All photos by Keystone Boxing
22-year-old Mike “Yes Indeed” Reed (15-0, 8 KOs) has been a Round By Round Boxing favorite for quite some time, and has done plenty of interviews and chats for our website.
Reed enters the ring for the fourth time this year on September 11 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Top Rank‘s truTV broadcast from the Cosmopolitan Casino.
Before his next bout, we wanted our readers to get to know Reed a little more, and maybe settle some confusion as to who this rising boxing star is that we’re always talking about.
Round By Round Boxing: What got you into boxing, and how old were you when you started?
Mike Reed: I was around the age of nine, and at the time I was the youngest of four boys. The brother that was closest to me was Tyrell. He started boxing and he wasn’t very good. Since I was the younger brother, I wanted to compete with Tyrell and be better than him. So my dad let us put the gloves on one day and go at it. He beat me up, and my father just let me get beat up. So after that I was scarred for a little while, but I wanted to get back in there and beat up Tyrell. I worked for a few weeks straight, and the rest is history after that.
RBRBoxing: Your dad is a huge part of your career, trainer and manager, what does that mean to you, and who else is a big part of Team Reed?
MR: My dad is my lead trainer and has been ever since I started boxing. As far back as I can remember, my dad has been there for everything–boxing, football, basketball. As a young kid I didn’t realize how important that was or what it would mean to me.
You know, when you’re that young you’re just like ‘man he is always around’ [laughs]. As a man now, I see how good of a person my dad is, how reliable he is, and is always there for his children and I take all that in. I’m not the only fighter that my dad trains, so he works a normal 9-5 and hits the gym every day to be there for me and his other fighters.
Lorin Chvotkin is a great guy and a big part of my team. He doesn’t really have an official title because he’s like a Swiss Army Knife. Whatever I need, whether its promotion, marketing, or even Gatorade’s before the gym, he’s there for me.
Then we also have Andre Hunter, he’s my second trainer. He’s watched me grow up, he knows my strenghs and weaknesses.
The great thing about my team is they’ve all been with me since the beginning, before I even signed with Top Rank. We’ve all grown together and it was very important and meant a lot to me that Top Rank allowed everyone to still stay with me. This I felt helped my career tremendously.
RBRBoxing: Besides being a boxer you were recently enrolled in school, let’s talk about that. What you were going for, and what degree were you pursuing?
MR: Before Top Rank really started keeping me busy, and as sort of a plan B, I was going to school for accounting. I wanted to be a CPA and get my associates and bachelor’s degree in accounting. Since I’m so busy I have taken a break, but once I decide to pick it back up I’ll only need five more classes to get my associates. I can’t box forever, so when that time comes I want to be able to put my degrees to use.
RBRBoxing: Who knows, maybe you can become a financial advisor to future boxers?
MR: Absolutely! I mean I can’t ever see myself completely leaving the boxing game. And you see it happen too often where boxers rise so quickly and fall just as fast and file for bankruptcy. But we’ll see.
RBRBoxing: Since you’ve been so incredibly busy this year, I’m sure your personal time is very limited. What does Mike Reed like to do when he’s not in training?
MR: When I’m not in training I love to eat!! I swear if I was never a fighter I’d easily be 200 pounds. Because I’m a fighter I never would let myself get too big in between camps. But I love food, and I love to bowl. If you follow me on social media I’m always bowling.
My family and I go quite a bit and we have a good time. I spend a lot of time with my family, if we’re not bowling we’re hanging out and watching boxing. It’s really a family thing for us. Just recently we all got together to watch the Paulie Malignaggi and Danny Garcia fight. I was really rooting for Paulie in that fight, sad to see him lose like that.
RBRBoxing: We always talk boxing during our interviews, I love getting your fight picks. Before I asked you about Miguel Cotto vs. Canelo Alvarez, you picked Canelo. Do you still feel the same now that the fight is official?
MR: Yeah, I believe so. I know Cotto has been looking really good with Freddie Roach, but I feel Canelo is a much more mature fighter than he was, when we saw him with [Floyd] Mayweather. He looked real good against James Kirkland and Kirkland is a big middleweight. I can’t see a smaller Cotto being able to keep up with Canelo’s power for too long. I say a stoppage by Canelo in the ninth round.
truTV will air the “Metro PCS Friday Night Knockout” card at 10:00 pm EST/PST on September 11 from the Chelsea Theatre inside the Cosmpolitan Casino in Las Vegas. The co-main event features Jessie Hart vs. Aaron Pryor and the main event featuring Oscar Valdez vs. Chris Avalos.
Reed will be featured on the undercard facing Antonio Canas (10-1-1, 4 KOs) and should be live streamed on TopRank.tv. Stay with Round By Round Boxing for more informationg on this fight card and follow Mike Reed on Twitter and Instagram @YesIndeed_Reed.
