John Chavez
12/4/2007

San Francisco used to be a boxing mecca not only within the United States but also on a global level as well. Thousands upon thousands of boxing fans would flock to the numerous prize fights that took place within the Bay Area in the 50s and 60s. Hall-of-fame promoter Don Chargin recalls exactly how big of a fight town the “City by the Bay” was at one point in time:

 

“I remember the streets clearing out when we’d host a fight across town. I clearly remember putting together a fight card in which we matched an Italian fighter against an Irish fighter. All of the North Beach area closed up shop and drove across the bridge to Oakland in support of their man. It was truly a glorious time in San Francisco boxing.”

 

Boxing isn’t exactly on the same level of popularity as it once was in the past within the states as a whole. As the majority of major boxing events tend to gravitate towards places like Las Vegas, it tends to create a sense of distance between fans of the sport and their favorite fighters. This is why it’s particularly exciting to have a hometown future champion to follow as his career continues to progress.

 

His name is Karim “Hard Hitta” Mayfield (5-0-1, 5 KOs).

 

This 29 year-old professional boxer comes from the Western Addition district of San Francisco, California. This young prospect is coming off his fifth knockout victory over another undefeated prospect in Rahman Yusubov. It was an impressive performance in which Mayfield utilized his speed and strength to overwhelm the rugged Russian.

 

I’ve been keeping in contact with Karim and his trainer Ben Bautista over the past several weeks and had the pleasure of being in attendance for the grand opening of their new gym. It’s called SFC boxing which stands for Straight Forward Club boxing in which many of the cities top aspiring talents learn to perfect their craft.

 

Here’s “The Boxing Bookie’s” interview with Karim “Hard Hitta” Mayfield:

 

BB: What exactly got you into boxing and how did it all start?

 

HH: I was always a physical kid growing up meaning that I loved contact sports. I played football in high school and I was always blessed with physical talent. Growing up me and my older brother would wrap a bunch of socks around our hands and just go at it. He showed me that boxing wasn’t just about swinging your hands wildly as he’d tag me with sharp jabs.

 

It wasn’t these experiences as a youth that got me involved in boxing though. When I was around eighteen years old I was just hanging around the neighborhood involved in mischievous activities.

 

The first day I stepped into the boxing gym in my neighborhood, I wanted to try my hand at sparring. One of the coaches, Johnny Mason, allowed me to step in there with an experienced guy and from then on I knew that I wanted to see how far I could go with this boxing thing. I was a bit unorthodox and threw nothing but hard punches but the coach encouraged me saying that I had a fire that he doesn’t usually see in young fighters.

 

After a couple months of working out in the gym I had my first amateur fight. I remember it being a very hotly contested bout in which I landed the much harder punches. I didn’t get the decision because I guess my style was more suited for a professional level so it didn’t discourage me from continuing on.

 

There was a pro fighter that I’d spar with named James Buggs. He had a lot of experience both as an amateur and a professional so working with him taught me a lot. The fact that at 19 years old I could hold my own with this veteran proved to myself that maybe I could go pro some day and be successful.

 

After about twenty or so fights as an amateur, I attempted to make the 2004 Olympic team. I always hovered around the welterweight weight division and I felt that I could at least compete with the top guys out there. I had a lot of people discouraging me saying that I wasn’t gonna make the team due to a lack of experience.

 

The day that the qualifier to make it to the trials came, for some reason I came in a pound over the weight limit. Little did I know that you only had one chance to try and make the weight so I was forced to move up to compete at the 165 pound division. I knew that this was a once in a life time opportunity so I decided to just go for it.

 

The first day I fought in the qualifier, I was going up against a former silver medalist from the Nationals. I knew that in the first minute that this guy had a level of skill I hadn’t yet seen in the amateurs or even sparring. I said to myself, “This is gonna be a good one!”

 

The first round of the fight was relatively even. They might have given it to him for being the aggressor. Luckily for me, he was built some what thicker so he didn’t have the huge height and reach advantage that some of the other 165-pounders experienced.

 

In the third round of the fight, I felt that my opponent was getting really tired. I threw a big left hook and clobbered him with a big right that dropped him. He was given a count and as soon as the ref let us continue, I finished him.

 

The next step was the Regionals in which I once again dropped my opponent but he was a tough guy that lasted the distance. I ended up getting the decision along with the opportunity to attend the Nationals in Colorado Springs. I knew that there was gonna be some really tough competition in this one since it was nothing but state champions competing.

 

Luckily for me, a man by the name of Brian McGuiver financed the whole trip and went out to support me. During this whole time I was pretty much self-trained as I didn’t have a set trainer. Brian had a background in Tae-Kwan Do but he usually just helped me with my cardio work.

