Thursday, March 15, 2007

Sample, Reed to clash April 13

by Clarke Davis

Originally posted on Jefferson County News

Andy “Sandman” Sample has lost 33 pounds in the last five weeks and is on a prescribed protein diet that promises to have him in his best fighting condition April 13.

Sample

That’s Friday the 13th and when two pugilists enter the
ring it will be unlucky for one of them.

Sandman is confident. His oppenent — Damon Reed — is
more mouthy.

Reed has been quoted as saying a stretcher will be
needed for one of them and its not going to be him.

Sandman doesn’t brag and he doesn’t badmouth anyone.

“I just wasn’t brought up that way,” he said. “I was brought up to respect everybody.”

He’s the polite boxer, who lets the gloves do his talking.

The promoters are billing this fight as the Ali-Frazier fight of Topeka. The two heavyweights have boxed in the capital city for 15 to 20 years but never fought each other.

Sample considers Reed a friend but said they’ve never socialized together. Their relationship has always been as colleagues in the fight game.

They have sparred with one another that resulted in a pretty good workout, Sample said.

“It’s going to be a lot different with 10-ounce gloves and no headgear,” he said.

“I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘It’s going to be a real fight someday’ and that someday is here,” he said.

Sandman’s weight Friday was 218 pounds and Reed is down around 200. Both are undefeated in Topeka, but Reed is considerably higher on the charts. Of the 940 world ranked boxers, Reed is at 251 and Sample is at 412.

Sample is 30 years old and first put the gloves on at age 9. Reed is five years older and started about five years later than Sample.

In Sample’s corner are coaches Paul Adame and Raul Barron, both of whom were there for his first fight when he was just a kid as part of Topeka Golden Gloves. His father, Bob Sample, a marathon runner, is also helping him train.

Reed, a Seaman High School grad, owns his own gym and fight promotion company. Sample graduated in 1994 from Highland Park.

It was Reed who called Sandman to set up the fight.

“He said, ‘We’re not getting any younger,’ ” Sample said. The contract gives the loser to option of a rematch.

Sample is employed by the city of Lawrence in the utilities collection department but the fight game has taken him to many parts of the world. He matched his annual salary one time with a fight in Italy. This past year he’s fought in Tampa, Fla., a West Virginia Raceway, and in Canada.

He nets $7,000 to $8,000 for these fights. He would not say how much he will pocket for the fight with Reed, but said it would be a good pay day. Ticket sales, usually in the 2,500 range, have shot over 5,000.

“This is a big event. People really want to see this fight,” he said.

Not wanting to disappoint his fans, Sandman is training harder for this fight than any other in his career, he said.

He trains at Valley Falls where he sees his children after work — he has three children with Kelli Wynkoop —and then works out at a Topeka gym. He starts his nightly run from the Wynkoop residence west of town up blinker-light hill and out to the K-4 and 16 junction before looping around downtown and back home. Twice around and he quits for the night.

He regime is maintained six days a week. On Sunday he swims at the YMCA.

“I would like to weigh 200 for the fight,” he said.

 

Copyright © 2007 Davis Publications