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Kevin Harper Interview 2005
Kevin Harper is one of England's most experienced fighters still active today with nearly 70 fights to his name. He has fought some big names in the sport such as Dida Diafat, Mourad Sari, Ashley Guishard and Steven Wakeling. During his career he has won both WKA and WAKO-pro world titles and he still has a few years left ahead of him in the sport. During his career Harper has trained at a number of top clubs such as Warrington muaythai, Beastmasters and Nongkee Pahuyuth. This interview took place with Kevin Harper just before his fight against Mark Beale in April. Harper went on to win the fight by 2nd round stoppage with low kicks leaving Beale unable to stand. MTO: What made you start thaiboxing? Kevin Harper: I used to be a decent footballer a long time ago but I ended up breaking my leg badly in a car crash and I started thaiboxing as a means to get fit again. My Brother-in-law was taking me along at the time. I was told that my football career was over that I’d lost a lot of the skill. In the meantime with me in my early development years from 12-14 thaiboxing seemed like a realistic opportunity to engage in something. It was something I thoroughly enjoyed when I started training and it just made sense too just continue and to carry on.
MTO: Was that with Dave Jackson that you started? Kevin Harper: Yes it was with Dave Jackson, I spent a long time with him and then my brother-in-law stopped training. I lived in Wigan and Dave’s gym was in Warrington and I couldn’t get there so I ended up training with Rob Sharpely for a few years. When I went to university though I had my own transport so I went back to Warrington and then started training with Pele Nathan’s Gym after I overcame a knee injury. Vinny left Pele’s and I sort of went with Vinny when he started Nongkee Pahuyuth Cheshire with Dean White. MTO: Do you think changing gyms all the time has either held you back or made you a better fighter? Kevin Harper: I think it has made me better. If you look at professional footballers they move from club to club. Some stay at a club all their life but I’ve always got to the point where I think a change is as good as a rest. You’ve got your own pecking order within the gym, people you know its easy to spar with and people who are more difficult. When you go to a different gym everyone automatically raises the game and it’s a whole new learning process overcoming different styles and for me that’s been one of the big parts of me improving as a fighter. I’ve gone through different stages and each time there has been a development in my career I feel that it has coincided with a gym change and me working on different aspects with a new coach. MTO: How do you feel about the bout tonight? Kevin Harper: Good, confident and I rate Mark Beale as well. Some people don’t particularly rate him but he is a dangerous fighter on his day and he’s going to be up for this because he has something to prove. I’m not underestimating him at all and I think it will be a difficult contest going to points. It won’t be an easy ride at all. I’ve got good credentials but so has he and if you’ve got a good dig on you like he has then anything can happen. I’m fully giving him the respect he deserves but not too much (Harper winks)
MTO: When did you have your first fight? Kevin Harper: It was after I changed gyms and gone over to Rob Sharpley's on one of his shows. I was about 15 and he was about 21 years old. I never had a junior fight, all the time when I was 14/15 I was fighting adults. 13 years ago there were no junior ranks and thaiboxing was even more of a fledgling sport and therefore there were never the numbers about to have good junior contests so from a very early age I was fighting men. When I was at Sharpleys there was a point when I had about 10 fights in 7 weeks. I was fighting on a mid-week show and then again at the weekend. Anyone who doesn’t belive me can ask Sharpley about that. At a young age before I went back to Jackson’s gym I’d had about 18/19 fights. I was a junior fighting men so very quickly I developed a sense of what it needs to have a good defense because I was fighting against people physically stronger than me, that hit harder than me who were actually doing me more damage than I was doing then. MTO: Didn’t you feel that was a bit dangerous? Kevin Harper: I just wanted to fight and at the time those were the people to fight against. Looking back now it was pretty stupid but at the time there was no-one else to fight. It was either do that or do nothing.
MTO: When did you win your first British title? Kevin Harper: It was on the 22nd October 1995 against one of Dean White’s fighters called Steve Mellor. That date is quite significant for me and it was even my security pin number for the bank for a while so that’s how I remember it. We’re talking a very long time ago and from when I ended up moving back to Dean White’s and talking about the fight with Steve Mellor, I was sure that I had won the fight but Dean was adamant that I had lost and that Mellor had won. It was on one of Sken’s shows in Stockport and that story still remains a bit of a contentious issue between us and we have a laugh about it. MTO: You fought a lot of guys in England, who do you rate at the best that you fought? Kevin Harper:Ashley Guishard. Guishard was hardest, no the best to watch fight, that I have ever been involved in. We actually both got injured on the same weekend. I did my knee in and he did his shoulder on the same weekend. I came back a lot quicker and he is only just coming back now. His injury was far worse than mine but at the time I didn’t even expect to beat Ashley and I felt if I got in there and went the distance then that’s a win for me. I really learnt a lot from that fight and Ashley is the best guy I have fought who is English. I learnt a lot about pace and fighting from that.
