I had the pleasure of speaking with WIBA title challenger, Corinne Van Ryck DeGroot on Monday evening. With a record of 11-1, with 5 KOs, she’s determined to avenge her only loss in an upcoming rematch with Shondell Alfred. She feels that she won the previous match and she’s set to prove that she’s the better fighter by knocking her opponent out. The fight will take place on May 1st in Georgetown, Guyana. Corrine is a pleasant and charming lady of many talents and passions.
8CN: Hi Corinne. How are you doing?
Corinne: I am fabulous. I just left the boxing gym. I had a nice sparring session. Doing well.
8CN: I’ve been doing some research on you. You’re a busy lady.
Corinne: I am busy, yes.
8CN: You’re a boxer, actor, stunt woman, American Gladiator?are you still doing that?
Corinne: Yes I am. Our last season was 2008 and I believe they’re going to be bringing the show back as well.
8CN: How do you find the time to keep up with all that?
Corinne: Well, what I did was I took a little bit of time off from boxing because I had the opportunity to do some film work and some television work, so that’s really what I wanted to do for my boxing to parlay into that. That came a little bit before I had anticipated, so I took a little bit of time off and did that. Now I’m finishing my boxing career with unifying the 118 lb titles.
8CN: Let’s talk about your upcoming rematch with Shondell Alfred. How’s training camp going?
Corinne: Oh my gosh. Training camp is fabulous! You know what? Today was the first day that I had really good sparring. You know when you’re always in over your head…I’ve been sparring guys that were much bigger than me or faster than me, stronger than me, and today I finally sparred with somebody that was a little bit more my size and I was able to really execute the things that my coach was asking me to execute. I was going back to the corner and able to take the instruction and go in and do it in the ring, so it felt really good. Combinations were going well. I was stepping around and using my jab. So it’s hard work, but it’s fabulous.
8CN: This is a shot at the WIBA title. She’s the only one who’s ever beaten you. What do you feel like you need to do differently this time around?
Corinne: Well, first of all, she didn’t beat me. I got robbed. I’m going to go in there and prove that. I dropped her four times. She dropped me in the 3rd round once; caught me with a good shot. Then I dropped her four times, and each time they were called a slip. So this time I’m just not leaving it up to the referee or the judges, and she’s going to get her butt torn out.
8CN: She’s the hometown girl, right?
Corinne: She’s the hometown girl, but I’m also from Guyana. I am Guyanese originally, but I was raised in Canada and I’ve been in American for approximately 10 years.
8CN: Ok. So the plan is to win it by stoppage.
Corinne: Oh yeah. I’m definitely stopping it. It’s not going past 4 rounds.
8CN: Women’s boxing is getting more popular. It’s starting to get televised a little bit. It’s going to be in the Olympics. There are some really good women boxers in the sport right now. Talk a little bit about why the fans should support women’s boxing.
Corinne: I think the fans should support women’s boxing because we work really hard. I think technically we’re more sound than the men if we get proper training because we don’t have that automatic fight or flight. Like as soon as you show a guy how to box, he’s automatically jumping on his toes. Women aren’t like that. We’ll listen to you and try to execute the little things properly. I think when a woman is trained properly she can be very technically sound. We work just as hard as the men. In our fights, when we have two women that are equally matched, we’re very competitive. It’s an all-out fight. I think we’re just a little more teachable because we don’t come up against that…how boys are raised, with the testosterone and the natural ability to fight, where that’s just something that’s in them. That’s what they have to do. We’re raised a little bit differently. I think when we get taught to learn the fundamentals; we’re a little more open to receive and not have a mentality like: ?Well I know how to do this. I’m a man.? You know what I mean?
8CN: Exactly
Corinne: I’m not being derogatory towards men. I love men. I love the male fight game. Martinez, this weekend, was fabulous. I’m not trying to be derogatory. I’m just thinking that we process in terms of our learning abilities differently.
8CN: How did you become interested in the sport?
Corinne: When I was in Canada, I was a police officer. I always watched boxing with my father and my grandfather and I loved it, but I didn’t see any females boxing. So then there was the advent of Christy Martin and I was just like, oh my gosh, I can do that! And I was a police officer at the time and we were doing kickboxing within the police forces, and I hated to throw my feet. I really loved doing well with my hands. I was just like; let me go and do this while I’m young enough to do it and just see where it takes me, and I’ve had a whirlwind of a career with it.
