?Let?s face it. White people can?t box. Black people box better. Puerto Ricans…even better. It seems the lower you go on the social ladder, the better the boxer. If there?s a Puerto Rican who is a good boxer, there?s a Native American waiting to kick his ass.?
-Chris Rock
Sure, it?s a funny quote but one has to wonder if this is why George Tahdooahnippah, 26-0-1 (20), is still waiting for his shot at a substantial opponent in the middleweight division. Instead, the Native American fighter known as ?Comanche Boy? is stuck facing kickboxer Thomas Longacre, who?s making his professional boxing debut, on February 25, at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Although Tahdooahnippah is trying to make the best of the situation, it almost seems like he?s taking a detour off the highway he so desperately wants to bury the pedal on. Primarily, that frustration comes from a common perception of fighters in the Heartland, perhaps specifically, fighters he?s had to face thus far.
?I think I lot of Midwest fighters were built up. People have this outlook that we?ll fight chump-change [quality fighters] and then we?ll go out there and fight a big paying fight and get beat,? Tahdooahnippah told Maxboxing. ?I?ve been wanting to step my game up. I?ve been wanting a challenge and my management team, they wanted to gain me some more experience and do it the right way. It?s come to a point that, you know, it?s time for me to get out there and do what I gotta do because I don?t know how much longer that you?ll have the burning desire to do it and that?s how I feel. I?m burning inside. Let?s do it now. And that?s why in June, this past June, I took a fight to fight Fernando Guerrero [in a] main event on ?ShoBox.? At that point, that was everything; that was what I was wanting. That was it, right there. About two weeks into training camp, I went out to train with Jeff Mayweather in Vegas. I got a call and the whole card had been scrapped. That threw me so I said, ?I?m already out here,? so I stayed out there six weeks and I trained with him so I could get some good, valuable experience. I knew [Mayweather] couldn?t change me in two months of training but I knew what I could do was build my confidence and see what these guys are doing, what Zab Judah?s doing and Ishe Smith, and see how they?re training and their intensity, being around Jeff Mayweather and being around Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and being in that atmosphere. And then I sparred these guys; once I sparred them I realized, hey, I?m getting them. First, I was a little nervous, thinking I?ve got these guys right here but I was getting them and I never got dominated. I never have got dominated. Then seeing how they train and how I do it back home made me say, ?Man, I?m there. I?ve got a good training team. It?s just time for me to do what I?ve gotta do and it?s now.?
Of course, Tahdooahnippah?s outlook of his professional future, which included working with Jeff Mayweather after years of working with David Vaughn, was optimistic but it took as serious turn when Longacre began calling him out via YouTube, of all outlets. The move didn?t sit well with Tahdooahnippah, who had much bigger, long-term fish to fry. Although the potential storyline was riveting, ?Comanche Boy? wasn?t amused. The conflict almost seemed like the script from a ?Rocky? sequel.
?This Thomas Longacre, he came out of nowhere. I was doing a radio interview and someone was like, ?Aw, this is the fight everybody wants to see. ?Another Native American fighter!? and I thought it was gonna be this other guy and then they said, ?And that?s the fight between you and Thomas ?Thunderkick? Longacre!?? said Tahdooahnippah. ?I was like, ?Who?!? (laughs) I said, ?No disrespect but I never heard of him!? They said, ?You never heard of Thomas Longacre?!? I said, ?Naw, never!? They said, ??Thunderkick?, you never??? I said, ?No! Is he a boxer?? They said, ?No, he?s a world champion kickboxer.? (Imitating a disbelieving sputter) Pffth, there you go, right there! I?m a boxer! So I asked, ?What tribe is he?? And then, ?Oh, I don?t?I don?t know?? They didn?t even know what tribe he was. So I just blew it off and then, a little bit later, a YouTube video came out, an interview and [Longacre] was talking about how he could beat me and blah, blah, blah. You know, I just blew it off. It was nothing because he does nothing for my boxing career. He?s 0-0 as a professional boxer but he was clowning all the people I?ve fought. So what?s his record? He ain?t even a pro boxer! So, I?m gonna fight February 25th and I?m gonna fight a guy that?s gonna be a pro debuter and I?m gonna beat him and then it?s gonna look on my record 26-0 at the time, fight a guy who?s 0-0.?
