Bursak: “I offered $1000 for the one who knocks me down”

In just over a week Ukrainian Max Bursak (31-3-1, 14 КО) will share a ring with undefeated Australian and world rated super middleweight Zac Dunn (17-0, 15 КО) for the IBO super middleweight title at the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton, Australia.

- Max, what can you say about your opponent?
- He’s a strong guy. I have studied him very well. He’s physically strong, young and hungry. The audience will urge him to come forward and I should not forget about it. His weakness is that he had no worthy opposition before; he is untested yet. So we will check him. I think his stamina is not very good either, because he ended almost all his fights in a couple of first rounds. We will try to expose it in the fight.

- Don’t you afraid of his early advantage in the fight?
- Physically I'll be ready for his onslaught. My conditioning went very well, I’ll be ready for 12 rounds at a high pace. If he runs at me from the first round it will not play him good, he’ll run out of steam much faster than I.

- So, your main strategy is to wait, and then...
- We’ll see. I’ll watch him for a couple of rounds and then decide what to do. As far as I know from his interviews, he wants to come forward. I’ll decide what to do based on his tactics in the ring. Maybe he will run away from me, and I should have to come forward. Maybe I should run instead and have to counterpunch.

- In all Dann’s previous fights, judging by videos, he comes forward at his opponents from the very beginning...
- Yes, but he's not stupid, he knows who’s the opponent before him. He knows who’s dangerous who’s not. One can make a record 100-0 with such an opposition and as his and says that he is a puncher. We’ll see it on June 27th. I am ready for the fight, I am going to win, and I am sure that I will bring home this belt. At least, I will do everything possible and even more.

- A few days ago you said that you had a preliminary agreement that the winner of your meeting with Dunn will fight Abraham vs Stieglitz winner...
- I don’t want to look behind someone’s back, but it's true – the winner of our fight with Dann could face the winner of Abraham vs Stieglitz fight. And it could be made in November.

- Unifying WBO and IBO?
- It could be held in Monaco, by the way.

- Have you ever boxed in Australia as an amateur? Did you changed anything in your training before this fight?
- I have never fought in Australia and I have never been there. But we have taken into account the climatic conditions and time zone change. I trained very early. I rose at 5 am. I think everything will be fine. We are flying off early. We’ll have time to train and hit the mitts a little bit. I think I will be in a good condition.

- How many days before the fight do you leave?
- 7 or 8 days.

- Do you think it will be enough?
- I hope so. Too much is not always good.

- Before this title fight you fought just twice in super middleweight, and now you’ve got championship fight. How comfortable do you already feel yourself in the division?
- I compete in 75 kilos as an amateur, I spent almost my entire career as a super middleweight. As a pro I just was losing too much weight. I feel great now because I can drink properly, eat well, receive all the vitamins... I think I will look better in the ring.

- How much did you have to loose for this fight?
- 8-10 kilograms. I lost the weight smoothly, everything is fine. I did not suffer, drank water, ate all I want and lost weight gradually while sparring and active training. I also excluded some things from my diet. I’ve been training 2-3 times a day, and the weight went off bit by bit.

- What’s your weight right now?
- Around 77 kilos. If I have a meal today I will be 78. 76-78 kg is good. I was 86. We wanted to come to Australia on weight, since the last week I will have not too much training. I will have to gain strength. We’ll be doing light exercises, jogging. We wanted to make weight in Ukraine, so that in Australia I could eat more or less and do not restrict myself from water, which is important.

- For this fight you have trained with a new coach Yuri Tsybenko...
- He is not a new coach. He was in my team for a long time.

- The new head coach.
- Yes. Now he is the head coach. He is completely responsible for the training process. He coordinated my training regime. We’ll find out was in good or bad after the fight. So far everything is fine. He does all the road work with me, we train together. So far everything is ok.

- Did you do some additional training to gain some power?
- I did CrossFit program. It was the first time I've been doing these exercises. Now I feel very, very good, and I will use CrossFit and circular training exercises in future. We also had physical training coach, who suggested new exercises. I am prepared very well physically.

- Who were your main sparring partners, how many rounds have you passed?
- There were a lot of sparring partners. I’ve gone 12-round, 10-round sparing sessions. We had amateurs and professionals. They all spent 2-3 rounds and then switched. I was sparring without a break with them in a row.

- Is it true that you offered $1000 to a sparring partner who could knock you down?
- Yes. In order to make them work more actively, yesterday we made such a proposal: who knocks me down, will get $1000.

