SPAR PUPIL
Declan Taylor talks to the wandering Malik Scott about Charles Manson, insane logic and sparring Usyk and Wilder
Eccentric American heavyweight Malik Scott talks about sparring Usyk
TOTALLY one of a kind,” Malik Scott says before raising his middle finger. “And if you don’t like it, this was always the message – F**K YOU!” The Philadelphian could quite easily be discussing one of the two world champions he has most recently sparred with, on different continents during the same week. Having spent a month helping cruiserweight king Oleksandr Usyk prepare for Saturday’s (November 10) showdown with Tony Bellew, Scott embarked on a 16-hour, multi-flight trek from Ukraine to Alabama, where WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder’s latest training camp is in its burgeoning stages ahead of the December 1 challenge of Tyson Fury. But he was talking about neither fighter or indeed any boxer. Instead, Scott was discussing his fascination with one of America’s most infamous serial killers, Charles Manson.
“I’ve got a tattoo of him,” the 38-year-old says casually. “I’ve been up to the house in Beverly Hills where the Helter Skelter murders took place. They still have Sharon Tate’s room, the one where they caught her and murdered her.”
Pregnant actress Tate was one of seven people murdered in a killing spree orchestrated by Manson in the summer of 1969. He spent the rest of his life in prison and died at the age of 83 last November.
“I am fascinated by him because he is the only cult leader who, when they caught him and called him a cult leader, he said, ‘Yeah!’
“You are what you are, even if he was an awful guy. He was like, ‘I get why you guys are saying this is wrong, but still, f**k you. I’m everything you’re saying I am, I won’t hide nothing.’ I’ll be all up there at the Spahn Ranch in San Fernando Valley where he used to live. It’s where they did their dirty work, all the planning and stuff. I nearly moved into a place a mile away from there.”
Such a morbid fascination helps explain why Scott’s long stints living at the Ramada Inn, Tuscaloosa (look it up) are often spent alone in his room watching nothing but crime shows.
“America’s Most Wanted, Making a Murderer,” he says. “All that s**t. I’m a fan of insane logic. That’s fascinating to me. People do the most insane things that you could never picture yourself doing. Well, do you know they’ve got a logic behind why they did that s**t? I’m so attracted to that. Not their actions but the fact that somehow there is a reason for the sick s**t. I need to hear that reason.”
Insane logic: two words which could quite easily be used to describe the life he has chosen for himself. From hotel to hotel, Scott engages in daily fights with some of the planet’s most dangerous men.
“I’m really a loner,” Scott says. “I look at these trips as, like, bonuses. Escapism is at the heart of it. I go from one camp to another, life goes on. I believe that’s why I’m horrible at goodbyes. I sneak away and get on a plane, I don’t say goodbye. How life goes, you never know if that’s the last time you’ll ever see them again.” ³
That meant there was no long farewell when Scott left Usyk’s training camp in the hills of Bukovel, Ukraine in the middle of October. The 31-year-old 2012 Olympic gold medallist puts his four world cruiserweight titles on the line at Manchester Arena this weekend against huge underdog Bellew in what could be the “Bomber’s” final ring appearance. Ominously for Bellew, however, Scott believes the 15-0 southpaw looks close to unbeatable.
“Listen to what I’m telling you – Usyk will be the world heavyweight champion,” Scott says. “He is special. His timing is incredible – it’s the best. Sometimes fighters can miss an opportunity in the ring, but it’s very rare he misses anything. He could have a second to hit you and he will get three shots in. It’s almost like mathematics. The number of shots he can land in two seconds is crazy, especially if his opponent is defensive. He will pepper you and get around you. By the time you come out of your shell you’re dizzy and he’s punching again.
“His power is fair but he’s very mean. He’s active, he’s got the best feet in the game, great timing, fast, incredible defence and if you miss you’ll pay. God forbid you get on his bad side. If you f**k with him... he’s relentless. Sometimes in camp, I’d wake him up with those antics, start talking to him, pushing him. That’s when he gets mean – he goes, man.” And what of Bukovel? “It’s isolated,” Scott says. “It’s a huge piece of land with a castle. It’s got bears and foxes on it. But it’s so secluded, nobody is on the land apart from Usyk and his camp. To get to this joint you’re making so many twists and turns up mountains and then Usyk just comes out of nowhere and you’re like, ‘Damn!’ It throws you off because you’re thinking, ‘There is no way he trains here’ and then he comes in all like, ‘Hey guys!’ What the f**k? You came out the woods!
