Karl Hodgers: “James is a great fighter but I truly believe that this title is meant to be mine”

It’s been over three years since Karl Hodgers last appeared in front of an Irish crowd but in that brief absence he’s been perfecting his craft in Thailand.

On 26^th March he’ll mark his comeback at Cage Kings Dublin for the 57kg Caged Thai title against the champion James E O’Connell.

They’ve fought each other twice before a number of years ago and have one win a piece. This time however they are regarded as two of the best 57 kilo fighters in Ireland and Karl admits that he is a ‘completely different fighter’ since their last bout.

“I haven’t fought in Ireland in over three years. I’m looking forward to putting on a show for the Irish people. I don’t think they’ve seen me at this level before. I’m fairly confident in my abilities and what I can do in the cage,” he said.

A lot of things have changed since they last fought. James featured on every Cage Kings show, successfully defending his title while Karl’s matured and developed his skills in Thailand.

“I was only 17 the last time we fought so I think I probably took it too early. It’s definitely not going to go the same way this time. I’ve one hundred per cent faith in my own abilities this time and I feel a lot bigger. I actually have to cut weight this time even though we’re fighting at the same weight. I’m much faster, smarter and stronger than I was then. It’s only going to go my way I think.”

The cage offers a new challenge for Hodgers but he believes that the only real difference will be the size of the gloves.

“The gloves are going to make a big difference, even if half a shot lands it will probably rock you. There’s no real covering behind the gloves; you may be able to block but it all depends on the size of your hands so a lot of shots will slip through. I’m going to have to fight a lot smarter and try to not get caught by anything silly.”

In a normal fight fighters can take a while to build up momentum but Caged Muay Thai is only three rounds which forces the fighters to start a lot faster.

“If the fight goes to points you’ll need all three rounds. I’ll try to be a lot more effective with my punches and pick my shots rather than swinging blindly. I’ll have to keep good movement around the cage and use the space to my advantage,” explains Hodgers.

Thailand’s been hugely beneficial for Hodgers and has developed him both physically and mentally. The experience of fighting over there was much more challenging than what he was use to in Ireland.

“You don’t know who you’re fighting over there; you just have to prepare yourself as best you can. You don’t know what kind of fighting it’ll be until you’re in the ring. You won’t even see you opponent until the weigh-in. There’s a good mental side to it and the calibre of fighters means that you’ll never have an easy fight.”

“It’s not completely different but in Ireland you’d normally know the guy you’re fighting. You can usually look up their previous fights on Youtube and develop your game plan based on how they fought,” he explains.

Karl is a proud member of Louth Muay Thai and he gives us his reasons why the gym’s grown to become so successful.

“I think it’s the calibre of fighters that are training in the gym at the moment. We all have over 10 years’ experience fighting and we’ve all been to Thailand numerous times. It’s a good gym for perfecting your techniques and doing everything right. Nothing is done half-hearted, we like everything to be done properly.”

There’s no doubting his passion for the sport and this really comes to light when we asked him how he began training in Muay Thai.

As a 13 year old he had dreams of joining a boxing gym but there were none close to him. Maybe by luck his two older brother, Sean and Stephen, joined a Thai boxing gym which sparked his interest in the sport.

“I got a load of gear and converted our garage into a makeshift gym until I was old enough to go to the actual gym. After every session they’d come back and teach me what they’d learnt and then I’d go away and train in the garage,” he remembers.

From his humble beginnings in the garage to stepping out in front of a packed Arena to fight for the 57 kilo title; Karl has been on a very rewarding journey which is why we asked him what winning that title would mean to him.

“It’s going to mean everything to me and it’ll make all this hard work pay off. James is a great fighter but I truly believe that this title is meant to be mine. I feel like I am the best 57 kilo fighter in Ireland. I’m going to make sure that it’ll be coming back to my gym,” he admits.