8CN’s Chris Thurman spoke with cruiserweight prospect Venroy July (16-1-2, 6 KOs) about his upcoming fight against Quantis Graves (9-0-1, 4 KOs) April 12 at the Patapsco Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. Graves’s draw came against Sevdail Sherifi, a fighter who July defeated by unanimous decision earlier this year. In this interview, July discusses his life as both a professional boxer and a full-time attorney.

CT: You were born in Jamaica. How long did you live there before you moved to the States?

VJ:I moved when I was 11. I came up to the States about '95.

CT: How popular is the sport of boxing in the part of Jamaica where you were born?

VJ: I just grew up watching boxing. There weren't many people who were around actually competing. My father is a huge fan. We used to watch Mike McCallum and Razor Ruddock. I grew up having a lot of memories about boxing coming up.

CT: How do you compare your life in Jamaica to life here in the States?

VJ: Very different. Jamaica was much more relaxed. It was much more just carefree. There wasn't that constant pressure that I have now. People aren't as well off as they are in the States. You can see poverty, but it was a different sense of it there.

CT: In addition to boxing, you also hold a position at a law firm. How long have you been practicing law? Tell us about your career as a lawyer.

VJ: I've been practicing for seven years now. I went to Duke. Graduated in ‘07. I went to a firm in D.C. and worked there for four years, then I transferred to the firm I'm at now, and I've been here about three years. I do acquisitions and security law with multimillion dollar deals so it’s high pressure.

CT: Both boxing and practicing law are time consuming. Describe what its like to balance two professional careers.

VJ: The older and further along I get it gets harder. I'm definitely at the point now where it’s probably the hardest it's gonna get. When you're dealing with the kind of deals we're dealing with, people aren't trying to hear excuses about why they aren't getting done, they just want to get it done. Obviously with boxing you can’t afford to give excuses because if you're missing days in the gym you're getting punched in the face and its gonna hurt after. It's a different kind of hurt, but both of them are very time consuming. I have basically had to adjust my schedule. Whether it be I train really really early in the morning, I have a coach that understands what I'm going through. He understands that it's just what I have to do.

CT: Are there any skills that you have developed in one field that you also utilize in the other?

VJ: Honestly I think there are a lot of things that are transferable. When you're working by yourself in the gym you have to be a self-motivator. You have coaches that will work with you, but at the end of the day you have to get things done yourself. There are lessons that I learn through boxing that are applicable like you're really just as good as your last fight. If you mess something up in a transaction people are not trying to hear that. If you lose a fight people are not trying to hear that. It's not about why you loss, they just care about the fact that you lost. You have to be on your P's and Q's every deal. You have to be on your Ps and Qs every fight. People only remember your last deal or your last fight. Being willing to do the extra work that you need to do, things like that are applicable to both professions.

CT: Your career started with your first professional fight in July 2009. Was your decision to become a professional fighter spontaneous? Was it something you wanted to do for a while?

VJ: Honestly I had no intention of being here. I started and it was gradual. I actually started when I was at a firm as a summer associate after my first year of law school. I just wanted to stay in shape while I was in law school and started going to the gym just for something to do. I started working out and when I did that I started meeting people in the gym. Then I started as an amateur, and won the D.C. Novice Golden Glove. At that point I was 25, so I decided let's see how we do in the pros. So I went to the pros and my coach set up a fight for me and we just kinda kept going from there.

CT: Are there any fighters past or present that have influenced your style or technique?

VJ: There isn't anybody that I really fashion my style after. I like McCallum for the fact that he always attacked the body, you know he was the “The Body Snatcher.” He was the first Jamaican guy that had acclaim when I was coming up. I paid attention to stuff like that but I don't really fashion my style after anybody.

CT: Your next fight is in April. You face a tough opponent in Quantis Graves who is undefeated at 9-0-1 with 4 knockouts. How important is this upcoming match for you?

VJ: Every fight is important. I don't intend to lose again. He's a tough guy, but I want to step up. It doesn't make sense to continue to fight guys who are gonna be walkovers. I need a tough fight to see where I am. He'll be a good test. I know he can box. I know he's got some skills but I want to test myself. I need to see how I stack up and I think this is a good fight.

CT: What do you know about Graves as a fighter?

VJ: I've actually seen a little of him. He actually had a draw against a guy I just beat in my last fight. I actually saw a video of him against that guy. He's a boxer. He had a good amateur career. He's only had ten fights, he has one draw. We’re basically gonna have to do everything I worked out in the gym on fight night. Nothing about him is particularly spectacular he just kinda does everything well.

CT: How do you feel your style matches up against Graves?