MTO: When was your first international bout? Kevin Harper: I think Dida in France in early 1997. There are a lot of quality fighters around now that have been doing well but this was 1997 8 years ago I have been fighting guys like Sari, Dida, Gutelkin Tekin who’s belt I took from him. It’s a lot harder fighting an existing champion than for a vacant belt. I’ve fought in Thailand and there are international class fighters that I have fought out there that are absolutely top draw and being fair there’s not many people in this country that have fought the level of people abroad that I have. I’ve been doing it for a long long time. You get people who are coming up and some people will slag me off and if they want to have a go at me they can but you can’t criticise what I’ve done for the length of time that I’ve done it. I’ve been fighting at the top level of my sport for longer than anyone else in Britain. But that’s not to say I don’t rate any of the current fighters out there or any of the fighters that have been fighting a long time. Peter Crooke is the only other person who has been fighting top level international people for the same amount of time.
MTO: Who would you rate as the hardest out of those international opponents? Kevin Harper: That’s a difficult one. Mourad Sari was very good, very slick. Bit dubious about making weight, in fact it was the same with Dida I never saw either of them make the weight. It was just a case of you you fight and I ended up having to take the fight or not get paid. Mourad Sari looked a lot heavier than me so did Dida but again never saw them on the scales. They were both very tough fights. I think the Dida fight was a step up in class I wasn’t ready for at the time. He’d had a couple of losses when I fought him but he was fighting the like of Saimi and Jomhod on a regular basis. He was top draw at the time and had had a couple of fighters with Dekkers so he was by no means a mug. By no means coming to the end of his career and I fought him when he was at his physical best and really I wasn’t ready for that. In my mind I thought I was at the time but looking back I probably wasn’t ready for that a couple of years away from that. MTO: Do you think that you are at that level now then? Kevin Harper: Yes these next few years are when I’m at my physical best. I’ve been training for a very long time, skill wise I’m quite high, ability wise I’d say I’m good but my strength now and my fitness and my stamina and the learning aspects that I’ve developed over the last few years training at Nongkee have made me a more complete fighter. Coursing work, Clinchwork, grappling, that time in Thailand was invaluable. Now I can deadlift twice my own body weight I’ve got a personal strength trainer and I can lift and push so much that my physical strength which used to be poor is now at a point where it can get me through fights I’m not just relying on my skill. I can drag people about and when I hit people I’m hitting them with a lot of power and that’s something I never had earlier in my career.
MTO: Who would you like to fight now? Kevin Harper: There’s a lot of top draw people who are big names, but I don’t know who I’d pick above others. I think an interesting fight would have been me and Peter Crooke and at one point I thought that was going to happen. I thought it might be on the cards, but Peter is a great guy and we get on brilliantly. I don’t think I’d like to particularly fight him as he’s a good mate but it would have been interesting just to see the different kind of styles we’ve got and how they’d clash. Peter has got a better record than me as regards win/loss ratios but I certainly think I’d bring something to the equation if we fought. But that’s a big what if. I’d just like to fight people that are good. I don’t particularly see the point of fighting people that are below my station, I like to fight people that are top draw and at my level there are no more easy fights. Anyone who is at that level to fight me at the end of the day can win. It’s a tough deal when you’ve got someone at that level of fitness and technique and you’ve got someone that can hit just as hard as you can coming at you, anyone at that level will be a difficult fight for me and I just want to fight reallyl good people now. MTO: Who else in England do you rate? Kevin Harper: I think Liam Harrison is a fantastic prospect. Looking back I think he’s in the same league that Warren Brown was. Warren Brown at this time was a fantastic guy who would rise to the occasion and fight top level fighters at a young age. I used to worry about him when he was younger as in the gym he wasn’t particularly special but in the ring he would wipe the floor with everyone. In the gym he would just eat shots and I see a lot of comparisons between the two. Very young fighters that have achieved a lot and my only fear for Liam is that there is a possible burn out factor but I am a big fan of him and a big fan of Steven Wakeling. I like Steven Wakeling and think he has improved enormously since his injury against me. He’s done well to come back and I have also got to say I like all the Nongkee guys. Rick Barnhill I’d travel the length of the country to watch that guy. Danny Brown, Liam Racktoo, Dale White – all absolutely awesome fighters. Gavin Sterrit as well. They are fighters that entertain men and I would pay money to watch. There are some good quality fighters out there and those I mention from outside the gym but I have to list those in and it’s not just because they are my friends and I train with them, they are real top quality fighters and they have an exciting style. MTO: Is there anything you want to say in closing? Kevin Harper: I’d like to thank all the people that have supported me. I know I’m not the biggest ticket seller in the world and stuff and not many people do come and watch me but those that do on a regular basis are great. I’m not one of those people that take 150 people to a fight but I like to think I’ve built up a good enough reputation as a fighter where people will come and watch.
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