 

They had a state of the art facility in Colorado Springs that had nothing but new equipment that all the champions were using. However, Brian and I took a different approach.

 

Two weeks before the fight, we went out running in the snow and just took the whole training outdoors while everyone else was on the treadmills. It was a great feeling as I felt kinda like Rocky in Rocky IV when he took it back to the old school.

 

It was a funny experience when they conducted the weigh-ins for the Nationals as the person conducting them told me I had made a mistake. Being that I weighed in with my clothes on at 155, the man thought that I was in the wrong section and that I was supposed to go somewhere else to weigh-in for the 152 pound division.  

 

The first guy I fought in the Nationals was a fellow from Ohio. I got the victory and moved on to a fighter named Greg Hatley from Texas. Now this guy was a big 165 pounder. We ended up with an even score in the end so the judges ended up going by who threw more punches. He threw 60, I threw 56. It was my first loss fighting at this elite level but I still felt good about myself and how far I had come.

 

It’s at this point when I decided to fight in another qualifier called the Western Trials in Bakersfield, California. I made it all the way to the semi-finals when I lost to a very experienced fighter and friend of mine, Enrique Guitierrez. I was disappointed in losing but I couldn’t have lost to a better guy and was happy that it was Enrique.

 

After the trials were over I took some time off to just regroup and think about where I wanted to go with my career. I hooked up with Virgil Hunter, Andre Ward’s trainer and he began to give me some great words of advice and tips on how to improve my game. I picked up so much from sparring with Andre and just being around such a talented team.

 

I decided to participate in the Golden Gloves before going pro for the exposure as it was on Comcast Sports at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Being that it was an Olympic year all the top guys were competing. It was their way of trying to hit the lottery at the time and provided some very valuable experience for me. There was a lot of media coverage and my face was on posters everywhere.

 

I fought and won every night which is the highest moment I’ve had in boxing so far. It was a great experience being that I designed my own gold outfit which looked real clean. Andre Ward also let me borrow a pair of his shoes so I went in knowing that I was gonna win. The three fights I had in the tournament had me facing three completely different styles of guys being that the first guy was a boxer, the second guy was a bull, and the third guy was a boxer/puncher which allowed me to show my versatility in dealing with all styles.

 

The boxer/puncher was the finals and a lot of people came out to support me including the 85ers (teamsters), my family, and the whole Western Addition. The stands were packed and I knew it was going to be a tough night. My opponent was the promoter’s son and a lot of people were telling me that I’d need a knockout to get the “W”. I’d faced off against this guy in the amateurs and we each had a victory over each other.

 

It was a tough, tough fight and definitely fight of the night.

 

I won that fight and it’s at this point that I felt that it was time to go pro.

 

BB: What kind of feelings did you have about going pro and more specifically your first fight?

 

HH: Well my first fight was on the undercard of a Robert Guerrero fight in Oakland. Too Short was in the house doing a performance and I just had a lot of butterflies going into the bout.

 

BB: Who was the trainer you went pro with?

 

HH: I always had a home at SFC with Ben Bautista even though I bounced around training with Hunter in Oakland. Ben was a counselor but more like a mentor than a trainer. Ben was the head trainer when I went pro but Virgil also helped from the corner.  

 

BB: What fighters did you look up to as a young man and still do as of today?

 

HH: Roy Jones Jr. was the man at the time. He was flamboyant, showy, and he was the best and of course Tyson because I grew up watching him in his prime.

 

I feel like I’m a good mix of both guys but my favorite of all-time is Ali. I’d classify myself as a little bit of all three guys with a touch of Hamed and Floyd Mayweather as well!

 

BB: What about some of your thoughts and feelings going into each fight? Fears, motivations, etc.

 

HH: A couple days before the fight, I stay focused but I also look a lot at the picture of my kids and wife.

 

BB: How many kids do you have?

 

HH: Three kids. As for how I feel before a fight, I’m relaxed and keep the people I trust around me. No big entourage man, just a chosen few. Four guys at most.

 

BB: So why boxing rather than any other sport?

 

HH: My brother Laron inspired me to learn the craft. After eating so many jabs from him growing up I just wanted to get better and better.  If I wasn’t boxing I’d be doing wrestling or MMA probably. But seriously speaking, my big brother does better than a lot of guys in the gym so I grew up with some good lessons.

 

BB: So who’s your current promoter and management team?

 

HH: Jackie Kallen and Eric Farver take care of me. Eric takes care of me financially to be able to be full-time professional fighter and looks over me in a PR sense.

 

BB: You haven’t yet fought in your hometown. What are your thoughts on someday being able to fight in San Francisco?

