STILL HUNGRY

Legendary boxing trainer Johnny Tocco once said: "It takes balls to conquer the world." Trainer Freddie Roach lives by those words, which are etched on his walls at his Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California. Roach is the trainer of some of boxing's biggest names. 

In early October, world-ranked junior welterweight contender Ben "Wonder" Tackie quietly set foot into Roach's gym for the first time. Keeping a low profile, Tackie returned to Los Angeles from his native Ghana, still licking the emotional and mental wounds he suffered in his 12-round shellacking at the hands of the division's undisputed champ, Kostya Tszyu, in May. Tackie has been mentioned in some quarters as a possible challenger for hard-hitting WBU champ Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton's scheduled 7 December date. Tackie (24-3, with 15 KOs) has not fought since losing on points to Tszyu. After such a hard fight, conventional wisdom would suggest he should go for a much easier opponent than Hatton, boost his morale, then go for the tough fights. 

According to Tackie, however, the easy way has never been his path to choose. Interestingly, Tackie has not enlisted Roach's services as a trainer for this make-or-break fight. Roach is currently unavailable since he is working exclusively with Johnny Tapia in Big Bear Lake, California, preparing him for his 2 November fight with Marco Antonio Barrera. Tackie is working with formerly Detroit-based Eric Brown (husband and trainer of female fighter Cynthia Prouder) at the Wild Card. Brown cut his teeth under Emanuel Steward at Detroit's Kronk Gym and also worked at Jackie Kallen's gym in that city. 

Only in the last couple of years has he been working as a trainer. He is known as a good mitt man in the gym and also helps Carlos "Famous" Hernandez who challenges David Santos in December for the vacant 130 pound IBF title. As friendly and low-key and possibly talented as Brown is, he appears to be a curious choice of trainer for Tackie, who is at a career crossroads. By own his account, Tackie was stunned by his loss to Tszyu. In his first interview since his loss to "The Thunder From Down Under", a depressed but hopeful Tackie told Boxing Monthly that he is still absorbing the reality of defeat. 

Though most boxing experts predicted Tszyu would beat him, some had picked Tackie to win. Some had even laid odds on Tackie to demolish Tszyu. Even those who tipped Tszyu to win, however, expected a much more competitive fight than the one-sided affair that took place in Las Vegas. "I don't know, I couldn't get off my punches," said Tackie who is something of a mystery to the gym's big names. 

Tackie often pretends not to speak a word of English just to keep his distance in the gym and frequently does not smile until he knows you. He is driven to the gym each day by his manager, Michael Tetteh, and collected immediately afterwards. 

The pair watch TV for hours, particularly fight tapes, and they talk shop constantly. "I don't feel a part of things here," he said. "I don't really like Los Angeles, but that's good because I have no distractions. To me, coming to California is like going to the office. I'm here to work. "For me, a fight with someone like Hatton is my chance to show my people how sorry I am that I lost to Tszyu. 

I have a lot of people who expect big things from me but nobody made me feel bad back home. They were very supportive of me." Tackie feels his responsibilities as a sportsman keenly in Ghana. This is after all, a young man who grew up in a tough African tribe. 

At the age of eight, his own mother hacked the scars slashed into each of his cheeks and threw him into street fights, the prize being food for his family. A cousin of the great Azumah Nelson, Tackie said Nelson (who originally intended to fly to the U.S. to accompany him to the Tszyu fight) called him immediately after the bout and told him he had nothing to be ashamed of, that he was obviously in excellent shape, but Tszyu was the better man that night. "Tszyu wasn't even the hardest puncher I've faced, " said Tackie. "But he's fast. There's force and power there and I could never get into the fight. 

Tszyu is much tougher than I anticipated him to be. "Obviously I am disappointed. I watch the tape over and over until I can't watch it anymore. Of course I wish I could do it better next time, but I have learned from my mistakes. "I used to have a problem with my weight. My weight was perfect [for Tszyu]. 

I just waited too long and didn't let my hands go with Tszyu." Tackie is a notoriously slow starter. This caused many frustrations with his former trainer, Joe Goossen, who has been with Tackie virtually since he turned pro. In the gym sparring, Tackie started hard and fast, moved on his toes, according to Goossen and then in fights, would revert back to his flat-footed style. 