8CN: You certainly have. Can you name some boxers who have inspired you?
Corinne: You know, I love Roberto Duran. I love Tommy Hearns. I love Mike Tyson, Roy Jones? I’m a huge Pernell Whitaker fan. And Zab Judah. I thought Zab Judah was really good when he was on point. And now of course, Sergio Martinez! (Laughing)
8CN: Oh yeah! Wonderful victory the other night. Unbelievable.
Corinne: Wow! Yeah that left hand of his was, pow! It was fabulous!
8CN: He was in control most of the fight. He looked sharp. You know, Kelly Pavlik’s no joke.
Corinne: That’s the thing! Kelly Pavlik is a beast, and Martinez looked so good against him! I was so impressed!
8CN: Yes he did. He looked great.
Corinne: And I love Kelly Pavlik too. Who do you have for Mosley-Mayweather?
8CN: I was about to ask you the same question. (Laughing)
Corinne: (Laughing)
8CN: I think Mayweather’s going to win. I think he’s up against a tough opponent. Mosley’s quick. He’s a pressure fighter. He’s a power puncher, but I think that Mayweather’s going to be a little bit too elusive for Mosley. What do you think? Corinne: I agree with you, but that’s what I think is going to be interesting is that Mosley is a pressure fighter. But he’s not a pressure fighter like Ricky Hatton was; that he was just coming forward and didn’t have the boxing skills and his defense incorporated with his execution of the pressure. I think it’ll be interesting. I totally think Mayweather is going to win, but if Shane’s personal life…if he can come on point and be clear I think he’ll have a good fight. I don’t think it’ll be a knockout by any means, but hopefully Shane has his head on right. He’s going through the legal stuff and the divorce, you know? I think he’ll give Mayweather a good fight, but I don’t think anybody’s going to beat Floyd right now. I think Floyd is a phenomenal fighter. The thing is that Floyd’s got a great defense and he doesn’t take a lot of chances. He just does not take chances. I think it’ll go the distance and I think it’ll be a decision.
8CN: If Mayweather wins as expected, what do you think about Mayweather-Pacquiao? Who’s your pick in that fight?
Corinne: Oh gosh..I love Pacquiao. I would love to see Pacquiao knock the crap out of Mayweather! (Laughing) Manny’s on a role right now, Manny’s strong, but I think Mayweather is just more technically sound than Manny. The thing is with Mayweather; everybody’s a pressure fighter against him. He’s not seeing anything he hasn’t seen before with anybody. When they step in the ring with him, they’re seeing something that they’ve never seen before and it’s tried and true because he’s an undefeated world champion.
8CN: I agree that Floyd likes guys who come forward, but Manny will come forward in a way that will be…unique.
Corinne: Yes. Manny can be slick and awkward.
8CN: I’m not sure about that fight. I slightly favor Pacquiao, but I know that Mayweather will be the most intelligent fighter that Manny will ever face.
Corinne: I agree. Believe me, I would love to see Pacquiao win that fight. You know why? More than anything is because he’s such a likeable character and a likeable person. Not that I don’t like Floyd, but I just think that the humanitarian aspect of Manny is what I can identify a little bit more with.
8CN: In addition to being a boxer, you’re also an accomplished actor. Do you have anything coming up?
Corinne: Actually what I do have coming up is, after I win this fight, I’m doing a series of exercise videos, along with some motivational CDs. They should be coming out some time around Christmas time. My passion and my heart is with young boys and young girls, but specifically for young women that are in disadvantaged situations. So I do a lot of public speaking to kids and mentoring. I want the kids to be able to identify with something when I come out and speak to them so they can say; ?This is where she came from and she made it to the top. I can do it too.?
8CN: I always love when a boxer, or when any person that’s high profile gives back to the community like that.
Corinne: Yeah. A lot of the girls need it, man. Oh my goodness. I don’t care what color you are. White, black, Asian, it doesn’t matter. The stuff that’s going on with these young kids now is absolutely ridiculous.
8CN: Ok Corinne. What would you like to say to your fans?
Corinne: I would like to say that I’m working very hard, and I’m never going to give up, and I’m coming back from Guyana on May 1st with the WIBA belt.
8CN: Thanks for talking to us, Corinne. God bless you.
Corinne: Thank you so much! God bless you too. I really appreciate it.
