Brad Strand is a 13-2 (4 KOs) 28-year-old prospect who is grateful that boxing is not strictly about protecting the ‘0’.
Strand, from Liverpool, boxes on Saturday on the undercard of the Nick Ball-Brandon Figueroa title fight in his home city knowing that a third loss, however, could be incredibly damaging.
“Probably not as I’d expected,” he replied when asked how his pro journey has gone to date. “Obviously, I’ve had a couple of defeats, and the last defeat against [Ionut] Baluta, I thought I was going to win the fight and then, obviously, I’ve had the other loss against Dennis [McCann]. He’s a good fighter. But I know how good I am. That’s why nothing’s deterred me away from the goal and I know one day I'll get there.”
Some with similar records would find themselves having to rebuild in the small halls, but Strand has been grateful for those who have stuck by him, including his promoters at Queensberry.
“Obviously, I don’t know what it is, what they see in me, but I appreciate them and I thank them for the support they’ve given me,” he added. “But I am determined and I have got perseverance and nothing’s demoralised me or demoted me. I feel like all of that will pay off eventually.”
For Strand, as much as he’d perhaps like to be undefeated still, there have been important lessons gleaned from losses, things to work on, things to improve, experience added to his arsenal.
“When I got beat by Dennis, I was frustrated because I didn’t perform and I just got beat on the night and I was never expecting that to happen,” he explained.
“It killed me. But then the Baluta fight was a bit different, because I was expecting my hand to get raised and everyone was agreeing with me [that I’d won the fight]. So, it felt a bit different afterwards, but then as time passed after that one, I was watching it back and there’s always things that you can do more of to make sure that you get your hand raised.”
McCann, of course, subsequently tested positive for PEDs ahead of a bout against Peter McGrail, and McCann has strenuously pleaded his innocence since.
“A lot of people have said that to me [about McCann], but obviously I don’t know what’s going on with his situation and I’m not sure, but I just look at myself that night and I’m not looking at anything that he was doing or whatever, I just look at myself and I weren’t good enough, so it doesn’t really matter what he was doing or wasn’t doing. I just weren’t good enough that night, so I just take accountability for that myself.”
Strand is unsure whether the occasion got to him, that perhaps tactically he didn’t react well to suffering a knockdown early in the fight, but he insists he won’t perform like that again.
Strand is a big fan of the great former champion Jorge Linares, and he knows Liverpool is fortunate to have another champion to get behind in Nick Ball. Jazza Dickens also has a world title.
That is where junior featherweight Strand still hopes he will end up, and while the sport has tested him, his passion remains and he intends to show improvements on Saturday against 12-6 Reuben Lezama Gonzalez, a 20-year-old from Mexico.
“I still love boxing, but it gets different as you get older because you just love it as a kid when you’re literally fighting for nothing in the amateurs and you just love it,” he said. “You’re fighting every week and then when you turn pro, there’s so many different variations to it. It’s like a business then and there’s just all different things going on. You still love it, but it’s not like the love that you have as a kid.
“This [a couple of losses] is not what I expected to happen, you know what I mean? But you’ve got to take your bumps along and all, but then, I believe I can go all the way to the top. I’ve just got to make sure I win this next fight and then have a very good year and then push on from there.”