 

HH: I wanna fight in San Francisco ASAP. Maybe get a few local fighters and we can do a real good event.

 

BB: What about some people saying that San Francisco isn’t a big boxing town?

 

HH: That’s unfair to say as you know from Don Chargin that San Francisco has a strong boxing heritage. It’s the city of sports and franchises man. We haven’t had that many good fighters coming out in a while but now with the SFC gym opening up, it provides a strong outlet for aspiring fighters. “Irish” Pat Lawlor had some success so I feel that as long as you put on good shows on a consistent basis, you can sell well.

 

BB: How about some of your hobbies outside of boxing?

 

HH: I really just like spending time with my kids.

 

BB: How old are they?

 

HH: They’re one and a half, five, and seven years old. I just like taking them out and enjoying the day. I been married for two years and it’s been a blessing. I also design my own boxing outfits and my auntie helps out with the seamstress work. Another thing I have in the works is a clothing line called Brand-Nu.

 

BB: How’d you come up with that name?

 

HH: Ahh man that’s easy. Everybody wants something brand new. When you wear something that’s new you feel good about yourself. I also forgot, I got a little music thing going on as well. I got this hot, hot single about to drop real soon. It’s called… I got Candy!

 

BB: What kind of candy?

 

HH: (starts singing the hook) It’s just a hobby and I have fun with it. It’s something that everybody can listen to especially the kids. They got that Superman song bumpin hard these days so I think they’d dig this one too.

 

BB: What about your favorite music artists?

 

HH: My brother has a music label called MO-Betta Entertainment with this artist named Bizzy. It’s some serious stuff man. I don’t listen to too much mainstream music but Lil Wayne definitely has talent.

 

BB: How about actors, any favorites?

 

HH: I’d have to say Denzel Washington. He was at one of my fights and was a really, really nice and down to earth guy. I felt like I knew him for years.

 

BB: Grub? Any favorite foods?

 

HH: Anything and everything. I’m willing to try anything that’s good. When it gets close to fight time I try to stay healthy and organic.

 

BB: Vida Guerra or Kim Kardaishan?

 

HH: I can’t answer that. Sorry about that man. You ain’t getting me in trouble!

 

BB: Where do you see yourself five and even ten years from now?

 

HH: Probably retired from boxing. I wanna stay real active when I’m in my physical prime. After boxing’s over I wanna get involved in youth sports and helping out the community. I’m a community advocate and I’m a volunteer as it’s a passion of mine.

 

BB: What was the experience like going over to the United Kingdom to give Ricky Hatton some work?

 

HH: Oh man, they treated me like a prince. Everybody was real, real hospitable. Nothing but a bunch of good guys all around.

 

BB: Does he have a chance against Floyd?

 

HH: Let me just say this: Ricky Hatton trains like a monster.  I’ve also been to Zab Judah’s camp (thanks Brian McGuiver) while he was undisputed welterweight champion and it was an inspiration. I sparred with Zab and more or less held my own with “Super”. They liked me and told me I had what it takes to become a star some day.

 

To answer your question though, he definitely has a chance. I’ve been to a lot of camps and he trains like a monster.

 

BB: Was he as hittable as it seems?

 

HH: He was hittable in the sense that he didn’t mind getting hit to crack you right back. There is no rest period with that guy, none whatsoever. I do like Floyd, but Hatton said that Floyd does have down periods which he’s correct in saying. Hatton just keeps it going all day everyday and after sparring hits that big body bag like crazy.

 

Do not count him out, if anybody can Floyd it’s Ricky Hatton!

 

BB: Alright Hitta! Thanks for your time and good luck in the future with your career.

 

HH: Anytime man. It was my pleasure.

 

 

When I initially conducted this in-person interview with Karim at the Straight Forward Club boxing gym, I went in with the mentality of rooting for the hometown guy as most people do for their local sports franchises. However, after conducting the interview, this charismatic figure known as “Hard Hitta” showed that he is indeed the real deal in every sense of the word. In this day and age when “realness” is sometimes misconstrued and misidentified with people acting in irrational and erratic mannerisms, Karim proves himself to be the “realest”.

 

When asking “Hard Hitta” if he’d be in Sin City for the Mayweather-Hatton fight he proudly stated, “I can’t man. It’s my daughter’s birthday and family always comes first!”

 

Karim “Hard Hitta” Mayfield is as real as a prime “Real Deal” Evander Holyfield and hopefully his boxing career can someday reach the heights of the legendary heavyweight champion. I have the faintest of feelings that he just might be that spark that boxing needs to captivate the audience both inside and outside the ropes…

 

Jchavez00@gmail.com

 

(Karim Mayfield Compilation Video)