Schilling: “I’m sorry I allowed Barrett’s ego to get even bigger”

Joe ‘Stitch ‘Em Up’ Schilling says he could not believe what he was reading when he looked at Wayne Barrett’s latest interview.

Los Angeles-based Schilling (16-5, 10 KO’s) and New York man Barrett (4-0, 3 KO’s) are rivals both for the GLORY middleweight crown and for the right to be considered the top US fighter in the division.

Both are taking part in the GLORY: LAST MAN STANDING eight-man tournament on June 21 and could potentially cross paths once more.

They fought at GLORY 12 NEW YORK on November 11 last year. Schilling came in as the winner of the GLORY 10 LOS ANGELES middleweight tournament and Barrett was coming off a huge KO win in that tournament’s reserve match.

After the tournament Barrett had declared himself to be unimpressed with Schilling’s performance - despite a double knockdown of world #1 Artem Levin  (47-4-1, 33 KO’s) - and said a fight between them would be “inevitable”.

Barbs were traded back and forth before the fight took place in November. Barrett scored two knockdowns in the second round. Schilling scored a knockdown in the third. Barrett won by unanimous decision.

Looking back on that fight in his latest interview, Barrett remarked that he would classify Schilling as “a power fighter” rather than an intelligent one. He also weighed in on the Dutch kickboxing style and why he believes Artem Levin is not the living legend some kickboxers see him as.

"I would say I am more of a speed guy than anything. The fight we had was one of the worst performances of my career and so if you based your opinion on that maybe you would say I was a power guy,” he says.

"I was looking for that one big shot because early in the fight I saw a giant hole in his defense and really went chasing after that. And I got frustrated with him running away.

"I bought into a lot of the talk that went on before the fight so I was expecting him to actually fight me.

“The sparring partners I had for that fight had been putting it on me, in preparation for what I expected from Barrett. But instead he was literally running away from me and avoiding the exchanges.

"I got frustrated and lost my cool. I went to shit for two rounds and got sloppy. I kind of got it back together for the final round. I was awful but I still managed to drop him and break his nose.

"So I guess if you were assessing me based on that fight alone you could say I was a power fighter or not very intelligent. But I disagree with Wayne’s statement.

"In fact I generally disagree with about 90 per cent of what Wayne Barrett says. His ability to say arrogant s--t and still be perceived as humble is absolutely astonishing to me.

"Some of the things he came out with in his latest interview were astronomically stupid. To talk about the Dutch kickboxing style and actually bring Ramon Dekkers’ name into it, and say the things he said…

"Did he really compare Artem Levin to Ricky Hatton and himself to Floyd f--king Mayweather, is that what he did?

“Wayne, I am really sorry that I had such a terrible performance and allowed your ego to get even larger but please try to remember you have only had four professional fights.”

Several weeks out from the biggest tournament of the year, Schilling says he is not going to be drawn into the same kind of exchanges that preceded his fight with Barrett last year.

“In the last fight I got into all the back and forth banter and got into a certain mindset but this time I am not at all concerned with what Wayne Barrett thinks about…hmm… anything, really,” he says.

“I don’t believe Wayne Barrett beat me and is a better fighter. My performance was more detrimental to me in that fight than his performance was effective, if you know what I mean.

"I am not worried about what anyone thinks, only about being the best Joe Schilling I can be on June 21. The only person who can beat me is myself. That’s the only person who has ever beat me in a fight.”

GLORY: LAST MAN STANDING takes place at The Forum in Los Angeles, California on Saturday June 21 and airs in the US on pay-per-view priced at $34.95.

As well as the Middleweight Championship Tournament, the PPV features a Heavyweight Championship fight between Daniel Ghita and Rico Verhoeven plus Marc De Bonte making his first defense of the Welterweight Championship when he faces ‘Bazooka’ Joe Valtellini of Canada.

The PPV will be preceded by GLORY 17 LOS ANGELES live on SPIKE TV, which features the four-man Featherweight Contender Tournament and the US kickboxing debut of Mirko ‘CroCop’ Filipovic.

Also on that card, California’s own Ky Hollenbeck faces Andy Ristie with a lightweight title shot on the line.