VJ: I think my style matches up well. When some guys have been fighting for so long, they get to the point they feel like they start to click. I feel like I'm getting to the point where things are starting to click. I'm not just throwing punches, I'm trying to set things up now and I feel very confident. I think a lot of things are in my favor. I think I'm a tough fight for anybody. So I feel no different about this fight.

CT: You fight in the cruiserweight division so most of the top competition is abroad, particularly Europe. Are you comfortable in your current division?

VJ: I'm staying right at cruiserweight. If I have to go abroad to fight then that's what I'll have to do.

CT: What are you looking to accomplish within the sport of boxing?

VJ: I plan on being cruiserweight champion of the world and use it as a means to show people that if you put your mind to things you can accomplish what you want to accomplish. To be honest, my story is a bit unrealistic. I'm an attorney at a firm who is trying to be cruiserweight champion of the world. I plan on proving everybody wrong and once I do I think it will be something than can help their people accomplish their dreams.

CT: You seem like a very motivated person both inside and outside the ring. What drives you to go after so much? Who are some of your influences outside of boxing?

VJ: I grew up in a household where I saw my mother and father working really hard. If you work hard then you get what you're supposed to get. My father started his own company and I remember being up late at night and helping him get that company off the ground. I remember my mother working two jobs. My family is very important to me, especially my mother. She has kept me level-headed. She has always been my main supporter, and my brother. There is a person at my law firm, one partner in particular, who lets me know that I'm doing well and that he has my back. My coach has never left, even when the hype was gone. I was 13-0 and everybody was talking about me, then I lost and everybody stopped talking. Now we’re irrelevant in the gym again, and he never left. In the different aspects of my life those people are probably the most influential.
  

For as long as he could remember, athletics had always been a significant part of Venroy July's life.

He'd competed as a young boy in his native Jamaica. He was a high school athlete in the U.S. He wrestled at the University of North Carolina as he was pursuing an undergraduate degree in political science and economics.

He suffered an injury during his freshman year, so he successfully petitioned the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility while he was in his first year of law school at Duke.

After earning his degree and landing an impressive job with a national law firm in Washington, D.C., at the time, he wasn't ready to give up sports.

"Being an attorney is great, but when you're sitting around reading contracts all day, that's nice, but it's great to have something physical to do," July said. "My entire life had been a balance between sports and school. Even when I was at law school, I was wrestling for Duke.

"I've always been about the balance [and having a workout] is a great way to break up the day and stay healthy. Let's be honest: Lawyers aren't the most healthy people."

So July opted to box to stay in shape. He had a short amateur career and turned professional as a cruiserweight. He wasn't trying to become the next Vitali Klitschko and reach epic heights. When he began to box, he did it primarily to remain in shape and relieve the mental stress that built up during the day.

A funny thing happened, though: He won his first fight, and then his second, and then his third. Suddenly, a lot of highly regarded boxing people were telling him that he had a future in this game.

On April 12 at Patapsco Arena in Baltimore, the 31-year-old July will for the third time promote a show that he'll headline. He meets unbeaten Quantis Graves (9-0-1, 4 KOs) in the eight-round main event.

July is 16-1-1 with six knockouts. He's an aggressive, come-forward fighter who has discovered that he's a lot better at fighting than he ever would have believed.

"Everybody kept telling me that if you turn pro and go 10-0, that's the big break," he said. "They kept telling me that 10-0 is the magic number. I got to 5-0 and I was saying to myself, 'Man, I'm halfway there.' I kept going and I got to 10-0 and the break didn't come."

One of the things July realized as he was on his rise is that he wasn't fighting regularly enough. He didn't have a manager and he didn't have a promoter, and he just took fights as they came.


Venroy July is 16-1-1 with six knockouts. (Special to Yahoo Sports)


But as he kept winning and hearing from more and more high-end boxing people about how much potential he had, July decided to take a bold step.

He became a promoter and founded a company, Hardwork Promotions, which would allow him to schedule his own fights.

That, though, presented another fairly major problem: being a promoter is no simple task and requires hours and hours of work a day.

July suddenly found himself with the equivalent of three full-time jobs: He is an attorney at the Baltimore firm of Hogan Lovells, where he concentrates on mergers and acquisition, and finance. He is a boxer who believes he's within two years of fighting for a cruiserweight world title, and he's a promoter who needs to sell tickets.

It's a tall task, but if anyone is up to it, it is July, whose mother is a school teacher and father is an accountant.

His father was a soccer player but really stressed academics to his son. He liked the sports/school balance, but he put academics first.

That was ingrained in July and has remained a part of his life ever since. He ran track – he was the fifth-fastest sprinter on his school team in Jamaica, when there were only four spots – and played soccer, football and wrestled.

