One-on-One with Joachim “Ti-Joa” Alcine
By Jeff Emond Jeffrey
From 1999 to 2004, Joachim “Ti-Joa” Alcine (32-2-1) was one of the most promising prospect in Canada with an undefeated record of 21 wins and 14 knockouts. Along the way, he won the Canadian, IBA, WBA Fedalatin and NABA light middleweight titles. His first knockout win over the very popular Stéphane Ouellet really made Alcine a star. Soon after, his victories over Carl Daniels, Marco Antonio Avendo and Javier Mamani made him a contender. In 2007, an inspired performance against strong southpaw Travis Simms made him the WBA light middleweight champion and the first ever Haitian born champion in boxing.
Unfortunately, in July 2008, a single left hand for Daniel Santos turned Alcine’s dream into a nightmare. He lost his title and suffered a devastating knockout. After two lacklustre showings with Eric Mitchell and Christophe Canclaux, Alcine tasted defeat again in a brutal first round technical knockout at the hands of Alfredo Angulo.
For Joachim Alcine, all these events are in the past. What matters now is the present and the dream to reclaim his championship belt. After a two year absence in Canada, “Ti-Joa” is back. But first, he must get through David Lemieux (25-1-0), which will be no easy task.
Today, Alcine agreed to talk about his career and his future plans to the Boxing Examiner.
The Boxing Examiner : Good Morning Joachim . How are you?
Joachim Alcine: I’m doing very good.
TBE: On December 17 2004, you won a first round knockout over hometown hero Stéphane Ouellet. How do you picture your victory?
JA: It’s a huge accomplishment for me. Ouellet was and will remain one of the biggest stars in Canada involved in boxing. At this time his return to the ring was highly anticipated after a three years absence and I felt I had to give the performance of a lifetime and I did. But my goal was to make the fans of Ouellet my fans, since he had huge popularity, especially with his win on Davey Hilton Jr. I saw that fight like a passing of the torch.
TBE: From that point, you have beaten notable opponents like Carlos Bojorquez, former WBA light middleweight champion Carl Daniels, Elio Ortiz, Marco Antonio Avendo and Javier Mamani. How do you feel about those victories?
JA: Very good, because those are good and durable fighters that I beat to make it to the top. None of those fights were easy and I worked very hard in the gym to secure those wins.
TBE: In July 2007, you became the WBA light middleweight champion by defeating Travis Simms in front of his home crowd of Connecticut, USA. How do you describe this fight?
JA: Well, I knew I had to be careful against Simms, he was favoured to win it by the Americans experts. That guy could punch and was a southpaw. More so, I had to fight him in his backyard like you said. In the first rounds, I studied him and felt his power a little bit, but I had the fight well under control. If I remember correctly I lost a point for hitting behind the back of the head for no good reason, so I felt they would try to take away my lead. So I stepped up my rhythm and brought him down in the ninth round of the fight. I finally made my dream come true and became champion. But I have to say, this was not the best of me, even if I won, I know I can always do more and improve. You will see in December.
TBE: After your losses to former three time world champion Daniel Santos and Alfredo Angulo, some experts and writers said that you were done and you were slower in the ring. Do you agree with this?
JA: Not at all. Those losses were benedictions to me, I learned a lot in those fights and did good things in the Santos fight. I got hit by a punch that I could not see and this sort of thing happens all the time in boxing. But I wasn’t focused in the Santos fight, in fact I felt lost even before the fight happened, my mind was not set on him. Now I’m very focused and I don’t think I slowed down, because I never had a better training camp than the one I’m having right now. I can’t wait to be back in the ring again. The most important thing for me is to stay motivated and totally focus on what I have to do to beat Lemieux.
TBE: Did you feel left to yourself by your former promoter GYM and management team after the Santos fight?
JA: In some ways I did. But that’s all in the past right now and I’m not coming back for vengeance. God will handle vengeance, not me. I just want to prove to them that I can beat Lemieux, more importantly I want to prove it to myself.
TBE: Some people think you are a stepping stone for a hard puncher like Lemieux. They even said that you won’t last long in the ring, referring to your first round Technical knockout lost to Angulo. Your reactions?
JA: My goal is to prove them wrong of course. I know Lemieux is going to come hard and early like in all his fights. But I will keep him at bay and make him lose a lot of steam. As soon as it happens and it will, he will be defenceless and I’ll hurt him.
TBE: Thank you for your time Joachim and good luck.
JA: It was my pleasure.
Tags:David Lemieux, Joachim Alcine
Filed Under: Interviews
