LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Carlos Dixon won the World Boxing Council Youth Silver Super Featherweight Championship in November, was set for a title defense in January, but his opponent failed to make weight. The next title defense was set for April, but the coronavirus pandemic shut that down.
You would think the 23-year-old boxer who has only one more year to fight on the youth level would be anxious, or bitter, or frustrated. You would be wrong.
“With this sport, you can’t just be upset, you can’t be irrational, you just have to think about it: sometimes, it’s not your time. You just gotta wait,” Dixon said.
Dixon preaches patience and relies on faith to keep him going as continues to train.
“We had it already set up to fight in New York, but God has his own plans and things happen.”
His father James is also his trainer. The elder Dixon runs TKO gym on East Breckenridge, which he was forced to close in mid-March because of the coronavirus outbreak. He and his son still use the gym privately to keep Carlos in shape, but for now, James coaches his son from a safe distance outside the ring, rather than getting in with him during training.
“There’s never been a time more (than now) where we depend on each other to take care and look out for each other,” James said.
James says not only was the title fight scheduled for April in New York City, but there was a nationally televised match scheduled for Louisville. All plans are on hold for now. James calls it heartbreaking, but the focus is on the future. A future that will include a phone call telling the Dixons the title fight is back on.
“We’re probably going to have less than four to five weeks to get ready for the fight, so we have to stay ready right now,” James said.
His patient son will be ready.
“It’s one day at a time. It’s a process. There’s nothing that’s going to happen overnight. Rome wasn’t (built) overnight. And it was a mecca at its time. It was destroyed in a couple of days, though. You gotta take it slow," Carlos said, before adding with a grin: “Wash your hands.”
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