“And up there the ring that he trains in is probably the smallest ring that we’re allowed to be in. The room he trains in is tiny. It has a ring and two bags. It’s a little square and he will have four or five different guys in and out every day. This guy does 15 four-minute rounds with 30-second rests against four or five opponents. It’s crazy. So when he gets into the ring on fight night, it’s a huge playground for him. Huge. That’s why he goes in so happy, he enjoys it.”
Scott himself has not been spotted in the prize ring since his “embarrassing” defeat to Luis Ortiz in Monaco two years ago. He was clearly outpointed by the Cuban over the course of 12 miserable rounds during which the American barely threw a punch. Scott, who later apologised for his performance, drew intense criticism in the weeks and months which followed, but it was nothing new to him.
In March 2014, Scott was knocked out in the first round by Deontay Wilder with a punch which many claimed didn’t land. He was accused of taking a dive and his reputation as a worldlevel heavyweight sustained seemingly irreversible damage.
“I don’t know anyone who ever had a more embarrassing performance than me,” Scott admits. “And I had it twice. Both of them – Wilder and Ortiz. Against Deontay I remember leaving the hotel and everyone is just staring at me. Then I flew to Miami, one of the most crowded airports, and everyone is still just staring. Then you read the tabloids... man you gotta bounce back. That sort of s**t can break you.
“I learnt so much. It was sink or swim.
‘USYK THROWS SO MANY PUNCHES IN JUST TWO SECONDS’
Friends change, everything. It didn’t even happen overnight – it happened that night. I blew the moment, but there were blessings. When I look up at the scoreboard of life, I’ve never been behind.”
There was talk of a ring return this December on the undercard of Joseph Parker’s showdown with Alexander Flores in Christchurch, but with nothing finalised, still he waits.
“That’s just the game, brother,” he says. “When you stink up the place there’s a price to pay in this sport. I’m just a man who understands it. The calls will start coming in soon. You’ve got hot prospects and they need opposition. I’ll upset one or two of those and I’m right back in position.”
For now, that means staying sharp, even if it means a life on the road. He adds: “If I just sit around it won’t work for me at all. I was out in Ukraine for four weeks, then I got two with Deontay, fly out to Henderson for Parker’s camp then come back to Alabama before heading to LA for December 1. I don’t spend much time at home. This is my life.”
While Scott described Usyk’s punch power as “fair”, he knows the heat will be cranked up in that department during his relentless sparring schedule with Wilder. And, having previously spent time in camp with two of history’s best heavyweights in Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko, Scott is well placed to offer an insight into Wilder’s arsenal. “With 20oz gloves on, it still feels crazy,” he says. “Him, Lennox and Wlad, something about their power drains you. With those punches, it doesn’t matter. These guys can hit you even on the arm and you just think, ‘I can’t keep getting hit by these guys.’ Deontay and Lennox don’t know how to go light. They’re so heavy-handed. But Deontay is meaner than Lennox was. It’s not the fake mean either, it’s the real mean. He loves me to death, but when we get in that ring, it all goes out the window. He doesn’t care about that. Something happens to your brain when he lands flush. It’s some equilibrium s**t. You can’t take two of them. It’s like Bermane Stiverne. Nobody could knock him down but after he fought Deontay, his chin was done.”
Wilder is currently a reasonably clear favourite to retain his WBC title against Fury, who is still only two fights into his comeback following nearly 1,000 days out of the ring. For Scott, the smart money is on another successful defence for Wilder, but he is not writing Fury off.
“I sparred Tyson in Brussels and he bust my eardrum on the first day,” Scott says. “What makes Tyson special is what he can do at his size. It’s serious s**t, man. He’s like a puzzle. But Deontay used to be a fighter with power who couldn’t wait to hit you. Now he knows he’s going to hit you so he’s like, ‘I’ll wait’.
“A tough-guy mentality against Deontay will get you clipped – nobody beats him with machismo. You’ve got to have brains, man. Fury has brains and that is why he’s a good dance partner, he has the ability to stink a place out. If Fury was more aggressive with Wlad, he loses the fight and that’s why he’s got a chance on December 1. He can do enough to stink it up, and that’s enough. But would he get the decision here? I doubt it.”
And with that, Scott is back to his room and back to his documentaries about crime and murder. The life of one of America’s most wanted sparring partners is never far from violence.
‘WHEN YOU STINK OUT THE PLACE LIKE I DID YOU PAY THE PRICE’