Lennox Lewis made his name with the jab, keeping people at a distance, Iron Mike Tyson would come in close and knock people out with his hooks and upper-cuts, the body-shot hasn’t been a claim to fame for any of the heavyweight boxers until now.
“My main focus is always to try and hurt my opponent with body-shots, nothing is more painful. You rob a man of his resistance and willpower with body-shots,” said Mark de Mori in email correspondence with Independent Media Magazine.
Hailing out of Australia, de Mori is currently 16-1 in 19 fights, with 14 of them coming by knockout.
Nicknamed “The Dominator,” he’s actually a very humble man with an intense work ethic. “When I am preparing for a fight I alternate between days of weights training, plyometrics and conditioning work and days of boxing, as the fight gets closer, the boxing training and sparring takes priority,” said de Mori. “The mindset changes as I get closer to a fight, I mentally prepare myself day by day so that when I walk to the ring I am in a kill or be killed mental state.”
The Dominator also has the backing of one the biggest names in boxing history. He signed with Don King in 2007. King’s reputation took a shot after Tyson came out against him once they parted ways, but turns out that King is not all bad after all. “Having someone that doesn’t deal with nobodies backing me was a great boost for my confidence, having him and his team believe in me when so many didn’t,” says The Dominator . “It helped redefine my mindset on who I was and what I was capable of, sometimes a single moment can help our mind quantum leap and this was definitely one of those moments for me. It is easy to start believing what you are told you are so when Don, my manager Ted and my sponsor Alan Burns backed me, it was like I had to rethink my capabilities.”
Working with big names obviously shows signs of brilliance and it’s no fluke either. The Dominator is one fighter that you should keep an eye on, combining the perfect match of brains and brawn. He’s a smart man who was able to utilize the one blemish on his record at the hands of John “Digger” Wyborn and grow as a fighter. “At the time I was just an overgrown 22-year-old kid, it was a devastating blow to me but in the long run it was great, when you are down and out you can see who is still hanging around and is not just with you for the wins” says de Mori. “Since that fight I was forced to re-study my craft, mentally and physically rebuilding myself to regain the confidence and eradicate the weaknesses that were so glaring in my loss.”
Photo Credit: markdemori.com
Be sure to follow Mark on Twitter at @MarkdeMori
Check out his videos on YouTube. The guy has quick solid body punches, and he actually boxes instead of just brawling with his opponent, which most guys his size do. I was actually pleasantly surprised seeing him in action. Like I said, check out his YouTube vids if you don’t believe me. This guy is a REAL boxer.
This guy is very entertaining on twitter, not only for fight fans but anyone who enjoys sometimes weird, but always interesting tweets.
I agree with Tim, he is entertaining on Twitter. Also, check out his videos on YouTube. He likes training with kangaroos, I know it sounds weird, but he is an Aussie, and also on YouTube you can see his viscous body shots mentioned in the interview.
Mark is a great guy,intelligent and works hard at his craft,he is gonna be a top 10 heavyweight in the very near future.