Dan Bonnell interviews 135lb fighter Josh Bourque.

If you haven’t heard of the Charismatic fighter who dawns a smile with each hit he absorbs as if it’s a breathe of fresh air, Open your damn eyes and watch this kid climb the ranks this year!

The 18-year-old Bourque stands proud and poised waiting in the tunnel before he is announced to his battlefield when most would be nervous as hell, pacing the floor wondering, “What the hell am I doing?” Hard to tell the Triton regional 2010 graduate of full honors and on his way to a successful four years of college where he’ll study Pharmaspuedicals looks nothing like your typical honor roll student. A bright red Mohawk stands sharply across his head and the letters W.I.C.K.E.D. adorn his rib cage.
Sitting in a sauna at about 160 degree’s sits Josh Bourque, with a chipper sound to his voice he takes time for an interview just hrs before he weigh’s in for his 5th MMA fight of his career and his second in just two weeks. Sitting alone, quietly wiping sweat from his phone minute by minute Bourque explains his love for MMA and how he wants this sport to become a lifestyle for him. He tells me of his Fathers support to become the best and his mothers worry of him getting hurt. “Ive had some pretty stressful family shit and built up aggression in my life, getting picked on in school and stuff, some of my friends don’t know how I can hold myself together day to day.”
“My family hates the fighting, my dad and grandfather like it, but my mom hates it more than anyone but she still comes to every fight, they just want me to go to school and do well. My dad is all for it though he loves it!”

“When I was 15 I started boxing and met up with Dan Greene at Cage strikers in Salisbury. Dan is a great guy. He offers training for free and is always there for me, he’s not only like a trainer but he’s a really good friend. Josh Webster and Colton Blanchette are great for me to work with over the past few years and now I have my own jiu jitsu coach JP Kerrigan, he’s the best thing that’s come to our gym by far! I learned more in 2 weeks than in 3 years with him on the ground.”

Dan Greene- “Every once in a while you get that kid that has that burning desire to compete at the highest level. He’s never satisfied, there’s nobody he ever avoids….. nobody. You just know this kid is a fighter, he just wants to fight. “Josh is that guy in the Texas Hold em game that every hand he’s all in. That’s the way he fights. Its all or nothing!”

I always like to ask a fighter what fighting actually means to them. Most fighters stick to the same answer and you can see through them and hear in their voice if they really mean what they say. So I asked Bourque. And with the utmost of certainty in his voice he replied:
“I want fighting to be my career for my life, I want to do it until my body cant take it anymore, I mean the whole pharmaceutical thing is a back-up incase something goes wrong with fighting. It would be a dream if I could get into WEC but that’s down the road as for now I want to work my way up the ladder to get to the top, I don’t care if I take a beating in the process I will get my way to the top!” I hear the door to the sauna shut and the clanging of what sounds like a scale….” Ahh I just made weight!” Bourque says.

Since he opened up an opportunity for me to ask about his next fight I went ahead. I asked Josh what he thought of his opponent and what his plan was. (Josh fights Saturday night in Triumph vs Gracie Barra’s standout boxer Andrew Reeves)
“The kid is 3 or 4 in taller than me and has a good boxing background but I feel like I have more experience and I’ll be the stronger more experienced guy in there. Im not planning on this going to the ground, he’s a boxer….. I wanna beat him were he’s best because im known for my stand-up too!”
Again, Bourque opened up an avenue for me to ask a few more questions and since we’re on the subject of his fighting style I asked Josh about his in ring presence and if he’s trying to excite the fan’s or is his style of fighting just appealing to the fans watching him.

“It’s a little bit of the way I fight, but to get recognition you have to be exciting, you can be undefeated and still be unknown and fly under the radar. I always plan on being exciting, I have the greatest time in the world in there.”
“Im all about intimidating you, when you hit me I love it I laugh at you when you hit me. No one will ever be able to make me back down and intimidate me”

Prior to my interview with Bourque I spoke with his long time coach and mentor Dan Greene of the Cage strikers Gym in Salisbury Ma. I asked Dan what his plan was for Josh.
“He’s definitely going turn pro, he just wants to take a shot at golden gloves first. Next week he’s competing in a kickboxing tournament in RI. He’s looking to hone his skills; he’s been working a lot on his ground game. Bourque’s ground has improved a ton local HS wrestlers would submit him and now less than a year he’s submitting these guys now, it’s a process and its getting better and better. Its good that he’s still amateur, he can learn.

“Right after golden gloves he’s going pro.”
“He wants to be a GFL champion “

I turned the interview in the direction of his future and I asked Bourque of his short term and long term goals, people he’d like to fight etc.

“The guy that sticks out in my mind right now, in time for me I’d like to really fight Pedro Gonzalez in my eyes he’s the best 135lb fighter in the GFL and if I beat him I will be the best 135lb fighter. I absolutely think Pedro Gonzalez beats Matt Smith at GFL 9. I cant tell much about Giove for tomorrow night but I think Pedro takes the fight tomorrow too and it gives me more motivation to step in there with him. It’s a goal for me, I’m 18, I have plenty of time to get were I need to be but it’s a foreseeable goal for me so I like it.”

Having taken up an hr of Bourque’s time I thanked him for the interview and wished him luck in his fight in Triumph tomorrow night and congratulated him on making weight. The hard part is over my friend!
In Conclusion, I felt this interview was necessary for many reasons. I’ve noticed something in this young kid that’s special, something im sure Jimmy Pedro and Mark DellaGrotte saw in Rick Hawn, what Joe Pomfred saw in Joe Lauzon and countless others. He’s got the intangible mixture a fighter needs to make it to the next level, the things you’re born with. Keep an eye on this kid he moves fast. There’s no rest for the WICKED.