Chuckie Mussachio interview

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Photo by Mike McGuigan

If you grew up in Philly, chances are that Wildwood, NJ was like a home away from home in the summertime. The town that brought us the Sea Serpant and the Twirl a Whirl has also produced one hell of fighter with an interesting story. For those of you who don't know, let me introduce you to Wildwood's Chuckie Mussachio, a multi diminsional Light Heavyweight whose resume includes a professional record of 9 - 0 with 5 knockouts, a highly decorated amateur career as a two-time collegiate national champion and a Masters degree in Education to boot. He is billed as "The Professor" and is making an impression with his skills in the ring, but his skills outside of it leave an even longer lasting impression as he spends his days teaching Special Education at Wildwood High. Over the past two years, we have been able to watch the rise of some very good light heavyweight prospects come up through our area. While Max Alexander and Chucky Cavallo have been doing their thing here in Philly, Mussachio has been filling seats and wowing crowd at the casinos in Atlantic City, doing his thing on the undercard of some major fights. This Saturday, Mussachio heads up to North Jersey for a fight against Joe Fraziers Gym graduate Chandler Durham. The Professor wears a brim hat and walks down the aisle to Sinatra but rest assured, he is no day at the beach come fight night. He recently took the time to talk about his careers inside and out of the ring, a new boxing TV series he is going to be on and his thoughts on some of the best talent in our area.


PK: You are making the trip to North Jersey this Saturday going in as the headliner, how are you feeling as fight night approaches?

CM: I am feeling great, my weight is down perfectly and will go in at 174 – 175lbs. I am healthy and strong. I feel really fast and my timing is perfect. I have been working with Josh Mercado who is a welterweight that just won the national college championship this year. He is incredible with the pads and going to be a very good pro.

PK: I know you have a full time job as a teacher which we will get into but it looks like you have a busy summer in the ring ahead. What’s on your plate?

CM: Yeah, I have this fight coming up on Saturday against Chandler Durham in Whippany. After that there is talk about fighting in my hometown of Wildwood on July 6th. I am getting right back into it on July 14th in North Dakota on a card with Vassily Jirov headlining. Then in August I am off to Lake Tahoe, Nevada for a series that is going to be televised kind of like a 24/7 thing with De La Hoya and Mayweather. It is cool; they picked 8 boxers from across the country and are going to film clips from my everyday life. Like when I am in the classroom & bartending and when I fight. John Duddy, Vassily Jirov, Joey Gilbert are a few guys who will also be on the show. That’s about all I know of it right now.

PK: That sounds really exciting and that is some good company you were included with. How did that come about?

CM: It kind of came out of the blue. They saw my ring entrance at one of my fights and guess they liked that they saw. They did a background check; saw that I am a teacher, that I bartend and went to college etc and it took off from there.

PK: How did you get into boxing in the first place?, Who does your team consist of?

CM: Well the city opened the Wildwood Boxing Club back in 1997 and hired my father, Al Mussachio, to run it. We have been at it ever since. In my corner now you will see my dad Al Mussachio, Joey Eye and Bill Johnson who is Levander Johnson’s father will be there too. Without the city we wouldn;t be there so I have to thank the mayor and everyone for funding it.

PK: What was your amateur career like?

CM: I went to Lockhaven University in PA then was immediately accepted into Uniter States Olympic Education Center. With that, they enrolled me in Northern Michigan Unversity, where I received my masters degree in Guidance Counseling. I was a two-time collegiate national champion in my junior and senior year. I came in second in the nation my freshman and sophomore years. I won the Michigan State Golden Gloves, fought in the PAL’s & ABC tournaments. Overall I would say I had about 100 amateur fights then I turned pro in 2005.

PK: For the people who haven’t had a chance to see you, how would you describe your style in the ring?

CM: I abide by the boxing rules, hit and don’t get hit. I need my brains since I am also a professional in the business world. I can’t afford to go get my brains beat in and be saluting fire hydrants so basically, I fight but I try to get hit the least amount possible.