When he was a senior at North Carolina, he was so well-respected by the wrestling coaches that they asked him to help with recruiting. He encouraged a heavyweight who was looking to transfer from Michigan State to attend UNC.

The next year, the heavyweight did indeed attend North Carolina. That was July's first year at Duke University School of Law. Because he had shoulder surgery and didn't wrestle as a freshman for the Tar Heels, the wrestling coach at Duke petitioned the NCAA for another year of eligibility. He was granted it.

He'd wrestled at 197 pounds at North Carolina, but that spot was taken at Duke, so he moved to heavyweight. And there, as fate would have it, he wound up in one of his first matches for Duke wrestling the man he'd recruited for North Carolina.

July lost, but they'd see each other again. July was seeded last in the ACC tournament, and drew the No. 2 seed in the first round. That was none other than his old buddy from North Carolina.

This time, July won and advanced all the way to the ACC finals as a Blue Devil.

July, though, wore his custom-made Carolina blue wrestling shoes throughout the tournament that year.

"I'm a Carolina guy," he says, chuckling.

Once he was done with wrestling, he finished his law degree and took up amateur boxing. He hooked up with Adrian Davis, a highly regarded trainer who worked with notable fighters such as Simon Brown, Sharmba Mitchell and Hasim Rahman, among others.

He kept winning his fights and before long, boxing wasn't just a way to stay in shape. He set the goal of winning the cruiserweight world title.

Fighting at a high level is a risky business at best, but competing on small shows where the money is scarce can be even more dangerous. He knows his future is in law, but he doesn't feel he's putting that at risk despite the fact that so many boxers have suffered brain injuries over the years.

He said because he started when he was in his 20s and not as a young boy, he doesn't face the same risk as others. He hasn't had years and years of trauma to his head.

"My risk profile isn't as high as some others," he said.

But July enjoys it and doesn't think it makes sense not to do something he loves and is good at.

"The way I feel, you can't live life afraid of the potential of something unforeseen happening," he said. "For me, it's like, if I enjoy this and it's something that adds to my life, then I should do it as long as it makes sense.

"I do it because who knows what is going to happen tomorrow? Who knows what is going to happen two years, three years from now? There are people who don't take risks and who don't take chances and don't do things they'd enjoy and when they're walking on the street, they get hit by a car. You never know what is going to happen in the time you're here. You might as well be content and boxing adds to my life."

By Kevin Iole Yahoo Sports
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/cruiserweight-boxer-is-a-legit-triple-threat-180033525-boxing.html;_ylt=A0LEV0xgjD1TOUoAfbpXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzMWRzbGFyBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA1ZJUDM1MV8x

Baltimore, MD (March 10, 2014) – Cruiserweight up and comer Venroy “Hardwork” July will step up in competition when he faces unbeaten Quantis Graves Saturday, April 12 over eight rounds at the Patapsco Arena in Baltimore.

The card is promoted by Hardwork Promotions and tickets are available by going to Hardworkpromotions.com or calling 410-635-4754.


Born in St. Catherine, Jamaica, July has an outstanding professional record of 16-1-2 with 6 wins by knockout. Since his lone setback last February, July’s scored three straight victories, most recently outpointing Sevdail Sherifi in Atlantic City, NJ. Outside of the ring, the 31-year-old Suitland, MD resident is also extremely accomplished.

After getting his undergraduate from the University of North Carolina in 2004, July went onto earn a degree from Duke’s internationally ranked Law School. While many fighters moving up the rankings box full-time, July not only promotes himself under the Hardwork Promotions banner, he works 50-plus hours perk week as a corporate lawyer for Hogan Lovells.

Graves, who grew up in the fighting city New Orleans, LA and resides in Beaumont, TX, is 9-0-1 with 4 KO’s. The fellow 31-year-old is a three-time Golden Gloves champion and was an alternate on the 2008 US Olympic Team. Last September, Graves scored his best win to date, topping dangerous and hard hitting Joshua Harris.

“The whole point of this game is to challenge yourself,” July said of his willingness to face an unbeaten opponent. “I didn’t have a huge amateur background so I have to fight my way to the top. I’ve been fighting in every sense of the sport, fighting to get fights and fighting in the ring. That’s the whole reason I started my own promotional company, I just couldn’t get the chances I needed. This just gives me an opportunity to keep fighting.”

In addition to the July-Graves main event, fans will also see 2013 “Beltway Rookie of the Year” runner-up Demond “Dbestatit” Nicholson, heavyweight Dwayne “Big Ticket” McRae, unbeaten middleweight knockout artist Jeremy Trussell, cruiserweight Travis Reeves and Romanian import Alexandru Marin in separate bouts.



http://www.boxingnews24.com/2014/03/venroy-july-vs-quantis-graves-on-april-12th/