The first emotion is concern as Lorenz Larkin describes his cut from middleweight to welterweight for Sunday’s bout against John Howard in a low, somewhat defeated voice.
“I’m dying, I don’t know if I’m going to make weight,” he said.
Then you realize that the Californian is always quick with a joke, so that concern drifts into the realm of jealousy as then tells of a recent meal: “Last night I ate two big fat chicken tacos, two pastrami dogs and a large fries. And a big donut.”
He had me at “pastrami dogs,” but suffice to say that the truth lies somewhere in the middle for “The Monsoon,” whose demeanor speaks volumes when it comes to the reality of the move to 170 pounds, which is apparently going well. As for his reasoning for the drop, he simply says “I think it’s time for me to be the big guy or at least the normal guy in the weight class instead of the small runt.”
“When I fight at ’85, it’s crazy because at the weigh-ins, it’s always like ‘this guy ain’t that big,’” he laughs. “But once weigh-ins are over and it’s the next day, you see these guys and you’re like ‘what the f—?’ It’s not even the same guy.”
That won’t be the case on Sunday, with Larkin actually entering the Octagon as the bigger man against the 5-foot-7 Howard. As an added bonus, the versatile striker from Riverside will be facing an opponent more than willing to stand and trade with him, but Larkin refuses to get overly excited about that part of the fight, knowing that striking battles on paper often turn into wrestling matches in reality. Regardless, the 28-year-old is determined to leave a positive impression on Boston fight fans.
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Thumbnail photo via Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports Images