PK: Are there any fighters you model yourself after or who you like to watch?

CM: Muhammad Ali is my idol and a style I try to pattern myself after in the ring. When I was first starting out I was at Virgil Hill’s gym and saw him hitting the bags and later had the chance to talk to him. I immediately realized he was the kind of person I wanted to model myself after. Look at him now; he is 42 years old, still coherent and still winning world titles. How can’t he be a guy you want to be like? Actually, I was Hill’s sparring partner for the fight where he won his 5th World Title last year. I’ll tell ya he gave it to me for about 70 rounds but it was well worth it.

PK: You have an interesting job outside of boxing, what is it exactly that you do?

CM: I am a special ed teacher for 6th, 7th & 8th graders. Last year I also taught math & science. I want to better these kids; it’s a lot of needy kids I work with. I get them in the gym as much as I can and also want them to have better lives. Eventually I would like to be a guidance councilor. I think I can make a real difference there.

PK: These kids must think that is awesome having a teacher who is also a boxer.

CM: They like to play the tough guy role but I know they are all behind me even though they wanna see me come into class with a black eye. The parents are a trip too, they talk about the kids for a few minutes then they want to talk about my boxing career. It is great; some of them even come to the fights.

PK: Where did you earn your degree?

CM: I went to Lockhaven University and earned a Bachelors degree in education. After that I was selected to U.S. Olympic Education Center in Michigan. They paid for everything all I had to do was box. I went there for 2 years got my Masters.

PK: What are some of your goals as a boxer?

CM: Well, I am fortunate enough to have a degree and a good job so I don’t need boxing to put food on the table. With that being said, I still train hard if not harder than most. I take this as seriously as I do teaching. I am going to see how far I can take it but I am not going to become someone’s punching bag.

PK: Of the boxers out there now in the light heavy division, who do think is the best, are there any in particular you would like to fight?

CM: It’s scrambled up division right now that Tarver lost. If Bernard Hopkins still considers himself a Light Heavy then I say it is him. Chad Dawson is a slick southpaw and you can’t touch him. I would love to fight Tarver, I think it will be a great test to see where I am at with the boxing. He’s been there and done that. To me it would be one of them fights where it wouldn’t be hard but by no means would it be easy.

PK: How far away do you think it is until a fight like that could be in the works for you?

CM: I am not going to lie, they guys I have been fighting were opponents but I am done with the guys with losing records. From now on I am going to start stepping up the competition up and talent in my fights. I want to see how I measure up with the best. Saturday I am fighting Chandler Durham who is 6 – 3 and will take it from there. If all goes well I don’t see it taking any longer than 2 years.

PK: I see you ringside for a lot of the fights in our area, who are some of the guys what you are impressed with?

CM: There are some good fighters out there, let’s see if you go any weight class, I really like Shamone Alvarez who is a good friend of mine, for a guy who weighs 147 lbs, he hits like a sledgehammer. There’s Rashiem Jefferson, Rock Allen is nice; he is a smart guy and has his father Nazeem Richardson in his corner so you know he is working with the best. In my division I like what Max Alexander does. He stays in the gym, fights smart, he moves well. He does what boxing is. I have been working with a kid Patrick Majewski from Poland who is undefeated. He’s got one of those hard European heads. I know I am fast and he is right there with me.

PK: There has been some talk of a fight with you and Chucky Cavallo, another undefeated Light Heavyweight from New Jersey. Will that ever happen?

CM: I will fight Chucky Cavallo in a heartbeat! We are two undefeated Italian fighters so it is definitely an interesting fight. I don’t think they will come down to Wildwood to do it but we will see. We have to be smart about this because it’s a good money fight.

PK: Thanks for your time Chuck, best of luck in Whippany.

CM: Thank you, it has been a pleasure.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions you can email Philly Keith at keith@phillykeith.com

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