Bruce Carrington On Saturday’s Fight: ‘The IQ Is Going To Separate The Boys From The Men’

WBC featherweight champion Bruce ‘Shu-Shu’ Carrington heads to the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio, on Saturday to make his first title defense against top undefeated contender Rene Palacios (19-0-1, 10 KOs), live on TNT Sports in the U.S. and DAZN worldwide. Although he is not the main event, all eyes will still be on his fight, as future unifications ride on him having his hand raised at the end of the night.

It was only five months ago that the 29-year-old Carrington (17-0, 10 KOs) from Brooklyn, New York, knocked out Carlos Castro to become the WBC featherweight champion. That night fulfilled one of his lifelong dreams of becoming a world champion. Becoming a world champion, especially in New York and being from there, tends to change how you are viewed outside the ring. Carrington takes it all in stride, and when things have the potential to get out of hand, he leans on his life partner to help guide him through it all.

“It’s been great,” Carrington said of the fame that came with winning the title. “More people are noticing me in the most random places now, which is cool. That’s kinda what it’s all about; building my name and fanbase. This is one of those things I really worked hard for. To be honest, I’ve been crawling and scraping at this for so long that, at times, I don’t know how to accept those gifts and stuff like that.”

“It’s something hard to grasp at times, but that’s when my wife says, ‘Take a beat, breathe in the fresh air. You did it.’ I’ll have moments when I’m able to appreciate it, but I still have so much work to do. I’m back to having my head down, and I’ll probably lift my head up when I become undisputed world champion.”

Now that Carrington is the champion, he knows the target is right on his back from rivals and even those he came up with, since he now has what they want. “I’ve seen a few guys call me out,” Carrington told FightsATW. “It’s very funny to me, although that was me a few months ago. It’s something that I can relate to.”

Shortly after winning the title, Carrington was one of the fighters at Top Rank’s press conference in New York City when they formally announced DAZN as their new media rights partner. It was not only an acknowledgment that Carrington had reached a certain level but also a signal of how he is viewed within Top Rank.

“That was amazing,” he said. “First of all, the collaboration between Top Rank and DAZN is, right now, the best move to be made. We finally have more fighters under one banner, and we can watch them on one network: DAZN. It’s not like ‘Who’s fighting on ESPN,’ ‘Who’s fighting on DAZN,’ or ‘Who’s fighting on Amazon.’ More and more are starting to fight on one network, and it just makes it easier for the casual fan.

“It’s great to be one of the guys to continue to carry the banner for Top Rank. It’s honestly special. I feel valued. They see my talent and are putting me on a pedestal where I worked so hard to be. The only thing I have to do is keep working hard and deliver.”

Now, Carrington has to keep his profile up by continuing to win and doing it impressively. He will have another opportunity to do so on Saturday against Palacios. Carrington isn’t taking Palacios lightly, as he knows the hunger that comes with being a challenger for a world title.

“I think it’s going to be a fan-friendly fight. He’s a shorter guy and likes to fight his way inside. I like to fight inside, too. There may be moments in there where it’s going to be like ‘alright, who’s going to back down first?’ It’s inevitable.

“The IQ is going to separate the boys from the men. You’ll see why I’m the world champion on July 4.”

While people nationwide celebrate the 250^th anniversary of America’s Independence with cookouts and fireworks, when the night settles in, live on TNT Sports, Carrington aims to deliver the kind of performance that earns him new fans and raises his stock in the featherweight division.

“To be able to fight on Independence Day on a network like DAZN and TNT is amazing and something that is going to be really special for America.”

Abraham Gonzalez

Abraham Gonzalez is a 2x award-winning writer, International Boxing Hall of Fame voter, founder and publisher of FightsATW. His journalistic work has been published and used across several platforms, including online, network TV, and promotional companies. He is an alumnus of an American Public University and a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). Abraham was the Managing Editor for NYFights, Big Fight Weekend, and contributed to The Ring Magazine, FanSidedMMA, and ProBoxTV.

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