- And?
- $1000 still with me. It did not work, but they tried really hard. You see, I’ve even got a little bruise under my eye.

- You’ve got it during yesterday's sparring?
- Yes. I took off my headgear, it was hot, head was sweating. I asked the coach, he took off my headgear. I was not supposed to do that, and that’s why I’ve received this bruise. Tomorrow, for sure, I will be sparring in my headgear. But my mood is great. I am in a good condition. It remains 2 or 3 days... And that’s all.

- Tomorrow you will have the final sparring?
- Yes. We will be working on speed and I’ll be ready for the battle.

- Your opponent is taller than you?
- Yes. He's a little taller. But it is not the height what important but skills. I had opponents much higher than Dann, for example Prince Aaron, who is almost 2 meters high. It didn’t bother me. And in amateur I had guys much taller than me. I think it's not a problem. The main thing is your tactics and physical and moral condition.

- Will you continue your further career in this weight category?
- I am here now. So far I feel fine. I will not go down for sure. Only If I receive some really good proposal. Really good. Then I can go down to 72.5 kg. Now I will be in 76.2. I plan to stay here. I feel fine. It’s my weight. I have no problems here. Before Murray fight I really struggle to make 72 kg. I came out in the ring, and thought about the state of my health, not about the enemy. And still I was overweight before the fight. So after that bout we decided to move higher. We should have done it long before.

- You should gain weight in progress probably...
- Of course, I gain. The most important is that I am well prepared morally now.

- Progress will be as this: IBO, WBO, WBC, WBA...
- By the way, in 76 kilos, all champions are Europeans now. Therefore, if I win, it will be easy to organize a unification fight. DeGale is from Great Britain, Stieglitz and Abraham will fight for WBO, and I will fight Dunn for IBO. And there’s Chudinov from Russia.

- And there’s Badou Jack from Sweden, who fights in the States...
- So I think that unification fight will be much easier to organize in super middleweight than for example with Ward, although I had an offer to fight him too. But now he will fight Smith and I decided to meet Dunn.

- Why?
- The fight with Ward was a non-title fight, 8 or 10 rounds. What was the reason for it? In Australia I can win the title, and then to fight Ward for the title with much better financial conditions on a larger stage, in Madison Square Garden for example. It’s better than fight him in a 8-rounder. Moreover it’s difficult to beat Ward. He can win on points running back easily. So we decided to fight in Australia. I think that’s right. We’ll get Ward but later. Let him first fight Smith after two years of lay out. We’ll see if he’s still got it. He and Golovkin often attack each other verbally. Let's see how they play it out.

- What Ukrainian fighter would you like to meet? Whom do you like?
- Ukrainian? I like Klitschko brothers for their commitment. And I’d like to fight anyone who’s got champion’s belt. My goal is a championship fight. Will it be Ukrainian, Russian, American, Mexican, it doesn’t matter. I would like to fight Chudinov, Stieglitz, Abraham, Dunn - that's my goal. The name doesn’t matter for me. Of course, if it’s Mayweather, than yes, who cares for the title? We will chase for that fight...

- Did you easily agreed to fight in Australia?
- I like to fight on the foreign territory. You can win here in Ukraine, and stay undefeated, beating out some leftovers. And you can go to someone else's territory, and beat a good prospect. You will rise in the rankings immediately and you’ll get the title. It’s much nicer to win titles on foreign soil, believe me, I have experienced it. I asked my manager Alex Krasyuk: Alex, let’s fight on the foreign soil. I had two fights: in Kyiv Sports Palace and Brovary. We warmed up, and now it is necessary to have some more serious challenges. The champion should box everywhere, not just at home. In Australia, the US, in Europe and in Ukraine. I do not want to stay home all the time.

- Did you set any special conditions for the organizers?
- We asked them to come to Australia not later than 5 days before the fight. And we asked for neutral judging. So they will not have for example Australian, New Zealander, a Filipino or so on. All the rest will depends on our fists.

- I know that you are communicating in social networks with Brian Vera, your former rival. Vera was a sparring partner for Zac Dunn. Did you ask him something about your enemy?
- As for me, Vera looked better in sparring than Dunn. I watched the video. But this is sparring and you cannot judge on it. Vera said that there will be a good fight. He looks forward for a great war. We’ll see. He did not name the favorite in this match, he just said it would be a great fight, and I should be ready. He said that Dunn is young decent prospect, hungry for big fights.

- We’ll be supporting for your victory.
- Thanks a lot. I’ll try to do my best.