John Delperdang: I’m just trying to conquer my demons!
In life, they say everything happens for a reason and that no matter how many obstacles are put in front of you, no matter how many detours you’ll be forced to make, at the end of the day… You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.
Such is the case with unbeaten lightweight John “Bang Bang” Delperdang.
The 23 year-old fighter had his first amateur fight at the age of 13 and while there have been many unfortunate twist and turns, ten years later he is exactly where he needs to be.
On November 9th 2014, Delperdang was fresh out of jail, on drugs and living in an Ontario park… far from that kid who walked into the Chino gym for his first fight. He found himself at a cemetery visiting a friend who had past away a year earlier. He admits, he wasn’t in the best frame of mind but says he had asked his friend to put in a good word for him with God because while he was down and out, he knew for sure he wanted to continue fighting. Days later, an argument with a friend sent him down a road where he stumble upon what he calls “the greatest opportunity of his life”.
“That right there, I don’t know what a miracle is, I’ve never seen a miracle but if there was ever to be a miracle, that would have been it. It blew my mind. I literally cried. This is a crossroads in my life and I had to stop what I was doing.” -John Delperdang
Standnfight’s Dominic Serna sat down with Delperdang (2-0, 2 KOs) and got the full story.
Dominic Serna: Tell me a little bit about how you got involved in Boxing?
John Delperdang: Well, when I was little, I had an uncle Julio who I use to stay with and he use to watch Legendary Night’s and I would watch certain fights like the Julio Cesar Chavez versus Meldrick Taylor or all the (Surgar Ray) Leonard fights with (Thomas) Hearns and Marvin Haglar and I would watch that and ask him, could I fight like that? He said, If you train. Ever since then I put it in my head that I wanted to be a fighter.
DS: You train right here out of the Crossroads Boxing gym under Bernie Valenzuela, how did you get hooked up with Bernie?
JD: It’s actually a funny story, I just walked into the Gym, I walked in off the streets. I was literally sleeping at a park down the street. At D Street park. I had just got out of jail and I didn’t have nowhere to go. I had got into it with one of my friend’s because he didn’t want me to shower at his pad so I started walking down the street and got to the gym. I just walked in and asked Bernie if I could fight someone. Could I fight? He asked me, do you know how to fight? We had some conversations and long story short, he ended up letting me fight Anthony Young, one of our other fighters. I caught him with a right hand in the second round and he had to step out of the ring because he almost fell. I only had two rounds in me.
DS: Prior to that, did you have any other amateur experience?
JD: Yea, I had two fights when I was 13 (years-old) from the Chino Boxing Gym and twenty fights out of the Broadway Gym and Sports Scene Gym.
DS: So you did have a little bit of an amateur background, how has that helped you transition into a professional?
JD: Mentally it gives me a little back up, like I box a little bit, I dabbled in it but I know I don’t have too much experience because there are guys like Ievgen Khytrov who have over 500 amateur fights or Guillermo Rigondeaux who had like 400 or 300 so they have more experience but what has helped me is that I’ll box anyone. I fight at lightweight but I’ll box middleweights, light heavyweights or even heavyweights, I really don’t care. Just walking people down. That’s all I practice, walking people down, pushing their shots away and trying to land my shots clean.
DS: When you came to Crossroads Gym, was it your intention to turn professional or did that just happened?
JD: That just kind of happened and it changed my life. Bernie brought me into his office and said if you stop doing drugs and drinking, I’ll give you a job, a place to stay and you can train here for free. He told me this a Crossroads in your life and when he told me that, it just hit me. I kind of teared up because on November 12th it’ll be a year that I’ve been coming here November 12, 2014 was my first day but on November 9th I was at a cemetery because a friend of mine had past away a year earlier so I had went to go talk to him and I was all smoked out talking to myself. I was asking God, well I was asking my friend to put in a good word for me with God to just… I wanted to fight and a couple of days later I end up stumbling onto one of the greatest opportunities I’ve ever had in my life.
That right there, I don’t know what a miracle is, I’ve never seen a miracle but if there was ever to be a miracle, that would have been it. It blew my mind. I literally cried. This is a crossroads in my life and I had to stop what I was doing.
DS: Does that push you to give it your all? The fact that he welcomed you into his home, to his family and trusted you, not even knowing you.
JD: Yea, someone wanted to give me the time, someone believed in me and he didn’t even know me. I know God has always been there watching over me.
DS: Bernie has never been a promoter or anything like that but now you two are kind of starting that journey together, how did that come along?
JD: Bernie, since I met him has always had the gym and had amateur fights but he wants to get into the pro game as well. He wants to be like Bob Arum, an icon in the sport. So we’re both starting off, me as a fighter and him as a manager/promoter.
DS: What was it like fighting for the first time as a pro, without the headgear, smaller gloves and the crowd?
JD: I couldn’t even see the crowd, I didn’t even notice the crowd. I was kind of nervous because I didn’t know if I could knock him out or not. I had to knock him out, specially because people were telling me, oh, this is your pro-debut? And I’m telling people in the gym that I’m going to knock him out. So of course now I have to.
DS: Being here in Ontario, is there anyone here that you spar with, any other pro fighters that you feel have helped you out?
JD: Jonathan Arrellano, actually there are a lot of things that he tells me that have stuck with me. He has like 24 fights, he’s like 16-6-2 I believe so he has a lot of experience. He fights two weight classes below me but still, having that experience helps. It’s been beneficial to me to have someone that has been through fights and tell me certain things.
DS: What’s next for you?
JD: I’m fighting on the 28th of this month in Aguas Caliente Mexico.
DS: Do you know who the opponent is?
JD: No, we had a list of about 10 opponents but I’ll fight anyone. Whoever is in front of me in the ring, that’s my opponent and I have to knock him out and if I can’t, I have to put on a good show.
DS: In closing, what are your goals moving forward?
JD: I want to keep an all KO record, 100% KO ratio but I just want to keep progressing, keep moving forward. I have a lot of faults, everyone has their demons and I’m just trying to conquer mine. I just want to be alive, in this gym and doing well.
Photo: Bernie Valenzuela
Interview: Dominic Serna