Minnesota junior middleweight prospect Matt “The Predator” Vanda (34-1, 21KO’s) is coming off of the biggest win of his professional career, a 12 round split decision over Ramon Luis “Yory Boy” Campas (86-8, 70KO’s). The win put a stake in the ground for Vanda as he is now the IBA Americas junior middleweight champion. Vanda is now on the boxing radar screen for all the right reasons, ranked #4 in the world by the WBO and #34 by the WBC.

Vanda proved the boxing world wrong as most writers predicted a Campas victory by KO. Instead, Vanda put in a warriors’ performance by coming on strong in the championship rounds, a place Vanda had never been up to this point in his career. The fans of “The Predator” saw a much improved Vanda whose 5 punch combinations and slugging style seemed to give Campas more than he bargained for.

Vanda now is preparing to leave for camp in a few weeks as he gets ready to make his first IBA Americas title defense while continuing to prepare himself for bigger fights down the road. MinnesotaBoxing.com caught up with Vanda to get his thoughts on the fight with Campas as well what’s in store for the future.

Matt, thanks a lot for making time and congratulations Champ on your victory over Yory Boy Campas. Can you give us your thoughts on the performance?

I thought it was a good performance, my coach says I could have thrown more punches and maybe knocked him out in the forth or fifth round. But that’s my coach he always has things to give me to get better. I thought it was an overall good performance because I thought I had him out a couple of times. Actually, going into the fight I had an eye injury, most guys probably wouldn’t have even taken the fight. My whole face was numb on the left side because I got poked in the eye two weeks before the fight in sparring. It was numb all the way down my left cheek, but I said (screw) it, I’m just going to go in there and beat this guys (butt). Ya know, it was a back and forth fight, but I thought I threw more punches. I watched the fight the other day and I saw that I landed a lot of the cleaner punches and some pretty good combinations. He landed some good shots but I was just happy getting out of their without my eye getting screwed up anymore and getting the victory.

You said you watched the fight the other day….

Yeah, I just watched it the other day for the first time and it was a good back and forth fight and there were a lot of close rounds. It could have gone either way with a lot of those rounds but I clearly won the fight.

You mentioned you could have thrown more punches, was there anything else when you watch the fight that you noticed you could have done better?

Not really, I just watched it the one time, and I was just happy watching it (both laughing). No, I was, because I hadn’t seen it so I was just having a few beers (and watching the fight) and he got me with a couple of good shots. I did notice that I need to keep the left hand up a little more so I don’t get caught with so many counter rights. He got me with a few right hands, but he’s a left hooker and I know I kept my right hand up and he didn’t catch me with too many left hooks. So the defense with the left hook was good, but for a straight right hander I need to work on keeping my left hand up more. That’s something I’ve been working on with my coach since coming with him because I always keep my left hand a little bit low.

Did he ever hurt you?

No, he never really knocked the wind out of me. I mean, he hit me with a few punches that I felt, but I never felt like I lost my balance or couldn’t feel my legs. I felt everything real nice, I was rolling with the punches, maybe (people thinking I was hurt) was because my hair is a little longer now. I talked to a few people who said that maybe you want to cut your hair back short again because it looked like you were getting hit pretty good with a couple of shots because your hair was flying. But I’m not cutting my hair, I’m growing it out for one thing (both laughing). But I didn’t get hit that hard, I know he has 70KO’s, but he wasn’t even close to putting me out. I mean he put Trinidad face first but he ain’t putting The Predator out! That ain’t happening!

You looked strong in the Championship rounds, where you had never been before, how did you feel going into deep waters for the first time?

That’s what my coach (Norman Wilson) emphasizes in the gym, he said it doesn’t matter if it’s a ten round fight or a twelve round fight. We want to get used to fighting twelve round fights. I can knock people out but I like to beat people’s (butt) for twelve rounds. Just beat the hell out of you! And that’s what (my coach) emphasizes is that the eighth, ninth, and tenth is where you gotta turn it up. I started turning it up in the eighth and, I mean, in the ninth and tenth I may have let him back in it a little bit but in the eleventh and twelfth I had to step up my game. I think I almost put him out in both of those rounds. I almost put him down, I know I hurt him. Like Norman says, after the eighth round this is the stretch, this is where a lot of fighters die out. I mean, I’ve always got better (in the past) as the fights go on, but Norman’s made me a totally different fighter. I think I threw more punches in the last two rounds than in the first two. That’s all because of Norman, he’s a hell of a coach. I thought it was great, I felt great, got my second wind around the eight round and got my third wind in the eleventh. I was boxing and he couldn’t even hit me. That’s all because of Norman and John David Jackson (Vanda’s other trainer) with the footwork. Its better to have a couple of coaches working on different things and that’s what’s been happening with me now. I’ve got Norman, JD Jackson, and Chili Wilson working on some of the smaller things like the inside work. The whole package is coming together!

Obviously Matt you were in great shape as evidence by your performance in eleven and twelve as well as eating a candy bar at the weigh in (both laughing). What type of sparing work did you do for this fight to get in such good shape?

Yeah, I was sparring with Richard Gutierrez, but he’s the one that gave me the right uppercut thumb in the eye two weeks before the fight. So I didn’t spar the last two weeks before the fight. I probably got about 80 rounds in with Richard up to that point. It kind of made me a little nervous because all I got to do the last two weeks was hit the hand pads. But the hand pads are actually a tougher work out than sparring. But Richard is such a strong fighter, I mean, he fights at 147 or 150 but he’s so strong and the kid makes you work. So I knew I was already in shape but I was a little worried about the eye and not being able to spar the last two weeks. But everything worked out for the best and I’m pretty happy.

