Brick City Boxing

Interview By: Christopher Roche

“Machine Gun” Oliver has such a catchy ring alias, that many boxing fans might not know his given name is Mike.

One man, who Oliver wants to get on a FIRST name basis with, however, is IBF super bantamweight champion Steve Molitor. Oliver plans to state his case for a shot at Molitor on the next edition of ESPN’s “Wednesday Night Fights”.

Oliver, 21-0, 7 KO’s, trains under the tutelage of “Iceman” John Scully and is ready to impress the national television audience. Oliver is very pleased with his preparation for the upcoming bout.

Oliver said, “Training went real good. We have been sparring with different guys. I sparred with Matt Remillard. He was a big help. He is getting ready to fight as well and defend his title.”

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Oliver’s opponent next Wednesday is 34 year-old Reynaldo Lopez. Oliver, 28, is confident that his physical advantages and youth will serve him well on Wednesday. Lopez stands in at 28-5-2, 19 KO’s, and he has taken on tough competition in his last two bouts, but they were both losses. He went the distance with Cristian Mijares, and he was stopped by WBO champ Daniel Ponce De Leon. Despite the step up in class by Lopez, Oliver remains unimpressed.

“He only lasted five rounds with Ponce De Leon. I went through his record, and he is really a 115 pounder. This is like Roy Jones fighting Tito Trinidad. Tito Trinidad kind of came up in weight and look what happened to Tito,” said Oliver, who fights at super bantamweight. “It is two different weights. Now if it was me going down to 115, that is something different. It is like I am Roy and he is Tito. That is how you have to put the pieces to the puzzle together.”

Oliver, who is aligned with Cappiello Promotions, went on to say that he expects his upcoming performance against Lopez to serve as a measuring stick in the division, and he says his speed will be too much for Lopez to handle.

Observers will surely point to the common opponent of Lopez when measuring Oliver against the likes of Ponce De Leon. Oliver also hopes to parlay his exposure on ESPN into an IBF title bout, especially since he feels he already earned his shot.

“I hope this interview goes to Canada too. I want Steve Molitor. He is ducking me, and I don’t know why. When I fought Cruz Carbajal for the IBF title eliminator, to fight Steve Molitor, we won, and the next thing you know, a couple of months later Steve Molitor backed out. He was like, `We did not do good’ and everything like that,” said Oliver, who defeated Carbajal back in July on ESPN.

Oliver continued, “I would like to fight him, and I want my chance to fight him. I wish Steve Molitor couldn’t run like a little chicken.”

Oliver further stated that as long as everything was “alright” it would not matter where he fights Molitor, and he would even be willing to take on “The Canadian Kid” up in Canada.

Oliver’s pronouncement that he deserves a shot at Molitor is not baseless banter. Oliver correctly points out that he won the IBF title eliminator over Carbajal. Further, in the last published IBF rankings, Oliver was sitting at number 2, but he will surely leapfrog Fernando Beltran, since Beltran just lost a lopsided decision to Molitor in a mandatory title bout on April 10.

Oliver, of Hartford, Connecticut, will need to take care of business against Lopez on Wednesday, otherwise all of the title talk will be for naught. Oliver is aware of that, and he feels good about his situation, especially his longtime relationship with Scully, which is paying dividends.

Oliver said, “The relationship is good. He has helped me out a lot. He is getting phone calls from different people. The way he trains people, he gets so many calls from people who want him to train them. He is the best trainer in the state of Connecticut and in the whole of New England.”

Oliver first stepped in the gym when he was three years old, and he has known Scully for almost his entire life. Scully told me last week that Oliver is in great shape, and he mentioned that the two recently sparred twelve rounds together “with no problem”.

Oliver, for his part, rarely takes a day off, and he says he is always ready for the call to go and fight. Boxing is his lifeblood, almost like an addiction, he says, and he does not like to spend time away from the gym. He is a bright, young fighter, in a very talented division, where none of the title belts are held by Americans.

If Oliver rings up an impressive win over Lopez, then he should be in line for a shot to bring one of those belts back to the USA.

Big thanks to “Iceman” John Scully and Patrick Kelley for setting up this interview. Oliver is a very down to Earth guy, and I enjoyed the conversation.