The nicest French kid aims at two Glory belts

On December 10^th for his Glory Kickboxing debuts, Dylan Salvador won the 4 man lightweight contender tournament. That victory automatically granted him a title shot against the current champion Sittichai Sitsongpeenong, whom Salvador already fought twice in the past.

 

Une publication partagée par GLORY Kickboxing (@glorykickboxing) le 13 Mars 2017 à 9h25 PDT

Journalist Olivier Angelini from BoxeMag.com, the French fightsports reference media, went to interview him during his preparation for the title fight on March 25^th at Glory 39 in Brussels. The following text is an English translation of the interview conducted in French language.

On March 25^th , for the Glory 39 event, you have a big fight coming up, you will face Sittichai for the 3^rd time for the lightweight title. How do you feel 5 days away from this fight?

We did a good preparation, we worked on what needed to be worked on, right now we are setting the last details. With Nasser (Salvador's coach) we focused on technique.  We know who we are facing so we know what is going to happen.

Exactly, you faced Sittichai twice already, you won one bout each, what did you learn from these two confrontations?

Two close fights, he is an opponent who does not strikes for nothing, he’s very precise, very quick, he knows when to strike back and how to manage an entire fight strategically. We know what to expect and that helped us to train for it. This fight should look like the two previous ones, it will be very close.

For this 3^rd bout, Sittichai is used to fight at this weight of -70kgs, he is the current champion so he’s the favorite, does this change anything for you?

Not really, he’s the Glory champion so it drives me even more to go get that belt, the pressure is on his side. Since we have 1-1, I don’t really feel any pressure, on the opposite it spices up this fight

This fight at -70kg is not what you are used to, you mostly fought at -65kgs or -67kgs

I’ll go there without having to do any weight cut, without pushing myself too far. I have known him (Sittichai) for quite a bit and he’s getting bigger and bigger, sometimes on the edge at weigh-ins, struggling, which is not my case. I will be in shape. Talking about strike power I think he will be better than me, this is why my strengths are more on the rapidity and explosivity sides, focus on the strategy rather than pure power.

This time it’s a title fight, thanks to your victory at the 4 man tournament in December, how did this tournament go?

Rather good if you look at the results (chuckles), I fought rather differently than what I used to because my opponents were powerful ones throwing heavy strikes, so I made the difference with technique exactly as we worked on with the coach (Nasser), being a little bit more vicious to take those points by staying out of reach, that went well. I had to prevent any obvious counterstrike not to lose any point or round. It worked fine so we kept on doing that throughout the whole tournament

What are your goals after this fight?

First it will be to win this fight and get that belt at -70 kgs. Glory is a serious Kick Boxing tournament with true rankings and very good fighters. Then I’d like to get a title shot at -65kgs against Robin (Van Roosmalen) and why not unify two belts like McGregor, wouldn't that be nice?

Cedric Doumbe is defending his belt (at Glory 39) what do you think of him and do you follow his news?

Yes I follow him, we often meet each other, he is a good friend we share good laugh together. I wish him to keep that belt, until now it worked so good luck!

I have another question unique to you, we often see you at weigh in with that big smile whereas most of the other guys seem tense and look contained but you always look happy. What do you think in those moments?

What do I think? I think that it’s a big day, we trained hard for this day, and it’s a day to enjoy not a day for grumpy faces. If we fight it’s because we love to fight so let’s show it! We are not here to be bad guys or pretend to be tough guys, we are here to enjoy, share with our friends, laugh, listen to music, then when it’s fight time we fight, at the end we hug each other and that’s it.

What drives you to enter the boxing ring?

My parents, my brothers and sisters, my coach, make them feel proud, also make me feel good and to win as many fights as I can so that one day when I end this carreer I can look behind and be proud of what I achieved.

Interview of Dylan Salvador by Olivier Angelini from BoxeMag.com

The complete interview in French language:

 - Video credits: BoxeMag.com

Blog cover photo credits: Glory Kickboxing