It came off like a bad joke. Although Longacre claims to be half-Creek and Yuchi, adding a tribe vs. tribe subtext to the fight, it?s still a mixed-martial artist-type (who thinks all because he?s great at one combat sport, he?s just as great at another) with a chip on his shoulder vs. the boxer who can?t believe his eyes and ears that he?s having to squander a slot in his career for him. Hmmm?maybe it isn?t a ?Rocky? script. It actually sounds a lot more like a film where Jason Statham foils a diabolical plan crafted by DJ Qualls.
?At first, I just blew it off. You know, I?ve got guys who are always wanting to fight anyway. It does nothing for my boxing career but of course, him having a promoter, the finances were there,? Tahdooahnippah admitted. ?I was just walking away, going, ?Yeah, whatever. Build yourself up. Get yourself a couple of [pro] fights and then I?ll fight you.? That?s how it felt but then they started throwing numbers around so I stopped and said, ?What did you say?? (laughs) I?d like to stay active. Last year, I didn?t get as much activity as I normally like [Writer?s note: In all fairness, Tahdooahnippah?s ?inactivity? includes one fight already this year, four fights in 2010 and seven fights in 2009] but I felt fresh coming off a good win in January (a six-round unanimous decision win over Eloy Suarez), so I said, ?Man, let?s do this.? I?m expecting the greatest fighter always [prior to each fight]. Every time I fight, I?m always expecting the best so I?m just going there and handling business. Take care of this cat.?
Naturally, this writer was a little confused when Tahdooahnippah claimed he wasn?t a very active fighter and he admitted he was but he doesn?t build-up his pro experiences like a murderer?s row. He?s pretty much fighting who?s out there and willing while he waits for a better opponent to come around the bend. At the same time, waiting for that next step is starting to look and feel like a frustrating, routine day in a roped cubicle.
?I?m active because the fights are there. My management team has got the fights lined up and there?s a lot of action in Oklahoma because there?s these Native American casinos. It?s like going to work,? Tahdooahnippah said, soberly. ?You know, a lot of fighters are out there and they can?t get no fights. Sometimes I have too many fights. I?ve gotta let heal up. In my life, I?ve got a full-time job and I?ve got four kids and a wife, you know, and this takes away from my family so, sometimes, I?ve gotta hit my brakes. The first two years, when I go on this road, I said I need to put in all this work because I need to get built up, gain this experience. Now, everything?s built up. Now, I wanna fight. Now I wanna fight the big boys. If it ain?t there, I gotta fight somebody and I?ve gotta keep on fighting to stay active. Now, it?s whatever. Now, until the end, I wanna be in some great wars, some great fights. Now, I know there?ll be another Fernando Guerrero fight coming up. It?s everything I?ve worked for and I know it?s gonna happen. I know I?m gonna win. I?m gonna go out there and do my thing. When I do that, the world?s gonna say. ?Who?s this fighter?? ?Who is this Indian kid?? is what they?re gonna say. It?s ?Comanche Boy.? From that point on, I?ll be in the big time, the big leagues. Throw my name in the middleweight division.?
Until then?there?s Thomas Longacre, an interim opponent who realistically is as much a mystery to Tahdooahnippah as Tahdooahnippah is to Longacre.
?Oh, yeah, I know the best bet for him?and I don?t really know how he boxes but the best bet for him is to get in a brawl with me. Maybe he can be unorthodox and catch me with a wild shot. I know he?s not gonna hurt me. And also, he fought at 145 [in MMA] and he?s coming up to fight me at middleweight?and I?m a big middleweight,? Tahdooahnippah. ?My diet?s gotta be on point and then I gotta actually cut a couple of pounds when the time is right. I?m a big middleweight. I walk around at ?75, you know, and that?s in-shape. You know, he?s gonna box me in a boxing ring and I?m gonna do what I do and that?s box, box smart, don?t get in a brawl, start with the jab and do my thing. It is what it is and whatever he?s gonna do, I?ll adapt to it and then I?ll find what?s working and I?ll just start pushing the throttle down and just?take him out.?
As impatient as Tahdooahnippah is with the situation and having to prepare for a fighter he can only study from kickboxing and MMA tape, he?s even more short with the fact that Longacre comes off as a true (ethnically) self-loathing, cracked-mirror, black hat in this fight, somewhat the comic-book villain study. With Tahdooahnippah serving as the Native American Captain Marvel figure, Longacre is definitely Black Adam. Apparently, Longacre?s promoter is Dr. Sivana and his camp and fans are the Monster Society.
