• http://www.ashleytheophane.com Ashley Theophane

  Treasure Hunter

  Ashley Theophane talks to Tris Dixon about his journey
  from the ‘hood to Hollywood as he goes in search of fame,
  fortune and championship gold

  THE tattoos that cover his lean body are clues to the dark secrets of Ashley “Treasure” Theophane’s past. Yet they also serve to illustrate the changes he has made to transform his life from criminal to contender.
  The muggings and assaults have been left behind but while the Londoner has not forgotten where he came from he could not be further – psychologically and often geographically – from that sinister
  existence. He has not abandoned old friends either, those that are still alive at least and a part of his life’s complex fabric.
  Some associates are doing long stretches inside. Other acquaintances and former accomplices have not been so fortunate.
  With that in mind – and a dream to live – Theophane relocated to the US to lose the distractions and give boxing his best shot in its most famous gyms.
  His reward was a breakout victory over former WBO light-welter champion DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley in July in upstate New York, which opened doors for his American return this month.
  Now it is all about the future. Not the past.
  The “Thuglife”, “Outlaw” and “Hustler” tattoos remain but the meaning has changed. They are not who he is, simply reminders of who he once was.
  Some of the tattoos do not hold quite such serious
  connotations. His first was of Mike Tyson, a week before his 17th
  birthday, because the
  former heavyweight king was the fighter who first drew him to the sport. His largest, a cobra on his back, is there because of his love of wildlife.
  But it is the old ones that stand out.
  “Say, 10 years ago, that was me,” he admits of the gang-orientated emblems as he talks at the All Stars boxing gym in Paddington, where he started fighting 20 years ago.
  “I would rob rich people for their Rolexes and diamonds. That’s what I was doing when I was a teenager,” he admits.
  You get the feeling that only scratches the surface.
  “I put a lot of pain in peoples’ lives, a lot of fear which still may affect them to this day,” he continues.
  “I had guns held against me. I’ve had guys try to kidnap me so there have been some close shaves. Sometimes – and I’m not really into religion – it feels like someone’s been watching over me because there’ve been a lot of times when I could have been caught, I could have been sentenced and my boxing career would have been over.”
  Expelled from two schools, he has never been convicted of a crime, although spent six months on remand in 2000 after allegedly being the triggerman in an armed robbery.
  He was sent to Feltham’s Young Offender Institution and Remand Centre until trial but, when riots broke out, his wing’s
  population was moved to HMP Lewes.
  “I met a lot of young guys who had a lot of talent in certain areas but they got involved in crime or made bad mistakes and got into a fight and killed someone. Their lives were basically over because they were getting 10, 20 years,” he reflects.
  Theophane was determined not to go that way. He was studying BTEC Media before getting into trouble. He asked his tutor to send him coursework so he could carry on while inside. He got a distinction and, five years later – having seen more friends killed or banged up – began his lonely life as an outsider in the take-no-prisoners American gyms.
  “The US is like a childhood thing, that’s why I chose to do it,” says the 28-year-old. “I used to watch big fights with guys like Marvin Hagler and Mike Tyson and it’s something I wanted to do. And the Brits that went over there, like Lloyd Honeyghan and Kirkland Laing, made me want to. I watch a lot of British fighters turn pro and say, ‘I want to win a British title, I’d be happy with that’. But that was never my goal. I saw those big fights with Sugar Ray [Leonard], Duran and I saw Honeyghan and Laing go out there with the odds stacked against them and they pulled it off. So that was always my long-term goal.
  “I think I was 9-1 [his record at the time of moving] and thought, ‘It’s now or never’. I had some family over there [in upstate New York]. They put me up for a month and then I phoned Gleason’s Gym [in Brooklyn] and they said just come down and
  pay your fees and I met
  [trainer] Lennox Blackmoore. ‘
  ‘ It was intimidating because you walk in and there are four rings. You hear
  swearing, trainers arguing with each other. I looked at a lot of coaches, how they were teaching and who they had and Lennox had Wayne Braithwaite, Vivian Harris, Elio Rojas, three good boxers. He fought Aaron Pryor, too, so he boxed at that higher level. I went with him and sparred Elio, Paulie Malignaggi and Chris Smith. They were going at me hard and I wasn’t used to that.
  “It toughened me up. The trainers acted as though it was a fight. They are very competitive against each other. They don’t want to look bad and because I was British there was a long queue of guys who
  wanted to try to knock me out.
  “But I made a lot of friends in the boxing community who, after boxing, I will still speak to. I’ve always liked travelling and a lot of guys, like Yuri Foreman [from Belarus], and others, go to the US to do this American dream thing.”
  His sparring partners became his fighting family and close bonds were forged with Frankie Figueroa, Ajose Olusegun and – most of all – Dmitriy Salita.
  “They are people I can call on to help me out and are getting closer to their dream like I am. They’re hungry like me,” he says.
  Salita, the WBA’s No. 3 light-welter, even takes care of Ashley’s expenses when the Brit helps him prepare for a fight.
  Theophane’s commendable win over Corley repaid his self-belief and has served as a launchpad for his next stop in the US. This time he is dipping his toes back into the West Coast waters of Los Angeles to work with British coach John Tandy, trainer of super-middle contender Yusaf Mack.
