Kevin Ross talks upcoming fight with Mark DeLuca

With Kevin Ross vs. Mark DeLuca all but confirmed we were able to catch up with "The Soul Assassin" and have him answer a few questions regarding his upcoming bout with Mark DeLuca. The fight is going to take place May 14th in Primm Valley at the Star of the Desert Arena in Buffalo Bill's Casino.

MTA: You will be fighting Mark DeLuca on March 14th, technically I guess it can be counted as an East vs. West type match. What do you think of Mark as an opponent?

Kevin: I’ve seen some of his fights over the years, never in person; we’ve fought a few of the same people. He seems to relatively technical which is good, there’s nothing worse than fighting a spaz or a sloppy fighter.

MTA: You mentioned at the stand up promotions event that he requested to fight you. What are your thoughts on a fighter requesting to fight you?

Kevin: I was told that he had asked for me, guess it all depends on what he’s thinking. For me, I ask for people that I think are the best in the world, people that on paper should easily beat me. This is how you up your game and get to be one of the best. So if he asked for me because of the challenge then I can respect that but if he asked for me because he thinks it’ll be an easy fight then he’s about to have a serious wake up call. I could care less either way, it don’t make a difference to me what people say outside of the ring, anyone can talk, it’s another story once you have to back it up.

MTA: Anything you have seen of Mark that you feel you have to be especially prepared for?

Kevin: Not really, I haven’t seen anything that he’s exceptional at, he seems to be well rounded and just like anyone you need to be prepared for everything. Then again I never really study or focus too much on my opponents; I stay focused on what I’m going to do not what they might do. Only tape I ever really watch is on fighters that I look up to and I study them.

MTA: You injured you hand in your last fight with Sittisak, how has it been healing?

Kevin: It’s something that has troubled me throughout my career. I’ve broken it about three times and it has never really been 100% since the first time I injured it. Actually the year or so leading up to that fight was the best it has felt in a long time so when I hurt it again I was pretty bummed. I’d say it’s helped more than hurt me over the years. It forced me to focus more on the other aspects of my game, which I needed to do. If you solely rely on one thing, what are you going to do when that thing gets taken away? You need to have options. It should be pretty functional come fight time, either way I’m not too concerned with it.

MTA: In the last year you have been facing international competition, DeLuca is from Pennsylvania much like yourself. Would you prefer to fight international fighters or fighters from the U.S.?

Kevin: I will always prefer facing international opponents because that’s where the best fighters in the world are at this time. Not to say that I’m above fighting guys from the U.S. or to take anything away him, but I would prefer to be in there with the best. A fight is a fight and no matter how high someone is ranked or how good they are anything can happen. I’m just grateful to be able to fight and stay busy, no matter who it’s against.

MTA: Aside from the upcoming fight with Mark DeLuca do you have any other fights in the works right now?

Kevin: Yes I actually have a few in the works following this one but none that I can talk about as of now, should be a busy year.

MTA: The WBC recently released rankings, and they are attempting to rank fighters on a national scale. As a fighter can you give us your thoughts on the WBC rankings?

Kevin: I don’t put too much emphasis on rankings. I mean they are a good way to track people and to see where the top guys are but rankings are just like judges, they’re just opinions (for the most part). I mean how many fights have you seen where the judges were obviously blind to have scored the way they did or how many rankings have you looked at that were completely backwards. I think the ones that are up now need some adjustments but they had to start somewhere. So now that they are up people have the chance to go in there and prove the rankings wrong or to prove that they are correct. But again, I don’t focus too much on other people’s opinions. When my career is over I’m not going to judge it on where I was ranked or what fights/belts I won or lost. I will judge it on the quality of opposition I faced, the type of fights I had and on the people I was able to inspire along the way.

MTA: We know you don't do predictions but we are going to keep asking every fight. So what’s you prediction for the fight with DeLuca?

Kevin: My prediction, PAIN! Hahahahahaha