(Note: Richard Gutierrez, is a Columbian welterweight who fought for the first time in the US on the Vanda-Campas undercard winning by 5th round TKO. Gutierrez currently is 16-0 with 10KO’s)

It also sounded like Norman wanted you to move around more instead of standing in front of him so much and absorbing some punishment. Why did you want to exchange with him the way you did?

You see, the thing is, I don’t even watch tapes of the people I fight. The only time I watched a tape before the fight was when I fought Armando Velardez and I ended up getting knocked out by him. That isn’t why I got knocked out by him, I mean there was other things like the ear drum and whatever, but I just told myself after that fight that I’m not watching tapes of anyone. I don’t care if it’s Oscar De La Hoya or whoever I fight I’m not watching any tapes because I don’t want to get that (stuff) in my mind. I already knew he was a left hooker but Norman knew what to tell me to make me not think too much. He knew that we had to box so the whole game plan, I mean, when I’m in the gym sparring with the head gear and (stuff) I do a lot more exchanging and you get banged up doing that. We exchanged the first few rounds in sparring and then I would go and hit the boxing and punching and the only reasons I would exchange in sparring is so I would get myself tired in the first few rounds because I knew this guy would be coming like an animal. So I tried to wear myself out the first few rounds sparring and then boxing the next eight rounds to work on the boxing. So that was the whole game plan with the boxing because if you stand their toe to toe with a guy that hits like he does you may not make it to the forth round. Some people you can stand there and bang with and get them out of there and some people you can’t. And this dude I know you can’t, he don’t get knocked out, he’s been stopped but you don’t knock this guy out. So I wasn’t going to take my chances getting put on the canvas. I know I could easily out box the guy, I don’t think there are a lot of guys that I can’t outbox. I can move pretty good. He was just a typical straight up Mexican style. Just come straight at you and throw bombs. He’s a one dimensional fighter. He’s a bomber, so it’s not too hard to pick apart a guy like that.

It looked like you were throwing more 5 punch combinations than we’ve ever seen from Matt Vanda

(Vanda interrupting) Yeah, that’s another thing Norman Wilson talks about is he doesn’t like to see 1-2 or 1-2-3. It’s gotta be 4-5-6. I mean, we work on throwing twenty punch combinations in the gym. You don’t ever throw a twenty punch combination in a fight but when we are on the hand pads he makes you throw a twenty punch combo then move off to the side and throw another twenty punch combo just to get used to letting your arms fly. And then when we are sparring he’ll be yelling “6-8” because he wants to see 6 and 8 punch combinations. He’s actually got my punch total way up because I used to throw 1-2 and 1-2-3 and then just try to smash someone. But if you throw a 4-6-8 punch combo the first three or four might not get them but the last two or three will probably put the guy out. So we’ve been working on that everyday.

What have you been up to since the fight?

I’ve been drinking a lot beers, having a good time, and enjoying my summer. I’ve been staying in shape though, not a lot of boxing, but me and Jason Litzau have been doing our running and stuff. I haven’t been getting out of control, I’ve been staying in shape, not a lot of boxing because I’m saving the boxing for when I get back down to Miami. You can burn out pretty easy, but like I said I’ve been enjoying the summer, having a few beers, met a new lady and just having a good time, really. But it sounds like the fun is about to end here in a week or two because I’m heading down to Miami.

So when are you going back to camp?

I think they said the 6th (of September) or something, but I think I’m going to try to push it back a week. If I can’t, I can’t. But nothing is set yet for the next fight so I told them that I need something set for the fight so I know who I’m fighting and then I’ll go to camp. I’m not going to go to camp without something being set and then be stuck out there for three months, ya know? That happened when I trained in California and that’s way too long.

Obviously there is a lot up in the air right now…

(Vanda interrupting) There is a lot up in the air, I mean, we don’t have any TV dates right now and I don’t know what’s going on with Luis (De Cubas, Vanda’s manager) and Leon (Margules, former President of Team Freedom who recently left for Warrior Boxing). I just want one more fight up here to defend the title that I won here and then get a fight on Showtime or whatever it doesn’t matter to me. I don’t really care who I fight anyways, I just would like to defend the title one time up here since I won it here, ya know? Give the crowd a little something to get pumped up about!

(Note: there is a potential date set for October 28th in Minneapolis for Vanda to fight an opponent TBD. There have been talks with promoters from the camps of Ike Quartey, Vernon Forrest and Tony Bonsante but none of those fights appear to be moving forward.)

What are your feelings about Leon Margules leaving Team Freedom and going to Warrior boxing?

Leon is a good guy, I’m not sure what happened, but I hope nothing but the best for Leon. He helped me out in my career. He gave me cash when I needed it so I hope everything works out for him. I know I’ll see him when I’m in Miami because he went to Warrior Boxing and I work out at Warriors Gym when I’m in Miami. But it’s a business, it’s a dirty business, so everyone has to do what they have to do. I have to do what I have to do too. But me and Norman we are going to stay together, that’s not business. I have to pay him out of my check so we’ll be together forever.

Matt, thanks for putting on a great show versus Campas and bringing a title home to Minnesota! Is there anything else you would like to say?

Thanks for all of the support to all of my East Side fans, all of the fans in Minnesota, and all of my fans across the country. I’m coming out whipping more (butt) than ever now! Done deal! Done deal, brother!