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Vanda Ready For Williams
By Jesse Kelley

Minnesota boxing fans will get the chance to see two of the Twin Cities more well known fighters collide on September 26th at the Target Center as Saint Paul's Matt "The Predator" Vanda faces Minneapolis's Phil "The Drill" Williams. The matchup between the two colorful and outgoing personalities along with the clash in styles are what make the fight so intriguing. Vanda, a middleweight, will be bringing his speedy combination punching up to 165 pounds to meet the power punching Williams who continues to come down in weight from light heavyweight.
"The Pride of the East Side" discussed the upcoming bout and more with Minnesotaboxing.com. Here is what Vanda had to say.

You and Phil Williams are fighting in September...
(Cutting in) As soon as he said he will beat anybody at 160 pounds and up I said I'll fight him right away. I'm not taking any shit, you know I'll fight anyone!

This fight will be at 165, the highest you have ever weighed. Talk about the choice to gradually keep going up in weight over the last few years.
I don't think it was really a choice to move up in weight. I'm getting older and I do like fighting at 160, the guys are little bigger there. Obviously Phil has been a light heavyweight, 175 pounds. We will meet at 165 and see what happens. I think it is going to be a hell of a fight. It will be easy for me to make weight, I don't know about Phil. It should just be a good fight all around. I've never fought at 165 so I guess we will find out at my next fight how things go. I think it's a good matchup though. It's kind of more or less power against speed. Anything can happen in this fight.

You and Phil have sparred with each other on a few occasions. Obviously you both are confident in winning this fight. Were you able to take anything away from those sessions?
Anything that happens in sparring is just getting ready for a fight. He helped me get ready for Kolle and I helped him get ready for his last fight (Echols). You are just working on different things in sparring so it is totally different from a fight. We are both completely different fighters once we get in that ring.

You talked about speed vs power. Can you talk a little about what your game plan will be against Phil?
I think the smartest thing for me to do is watch out for his right hook. He has a big right hook when he boxes as a southpaw. I know he switches back and forth a lot too. There are a lot of different things I plan on doing that I won't get into right now. It all depends on how he fights me because I know he is typically a southpaw that sometimes fights right handed. We will see what happens when the fight happens. I respect the dude though, he's a good guy and a good father, and he hits like a ton of bricks so I'm not going to stand in front of him and let him bang me like I let Chavez do. Chavez can't hurt anybody. Phil Williams can hurt somebody.

Phil just did an interview for MNboxingleague where he showed you a lot of respect. He basically said that out of the ring you guys get along. It sounds like you see it the same way...
I have all the respect for Phil. I like him as a fighter and as a person. There's not going to be any bad talking with this one. Maybe I'll even get my hair cut by him after the fight! Hopefully we'll have a couple of beers after the fight but I don't plan on losing. I'm looking at a good fight but I'm going to be ready, and I'm not losing this fight. I can't wait to fight him. I thought me and Kolle were going to fight but that didn't happen so that's how this fight came about. Phil wants to fight the best fighters in Minnesota and I will fight anybody. I'll fight anybody in Minnesota except for Kenny Kost because we are buddies. That's why I am moving up in weight right now I guess. To fight the best. A lot of people are saying Phil is one of the better fighters to ever come out of Minnesota. If that is so, I want to be in the ring with him.

I've been hearing you might have a tune up fight before Phil. Any details on that?
I think I'll be fighting either July 31st or August 14th at Aldrich Arena but not sure against who. I think they mentioned Jose Spearman but nothing is set. I would like to have one fight at 165 pounds before I fight Phil just so I can feel out the weight. Whoever it is will be different then fighting Phil but I want to feel the weight out in the ring. I am sure I will be a little slower at 165 but I think I am damn quick anyways!

There has been a lot of talk about Phil Williams vs Zach Walters, and now you and Walters. You recently released a pretty heated response to it all actually. Regardless of what happens with Williams, will we see you in the ring with Walters?
Here's the deal, I have all the respect for Phil, I just want everybody to know that. But when you have someone in front of you, you fight them. So I don't want to disrespect him by looking past him but I plan on knocking Phil out and then knocking Zach Walters the F--k out. He was calling out Phil Williams, but me and Phil Williams is a much better fight. Zach is just a tall stickman. That's all he is, a stick and I'll break him in half like a twig. I'll fight Walters and if Horton wants to get in the ring, I'll fight him too. Kolle, I'm done with him. Kolle's seems like a good guy but they backed out of that fight so I'm going straight to f--k--g JungleBoy after Phil.