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Fernwoods Hotel and Resort is located in Bushkill, Pennsylvania and is a frequent vacation spot during the hotter months of the year on the East Coast.

 

But in the off-season, it is the training location for some of boxing's more well-known fighters.

 

Three fighters currently training there will have fights coming up in a one week span in December. First, welterweight Joshua Clottey will lace them up in a 12-round battle against WBO title-holder Antonio Margarito on December 2. The following weekend, Clottey's stable mate Ike Quartey will take on "Winky" Wright and the very next night, WBC Heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev (another fellow gym mate) will make his first title defense against Peter Okhello in Moscow. While visiting the heavyweight champion during his preparations for his bout against Okhello, FightNews had a chance to catch up with Clottey (29-1, 18 KOs).

 

Here's what he had to say:

 

How long have you been training?

 

"About six weeks now. It's good; everything is alright. Training is good, the running and the strength training; everything is good. I sparred with Delvin Rodriguez and Kendall Holt."

 

How do you like training here?

 

"It's good. It's very quiet. And the hills are good for running."

 

Do you feel as if you are starting to get more respect now after winning on HBO (against Richard Gutierrez in July)?

 

"Yeah, I don't care about that; if they know me. But the time will come that they know me. But when I fought that fight there (against Richard Gutierrez) people have started to know me, so it's ok."

 

No one wants to fight Margarito. Why do you?

 

"Because it's the same for me. Nobody wants to fight me too. So I think it's good for us to fight each other. And I want to fight him not because of the title and not because of the money, but I want the best for my country. And I want to win the Americans’ respect."

 

Why do you think nobody wants to fight him?

"It's not that they don't want to fight him. That is not the case; it's like the publicity. You know, he's a very good fighter. The guys who said he's nobody don't want to fight him because he's a risk. The reason why they say that he's a risk is because boxing is boxing. One day if your time comes to lose, you're going to lose. So if you lose to him, you lose to nobody and you lose badly. You must lose for big money. That's why they don't want to fight him. It's not like he's so extraordinary that they don't want to fight him because he's that good. No, no. Those guys that don't want to fight are good - not him. Everybody that he wants to fight is better than him. So it doesn't matter if that he's extraordinary."

 

Are you doing anything differently in training to deal with his power?

 

"No. I have power too. Everybody's got power. When I punch you with the right you are going to go down. I got power. I knocked out 18 people in my thirty one fights. So if he got power, I will respect his power. This is the first time that I'm going to fight him on the Second of December. So, now I'm going to feel his power. I don't know anything about his power."

 

Will you try to box him more?

 

"Nah, to me I'm going to train for what he's going to bring to the ring. Because of me, I thought of every strategy. And I made up my mind that a heavy fight is going to happen. If he's going to fight me, I will fight him. If he's going to box me, I will fight him. So I don't care about what he's going to do. Whatever he brings, that is exactly what I'm going to do."

 

What are your plans after this fight?

 

"Right now people have been calling peoples names. I don't like that. I don't like calling peoples names. If I beat Margarito and everybody respects me and wants to fight me for something good; I'm ready for that. Because I want a fight with everybody. So, I don't care about calling nobody's names. If they want to fight me I will fight them."