The pair split bitterly for a variety of reasons during training for Tszyu, although Goossen still has a financial stake in him as his manager. Those training problems were part of the reason Tackie cites for his performance against Tszyu. He split with Goossen prior to the Tszyu fight and hired Jesse Arrevalo, who had worked in Goossen's gym and helped prepare him for his IBF elimination fight with Teddy Reid. Tackie looked perhaps his most impressive with Reid. "I was so happy with my performance in that fight," he said. "I felt very good, very light, I felt fast. I felt good and strong. 

That's how I wanted to be for Tszyu. It's how I plan to be if I face Hatton." Arrevalo had helped Tackie when Goossen was busy with his big name fighters. Goossen fully expected to come back and work with Tackie for the Tszyu fight and was surprised when Tackie felt he and Arrevalo were a winning combination. Tackie claimed: "Working with Jesse turned out to be a disaster when I was getting ready for the Tszyu fight. 

He wasn't on top of things, like my weight while I was training. In the mornings, I would be waiting for him to come running with me and he'd be in bed snoring. 

I had to be the one to wake him up and after a while I thought, wait a second, that's his job, to get me up, not the other way around." Three weeks before the Tszyu fight, he dropped Arrevalo and kept the rest of his corner - co-trainer and fight cutman Charles Tackie-Kommey and manager Michael Tetteh. Tetteh, who drives Tackie to the gym each day, is confident that Tackie could beat Hatton. "He [Hatton] hasn't really fought anyone and he probably thinks Ben is still physically recovering from Tszyu, but he took plenty of time off from that fight and he is in great shape." After such a brutal loss to Tszyu, an easier fight before making a WBU title challenge would seem smarter for Tackie who has never been stopped and enjoys his reputation for being able to take a punch. 

But they don't call Hatton "The Hitman" for nothing. Tackie is not concerned about the possibility of fighting Hatton on The Hitman's home turf. "This would be a good fight for me," he said. "I'm ready. I'm looking forward to this fight because I want the chance to show I'm still hungry, I still want this." How hungry is Tackie? His pedestrian starts to fights have brought disaster, such as when he fought veteran John John Molina in virtually a replica performance of that which he would put in against Tszyu. Tackie blamed weight loss for the dropped decision against Molina. In his fight with Roberto Garcia, Garcia was winning every round easily until a Tackie punch from nowhere in the 10th almost removed Garcia's head. At the time, Tackie said it was his gameplan all along. Had Garcia not faded by the 10th and not gotten careless, the outcome might have been different. How would he handle Hatton? "Much better than I handled Tszyu," Tackie said. "I had many distractions and my game plan didn't work. I didn't have a back up plan. 

I would have to box and move with Hatton, box and move." Tackie, who took the last few months off to spend with his wife and two children in his hometown of Accra, Ghana, is painfully aware that his best friends and fellow Africans, Joseph Kiwanuka, Justin Juuko, Ike Quartey and Kofi Jantuah, have all had disastrous losses in the U.S.

 He is determined not to be another statistic. "Something happens to us over here," he said. "Justin did so well in Uganda. He was a skinny, fast kid. He came to the U.S. and found food and he keeps moving up in weight. That slows you down. You don't get stronger that way, no matter what you think. "I can't let that happen to me. In Africa we have no food. It keeps you lean not just physically but mentally. It keeps you sharp. It was good to go home and remember how hard it can be just to stay alive." He said he hopes that Hatton considers him washed up, because it will give him the edge he needs in facing the popular Mancunian on his home turf. "I am glad he is taking the chance to fight me," said Tackie. "I've been in with much bigger names than Hatton has. I am the one who has taken all the risks." Hatton's team have certainly picked his opponents judiciously. He fought a faded Freddie Pendleton and then a seriously eroded Justin Rowsell (whose stock in his native Australia was seriously diminished following a shocking knockout loss to Lovemore Ndou). Even Hatton's last opponent, Stephen Smith, didn't manage to win a British title.

 He was stopped by champion Bobby Vanzie at lightweight. Tackie was unimpressed by Hatton's latest win, saying: "I'd be a big step up for Hatton and he knows it." If Hatton wins, obviously his goal is Tszyu. Should Tackie win, what does he see coming next? "I would love a rematch but unless he has to fight me, Tszyu probably won't. I'd like to fight [Zab] Judah or any of the big names at junior welterweight. Don't ask me what happens if I lose because it's not an option. "Expect a big surprise if you think I'm finished. If Hatton were to fight me, he would know why they call me 'Wonder' and then I would be back in the loop. That's what keeps me going. You see, I'm still hungry."