?Yeah, that?s what he says,? said Tahdooahnippah, as if fatigued with the thought, when asked how he felt about Longacre?s claims of indigenous pride. ?I?m a Native American fighter. The way I live my life, I wake up; I?m a Native American man first. You know, because there are not very many of us, I?ve gotta display the best Native American warrior that anyone?s ever gonna see. But I think that [Longacre] is a fighter that is part Native American and that?s the difference between us. I?ve got native pride and he doesn?t. It was all over our Facebook pages and his promoter, Dale Cook, he?s got his friends calling me??Oh, they?re just a bunch of ?injuns.? All his fans are just a bunch of ?injuns? getting drunk off of firewater. That?s why the paleface took their land.? And I said, ?What kinda Indian is gonna let his friends talk about his race like that?? So that right there lets you know how much pride he has for his race. I?m not saying he?s this much or that much. It just lets me know his pride.?
If having to face a kickboxer (who actually was a member of Chuck Norris? World Combat League) with zero professional experience in a boxing ring was bad enough, according to Tahdooahnippah, ?Thunderkick?s? camp added insult to insolence by attempting to dictate terms. It all boiled down to three options: 1) bucking the fight entirely and risking criticism from pundits, fans and his community alike, 2) conceding to demands from an opponent with no pull or 3) finding a somewhat happy medium. The last option wound up the best option, although it was still a small concession. On the other hand, it was the least evil available.
?At first they came at me, saying, ?160 [pounds], four rounds.? You know, I?m not a four-round fighter; I should be fighting eight and ten rounds right now, 12 rounds. I said, ?If y?all want me at my weight, it?s eight rounds, 164,? because I?m only making 160 when it?s for a title. We?ll do any catchweights in between and 164?s the highest I?m going because I did some 168 fights. You know, I don?t want people to think I?m a super middleweight. And they came back, ?Nah, we?re not gonna do an ounce over 160 and not for over four rounds.? Anyone can go hard, to me, for four rounds. When you know you?ve gotta go into deep water, you?ve gotta really pace yourself. You?ve gotta be smart. So, we finally got it down to six rounds and 162. So, that?s what it is and he was like, ?I?ll fight you in however many rounds you want.? Hey, that?s all bogus. They didn?t wanna do that. They wanted to just go for a four-round fight and he can come in there just wild and just try to be crazy and just catch me?well, I don?t know about just catching me. You know, just try to win the round.?
Understandably, the frustration emanated from Tahdooahnippah and permeated those who believe in him most, his family and those whose hopes he holds on his shoulders.
?Yeah, you know, my wife?s just kind of like, ?Ugh, we?re just gonna beat this guy. We?re helping his name,? and then all my community?s like, ?This guy, no one?s ever heard of him and now, he?s being heard of in the boxing world.? Hey, that?s how it was. They came at me, you know, in December and I just blew the smoke off. You know, ?Yeah, whatever.? And then they started throwing numbers around. My management team?s like, ?Man, that?s easy money right there.? They think I?m just gonna smoke him but I wanna be smart about everything and I said, ?Well, let?s just get through the January fight because I?ve got a tough Mexican ahead of me and I wanna get through him and I don?t even wanna talk about nothing until after this fight.? But it was on my mind; I was thinking about it. I?m training for one guy but I?m thinking about smashing another guy but it was alright. I always could be better financially. It is what it is. It?s a freakshow. It?s kinda like James Toney and Randy Couture, you know, and I?ve gotta reverse it. The boxer?s gotta just smash this guy but he?s got a little bit better stand-up skills because he was a kickboxer. You know, kickboxers, they are boxers in a way. They?ve gotta learn to use their hands as well. And we can?t even call him ?Thunderkick.? There ain?t no kicking going on. We all call him ?Thunderlips.?? (laughs)
The talk became lighter when sharing thoughts on Tahdooahnippah?s changes in training. A new face in his corner in Mayweather was significant enough but when it came to a strange new local with an obvious divergence in culture, ?Comanche Boy? knew he had to walk into the new setting confident, bringing nothing less than his A-game. What he found was respect given and received, in turn.