  Tandy worked with the ambitious Brit ahead of the Corley fight.
  But a month before his big night, Theophane was struggling with a hand injury. He managed only a few light rounds with Salita when he stopped by New York City on his way to the fight in Rochester and worked with Figueroa, who allowed him to get a feel for Corley’s southpaw stance. Ashley broke down as the hand became inflamed.
  But the harder you work the luckier you get and having seen the WBC’s No. 1, Devon Alexander, beat Corley, he was still
  confident of springing a surprise.
  “I was nervous in the hotel, but in the arena they were chanting ‘USA, USA’ and ‘Chop Chop’ and I loved it,” he remembers.
  “I had watched him against [Miguel] Cotto, [Floyd] Mayweather Jnr and it was like ‘Wow, I’m fighting him now’.”
  Theophane examined clips on his iPod of the painfully precise boxing lesson Mayweather Jnr dished out to Arturo Gatti (“getting the sharpness in my head”) as he sat calmly in the locker-room, hoping the judges would give him a fair shake.
  “If I boxed him he might have beaten me, but I made him fight, made him work and broke him down,” Ashley recalls.
  “If I’d had 12 rounds and stopped him, that would have been a big deal. He started looking to the referee, moaning about my body shots [in the eighth and last round], because he couldn’t handle my pace.”
  The marvellous victory almost saw him land a late-notice scrap with a leading
  welterweight and Theophane doubts a shop-worn, uninterested and overconfident Zab Judah would have beaten him.
  “That was so, so close to happening,” he says, holding his thumb and forefinger painstakingly close, “Yet so far.
  “I would have won because he took it on three weeks’ notice – he doesn’t train
  anyway – and even when he’s had his big fights he’s run out of steam. If you can stand there for five rounds, take what he’s got and give some back he’s going to tire and doesn’t want to be in the ring after that. He hasn’t stopped anyone in years. Watching him coming up he was a real
  talented boxer, but because he’s made money he ain’t hungry anymore.
  “He was saying, ‘I’m boxing a British kid, I will knock him out in one round’.
  “Maybe it was my fault because when Square Ring [Judah’s promoters] asked me to fight him they said, ‘We will bring you back afterwards with a win’. And I told them, ‘Don’t be shocked if I beat him up because I ain’t coming to lose’. Because I was
  speaking so confidently, his people did their homework and found that I had been in New York for three years training, sparring with everyone.
  “I’ve sparred a lot of good guys. Sparring and fighting are two different things. But I truly believe the way I hold my own with some of the guys that are ranked up there, and sometimes I get the better of them – I’m not saying any names – I know I’m good enough to do well.
  “I’ve raised my game [in the US]. When you think, ‘Am I good enough?’ and you go over there and spar with guys who are ranked in the top 10 like Joan Guzman, James Moore, Yuri Foreman, Raul Frank, Delvin Rodriguez you get a lot of
  experience and confidence.
  “I’m proud of what I’ve done. There aren’t many boxers who get as far as I have on their own [with no manager or
  promoter]. There are four champions out there and I must be able to beat one.
  “I would rather fail boxing for a world title than be a British champion.
  “I’ve noticed in America, they don’t care who the European champion is or who the British champion is. To them it means
  nothing. What helps me over there is beating people like Vivian Harris, Corley and Judah.”
  Ashley was born and raised in the Paddington/Kilburn area. His mum (whose maiden name, Treasure, inspired his ring nickname) works to get housing for
  disadvantaged people while his dad has been registered disabled for 20 years with arthritis.
  Meanwhile, Theophane continues his admirable quest to improve and studies course after course. He is a qualified sports nutritionist, can coach football, athletics and boxing and is learning Spanish.
  He also tries to convince kids that crime is not the way to progress, talking to youngsters in the gym and at schools.
  He has a younger brother and an older sister and made the choice as a teenager to concentrate on boxing instead of becoming an 800m and 400m runner. As an 18-year-old he could clock a 49-second lap and comfortably cracked two minutes on the longer route in London Schools and National Championships.
  That track work instilled a love of
  training that still exists.
  “While I’m boxing it is my life until I retire,” he says passionately. “After boxing I will have a new life so that’s why I’m putting everything into it now. Because I know there are a lot of boxers that come back and get knocked out.
  “I’ve heard old boxers who said they wished they never took drugs or fooled around with women. I’ve learned from their mistakes and I’m staying focused.
  “I’ve done my education and can still move into different sectors.
  “When I get ready for a fight I always think of my cousin [Tyrone] who died two years ago [aged 25 from a heart
  condition]. He believed in me. So although I may fall on my sword I’m going all out. And my Godmother [Dorothy Edwards], who is dead now, always said I would be a
  champion, so I don’t want to let her down.”
  Thinking back to how life used to be is now his motivation.
  “A lot of my friends who are still
  criminals – some in jail, some dead – all want me to do well. I’m representing them as well because I was never meant to live that way. So I’m making the most of it.”

  Ashley has a 2010 Calendar out now and also os being filmed for Raised by the hood movie and he is writing Raised By the hood his novel along with his clothing line.
  Urban Ink have an article on him in their next issue.

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