear he is seeking the hardest challenges possible rather than some sort of winding down process. Few would begrudge the all action Feather some big fights and recognition having entertained and paid his dues domestically for some time. In closing Paul would like to thank the following, Caged Steel, Frontline Fighter, Full Tilt Poker, VT mma, Pedro Bessa BJJ, Olympians mma, Sweat Box, Sean Viera’s Power Sports and all his training partners. Paul takes on Alan Omer this Saturday (13th February) on BAMMA 2 in London the event is listed as sold out.
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