?Well, I think at first when I first came in there, they probably didn?t care who I was. They thought I was just some Mexican kid. They did and then I started hitting the mitts and then they could start seeing my pop and my skill when I was working with Jeff. And then they started seeing me really get down working on the mitts and then they was like, ?A Mexican Mayweather!? and [Jeff] was like, ?He ain?t no Mexican! He?s Indian!? And they was like, ?Indian?!? and I was like, ?CHIEF Mayweather!? and they started calling me ?Chief Mayweather.? And that?s just hitting the mitts. The first time I sparred with them, I got in the ring with Zab Judah and before I sparred, Jeff was like, ?Hey, you know, if Zab starts acting the ass, I?m gonna pull him out of there.? I said, ?What do you mean?? and he?s like, ?Aw, he gets mouthy with the sparring partners sometimes.? And I was like, ?Alright, whatever.? So I got in there and just boxed smart. I was bigger than them, probably 30 pounds bigger and 40 pounds bigger and I jabbed and got in a first round. He threw some shots and didn?t hurt me and the next thing you know, I had him bleeding. Then I realized I didn?t hear no talking from him. So they ended up just doing three round with me and they pulled me out. So that was a sign of respect right there. It was like, ?Hey, why are we gonna have our guy fighting this big guy that?s hitting on our guy?? so they pulled me out, which, you know, I understand that. After that, I never sparred him again. I took it as, hey, they knew I was the real deal and then I sparred with Ishe and we were having some battles. I underestimated him the first time we sparred but Ishe was the best one in the gym. We was banging. With him, I just had to fight smart. He?s your throwback fighter, man. He likes to dig to dig to the body. He likes to come to the head and he?s got a good chin, you know, good movement, smart. And same thing, they would only send me in there for about five, six rounds and they?d pull me out. And I was like, ?Why can?t I get more sparring?? I sparred some of their amateurs in there and I was really doing my thing and I think then, after that, about two weeks there, people were coming up to me talking. At first, I ain?t gonna lie, I was nervous, like ?Sh*t!? I mean, you know how it is when you gotta go somewhere new or if it?s a new job and you don?t know no one. Man, it was nerve-wracking but after I went through it, they knew who I was and then I felt comfortable. I felt like, hey, it?s just another day in the gym. What I?m doing back home in Oklahoma, it was no different than in Las Vegas. Now when I come home, I carry all this experience, that?s what it is. I don?t have all that experience and now I?ve got some experience [from training Vegas] so now it?s time to do my thing.?
While it?s understandable that being put in such a surreal, professional position of having to engage in a contest won?t necessarily move him forward, Tahdooahnippah finds the proverbial silver lining in not just redeeming Our Sport in the seemingly enduring boxing vs. MMA fandom feud but in taking the profile of indigenous America to the next level. In the eyes of a man who has transcended the tired stereotype of the sad-eyed, stoic Indian, there?s a fire of victory, which threatens to burn down acres (one long acre, in specific) of dark unexplored land, barren of pride.
?I wanna laugh, first off. I?m kinda really disappointed in his native pride. You know, I don?t feel like this is a battle of Native American warriors. I feel like it?s one guy that?s Native American. Now, you?re gonna get it. That?s what I?m gonna say to him, ?Now you?re gonna get it.? I respect everybody. I?m a respectful person and I feel like I?m fighting not only for my Comanche Nation. I feel like I?m fighting for all nations because this guy and his whole crew are just disrespecting our race. We?re the dying breed. You know, how?s this guy going out here and how are his people gonna be behind that? And I don?t even think his people are behind that. You know, I think they?re behind me. So, now he?s gonna get it. Now he?s getting it. That?s what I?m gonna say to him. ?Now you?re getting the big boy. You wanted it and now, you?re gonna get it.??
George ?Comanche Boy? Tahdooahnippah vs. Thomas ?Thunderkick? Longacre headlines ?Xtreme Fight Night 2? at “The Joint” at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Friday, February 25. Doors open at 7 PM and first bell is at 8 PM. Tickets, priced at $40, $50, $60 and $100, are now on sale at The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, 777 W. Cherokee, Catoosa, Oklahoma. For more information on ticket sales, please call 1-800-760-6700 or log on at http://www.hardrockcasinotulsa.com/thejoint/Pages/XtremeFightNight.aspx.
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